OUTLINE

Coca - Cola Company Competitive Strategy

Thesis statement: The competitive strategy is very important because it is the heart of a marketing strategy

• Introduction
• Company chosen
• How Coca-Cola company has adopted a competitive strategy to protect and enhance its business-level strategy
• Conclusion

Coca-Cola Company Competitive Strategy

The Coca-Cola Company has managed to be the lead in the production of soft drinks or beverages. Coca-Cola Company has embraced a competitive strategy to enhance and protect its business-level strategy (Porter, 1997). The company's competitive strategy has been very useful as it satisfies consumers and increases brand awareness. The competitive strategy is very important as it is the heart of marketing strategy. Another importance of this strategy is that it works well as a long-term marketing success and makes business profit a secondary product.

The Coca-Cola Company uses various strategies in the competitive strategy to remain the world's greatest soft drinks producer. The first strategy that this company uses is brand loyalty. Many times this company sells not the product mainly but the brand. Coca-Cola has invested a lot in the brand of its products. The other strategy is the best cost strategy, where the industry ensures that all the products that they produce are affordable to all consumers. They have their drinks, most especially soda, in different sizes with different prices to enable all consumers to access them whenever they want to. Another competitive strategy that the Coca –Cola Company has embraced is to focus on a specific target market. Despite being the lead in soft drinks, the company still ventures into new markets, such as introducing soda for diabetic consumers. This strategy helped increase their sales as they introduced the same product in the market but modified it without sugar to accommodate that target market.

Advertisements have also been a competitive strategy that the Coca-Cola industry has embraced to maintain being the leader in their products. Since the product is already known in the market, they focus on the reminder adverts type. This type of advertisement helps the industry to continue being established to the already existing market. The company has also ventured into producing other products apart from soda like mineral water and energy drinks. This type of competitive strategy helps the company be still competitive with new competitors and old competitors. They use the brand loyalty advantage that they have gained over the years to lure their customers into buying the new products that they produce.

The Coca-Cola Company also uses the differentiation strategy where their products have a specific taste different from that of their competitors. This competitive strategy enables the industry to maintain its customers. Another competitive strategy that the company uses is the cost leadership strategy. This strategy helps the Coca-Cola Company to price their products at very low prices, in this case, lower than their competitors (Liviu & Claudia, 2012).  When the Coca-Cola company prices exceedingly low prices, they aim to dismiss other competitors because they cannot profit if they price like the leading market. They operate in losses, hence the closure of their businesses. The company also uses BOGOF's marketing strategy to remain competitive in the market (Kim, Lee & Park, 2016).  BOGOF strategy stands for buy one get one free. This marketing strategy has assisted the company in remaining competitive in the market. They attach two of their products where a consumer only needs to buy one product and get the other one free.

The Coca –Cola Company has also made sure to sell all their products in all outlets. They have put their products in retail, wholesale and mini supermarkets and supermarkets .this is a competitive strategy as all their target market easily get access to the product if they need it. The competitive strategies adopted by the Coca -Cola Company give the company a competitive advantage over its competitors and maintain customer loyalty among their target markets.