SWOT Analysis on Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Gatorade is a flagship brand of PepsiCo and has a commanding 75% market share of the sports nutrition beverage marketplace globally, being sold into 80 different countries according to the latest PepsiCo annual report published in late 2011. Gatorade's success in branding and product marketing has actually expanded the global market for sports nutrition beverages during the late 1990s and into the 21rst century. Recently however the company has faced many channels including product line extensions of the last decade which failed to deliver strong results (Pollack, 1997) and a more critical analysis of their ingredients as many of their beverages are sold in public schools (Tallon, 2009). Despite these challenges however, Gatorade continues to experience strong market share and growth. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate and provide recommendations for each of the four areas of the marketing mix including product, price, promotion and place or distribution.

As an attempt to reduce the rising obesity and obesity-related disease rates, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has proposed a ban on soft drinks larger than 16 oz. According to an infographic created by the Huffington Post, extra large soft drinks have accounted for an average of 301 extra calories in people’s diets across the US. Although measures need to be put into place to improve the unhealthy diets and lifestyles of many Americans, a ban on large soft drinks is not the solution. The ban on soda would be an ineffective attempt at reducing obesity and obesity-related diseases, as well as an infringement of civil liberties and an attack on businesses in New York City.

PepsiCo has 6 divisions, North American Beverages, Frito-Lay North America, Quaker foods North America, Latin America, Europe Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, Middle East, North Africa. Gatorade falls into the North American Beverages division. Within Gatorades brand name there are a few product lines, The G-Series, Endurance, and Equipment lines. The sports drink is part of the G-series which is based on three steps, prime, perform, and recover and is part of the perform step.

Recently, people have become worried about the health issues associated with consuming sugary drinks, especially soda. The rate of people being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease has been going up primarily because of beverages with added sugar (Cited in Crawford, 2016). Several studies have found that soda is linked to over 180,000 deaths per year (Cited in Crawford, 2016). An article by the Huffington Post (2011) said that an average American drinks about 44.7 gallons of carbonated beverages a year, which adds up to over 350 pounds of soda. Comparatively, in 2005 an average American drank only 0.5 gallons, making soft drinks the most consumed beverage in America (n/a, 2011). The way the government is trying to fix

“Soda Taxes: Gaining Steam or Getting Steamrolled?” is an enticing article by Anna Gorman that focuses on the issue of taxing sugary beverages and the effect it will ultimately have on the health of the general population. She mentions that the tax could reduce the rates of obesity and diabetes in the affected areas. She also points out the counter to this claim, that soda taxes may not have any effect on obesity rates at all and may give the government too much power over the consumer choice. Overall, she seems to advocate that soda is an unhealthy beverage and should be cut down among consumers. Soda however, is not the only unhealthy options out there. There is a plethora of products on the shelves of supermarkets and sold at restaurants.

We’re told that craft beer’s share of the market rose 17.6% last year, accounting for 11% of beer volume and $19.6 billion of the beer industry’s $101.5 billion in sales. However, it’s also a market in which the sale of imported beers rose 6.9% in 2014 and where, according to Nielsen, the amount of Mexican beer alone sold in grocery stores within the last year is equal to the amount of all craft beer sold from supermarket and convenience store beer shelves. It’s also a market where, despite advances by both craft and imported beers, one of every five beers sold is a Bud Light. In fact, the 38 million barrels of Bud Light sold last year would not only make it the No. 3 brewer in the U.S. if it split off from Anheuser-Busch InBev BUD, -0.51%

Foods such as cheese included in the product will have to be chosen offering longer shelf lives;

Soda companies “dramatically announced that they would aim to cut the number of sugary drinks calories by twenty percent over the next ten years by reducing the portion size and trying to sell more zero-calorie and low calorie options.” By reducing the portion size, Americans could be drinking more cans, and possibly drinking more ounces than they were originally. As for the zero-calorie and low calorie options, the drinks are considered by doctors to be worst than the original because they contain artificial sweeteners that are not ‘natural sugars’, but chemically made sugars that puts an individual at greater risk of being morbidly obese by slowing their metabolisms, and is also known to elevate their blood pressure. Mexico’s soda consumption and obesity rate was once worst than the United States a few years ago, Mexico then established “a significant tax on soda and junk food.. Soda consumption in Mexico fell by a couple of percent points almost immediately.. there was almost as large increase in the sale of bottled water (not taxed).” Mexico had went ahead with its initiative to stop their nation’s problem, as for the United States, soda has become a major part of our diets. I believe that is restricting us from progressing from this aggravated problem.

Based out of Long Island City, Queens, FreshDirect was launched in July 2001, by Joseph Fedele and Jason Ackerman. It offers online grocery shopping and delivery service to over 300 zip codes in the Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and surrounding areas. At the time of launch, there had been numerous other online grocery ventures that had ultimately met their demise. What made Fresh Direct unique was that it could offer grocery shoppers: “higher quality at lower prices.” It was able to do so because it had no retail location, which meant there was no rent to pay for retail space. In order to provide its customers with

The highest percentage of the company sale is as a result of making impulse purchases; hence this requires a good point of sale support team. The market is very competitive. There are a couple of competitors that offer the same products as Gatorade, for example, MW, M.I.T and A.U.I. The experience that the firm has in the

Gatorade has emerged as the global leader in sports nutrition beverages by continually managing their brand to signify high energy, athletic excellence combine with one of the most efficient new product development and introduced processes in the beverage industry. As a result of being able to consistently synchronize these many components of their business so well, Gatorade today holds a 75% market share in the sports nutrition market globally today. Gatorade is owned by PepsiCo, which has made it possible for the company to sell in 80 countries today. Gatorade relies heavily on the PepsiCo distribution and retail network globally. Gatorades' revolutionary approach to managing branding for beverages has served to increase the total market size for this product category globally (Huang, Sarigöllü, 2012). Despite the continued widespread adoption of Gatorade as a healthy energy drink, the company has encountered resistance to its brand and the ingredients used for creating the many variations of Gatorade energy drinks (Tallon, 2009). Despite these setbacks the Gatorade brand continues to experience exceptional growth and stability over time.

FreshDirect have advances online and food technology and had good knowledge in management but they are weak to deliver coverage and daily food usage products.

For example, in 2006, the acquisition of Izze lightly carbonated sparkling fruit drinks was targeted towards health-conscious consumers.

Market share is an essential feature a company needs in order to remain and survive long term. CoolBurst seems to bear certain unique features which set them apart from their competitors, Thirst Smasher and Drink-Ups. The Atlanta location of its purchasing agents and plant operations enables the company to produce high quality products at a cheaper price, due to the low cost of production materials.

FreshDirect was found in 1999 by Jason Ackerman, Steve Druckman and Joe Fedele as an online alternative to traditional grocery stores. The company specializes in delivering a variety of over 3,000 items such as fruits, vegetables, seafood, prepared entrees and sides, coffee, meat products, deli and cheese products, and bakery items (Goldberg, 2010). The company provides same day and next day delivery to over 600,000 customers in New York