Coca-Cola may target schools in bid to catch consumers young
Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd, the local unit of the American beverages maker The CocaCola Co., is working on a strategy to catch the Indian consumers young.
The Atlanta-based maker of Coca-Cola, Thums Up and Sprite aerated drinks, which has, so far, restrained itself and its bottling partners from selling its beverages in schools as part of its global policy, is now loo king at how it can sell its products at schools.
“We are evaluating how to do it. This has to be in agreement with our global headquarters. And, we’ll certainly propose this,” T Krishnakumar, president, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia.
Coca-Cola’s decision to look at schools as a potential point of sales comes with the fast changing portfolio of the world’s largest beverage maker that now has a lot of options that are not carbonated.
According to Krishnakumar, Coca-Cola will look at selling enhanced hydration products like Aquarius Glucocharge, nutritious product Minute Maid Vitingo, fruit juice variants of Minute Maid and dairy products, a segment the company is planning re-enter at end the of this year.
According to data published by the ministry of human resource development in September 2012, there were 1.39 million schools in India till 30 September 2010. Of these, there were 7.4 lakh primary schools, 1.2 lakh secondary schools, 4.4 lakh upper primary schools and 71814 senior secondary schools. With school, Coca-Cola’s distribution will get a massive boost. At present, Coca-Cola products are sold at 2.6 million of the country’s estimated 9 million retail outlets.
Globally, Coca-Cola follows a strict policy of not selling its aerated products in schools across 200 countries where its products are sold.
According to its global website, the company does not sell any of its beverages at primary schools. However, it does have a limited presence at secondary schools in some countries, but that is restricted to water, juices and some of its regular beverages, including low-calorie variants.
NEW DELHI: