Thums Up looks to be a $1bn brand in 2 years
Thums Up, the carbonated beverage owned by Coca-Cola Co’s Indian unit, is the largest cola brand in India with ₹5,000 crore in annual sales, which the company said it is aiming to raise to $1 billion (₹6,500 crore) in two years.
This would mean an compounded annual growth rate of 14.02% for the 40-year old fizzy drink that has dominated India’s cola market in the past four decades.
“Thums Up will be the first Indian beverage brand to cross the $1-billion mark,” said Vijay Parasuraman, vice president (marketing), CocaCola India and South West Asia. Globally, Coca-Cola has 11 brands with more than $1 billion in annual sales.
In February 2016, the company had said its mango drink Maaza will reach annual sales of $1 billion by 2023 from around $400 million that time.
“We thought that Maaza will be the first home-grown brand (for Coca-Cola Co) to reach the $1-billion sales mark. But when we assesed the growth of Thums Up, we realised that it can reach $1 billion in revenue before Maaza,” added Parasuraman.
Thums Up and Maaza were acquired by Coca-Cola in 1993 from Parle Bisleri along with other brands such as Limca, Citra and Gold Spot. Post acquisition, Coca-Cola discontinued Citra and Gold Spot.
According to market research agency Euromonitor International, Thums Up is the largest cola brand, but Sprite, another brand owned by Coca-Cola, tops the carbonated beverage market in India. In the year ending 2016, Sprite had a 20.5% share in terms of retail value in the carbonated beverages market in India, followed by Thums Up with 15.4%, according to Euromonitor data. Thums Up, however, has lost market share in the past few years. Its market share in 2013 was 17.1%.
Thums Up was originally launched by Ramesh Chauhan in 1977 and was later sold to Atlanta-based Coca-Cola in 1993.
On Tuesday, Coca-Cola unveiled the first-ever extension of Thums Up — Thums Up Charged — a stronger version of the 40-year old cola brand.
Thums Up Charged, which has more caffeine than the regular Thums Up, is also the first drink from Coca-Cola India’s stable that is defined as a caffeinated drink.
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