The world’s largest beverage brand, Coca-Cola to launch a new category called Kinley Flavors. The upcoming range of aerated drinks will be 35-40% cheaper than Coke, Sprite, and Fanta. Kinley Flavors will be rolled out in popular localized flavors such as lemon, jeera, and orange.
Just as Patanjali did to HUL and Colgate, regional brands are doing to the soft drink giants. There are more than 200 beverage company spread in local areas which offer half the prices as that charged by MNCs. Due to which they have consolidated 12% of market share. In order to compete with these local brands, Coca-Cola has planned to launch Kinley Flavors.
These local brands range from Bovonto in Tamil Nadu to Alwar-based Jayanti Cola, to Gujarat’s Hajoori & Sons, which sells Sosyo, Ginlim and Lemee. A slew of smaller names includes Xalta cola made by a Delhi-based company, City Cola by Rahul Beverages, and Campa Cola, a brand that never quite died out.
With Kinley Flavors, the company plans to target at the bottom segment of the market to compete with local brands. The beverages will be among the cheapest for Coca-Cola across markets. The new launch will be available in 250ml PET packs at attractive price points. The company is doing pilots in selected market areas and will be going to expand over time.
Besides, Coca-Cola is also expected to launch the Monster Energy drink over the next few weeks. Monster Beverage Corp. is an independent firm which has had a long-term strategic partnership with Coca-Cola to boost growth in the global energy drinks category since 2014.
With the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) starting July 1, Coca-Cola prices of its aerated beverages will increase while those of packaged drinking water brand Kinley will drop. Aerated beverages have been taxed at an effective rate of 40%, due to which there will be a marginal increase in prices of its existing soft drinks range.