Coca-Cola Company has been one of the leading brands in the market with respect to the beverage industry. The company was founded in Atlanta, United States of America in the year 1886. Over a period of time, it was seen that the brand became a household item and most of the customers were loving the drink. The company has been expanding since then and it has its presence in more than 200 countries on a global manner. The company has more than 3000 brands, which makes it feasible in satisfying the needs and demands of the different customers (Pendergrast 2013).
The company has adopted a global marketing strategy that has allowed them in being positioned at the top in the various market where it operates. Since a long period, the company followed a marketing strategy that was uniform in nature. However in the recent period, it can be seen that there are changes in the market that suggests that the positioning plan of the company also needs to be changed (Baumgartner 2014).
Strategic positioning is an important factor for the company, which allows them in gaining a competitive advantage in the market based on the different driving forces. Coca-Cola needs to understand the importance of strategic positioning due to the various threats and competition that are present in the market. This will allow the company in increasing its level of profits as well. Due to the increase in the level of competition, the company needs to re-position itself in the market with the help of proper strategies so that it can allow in increasing the level of attractiveness with respect to the brands among the customers.
The company needs to position itself in the market in a sustainable manner so that the products and services can be availed by the customers. This will help in increasing the profits of the company to a great extent, as the brands will be easily available to the customers. Strategic marketing is important for the company, which helps in building the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) to a great extent depending upon the strengths and opportunities that are present with respect to the brand (Kamani 2014). Positioning the brand in a proper manner will help in influencing the perception and attitudes of the customers regarding the product. It also results in increasing the competitive advantage of the company in the market where it is operating.
The process of positioning can be done in two stages by the company known as psychological positioning and market positioning. The market positioning is the process that allows the company in segmenting the customers based on the extensive quantitative research conducted by them (Baumgartner 2014). The research or the survey that is done by the company allows them in gaining a better understanding of the market as well as the behaviour and attitudes of the consumers towards the products. The data that is collected is further analysed with the help of tools so that it can result in understanding the customer segments in a proper manner. Psychological positioning on the other hand deals with the differentiated products that are being offered by the company in the market. The differentiation of the products done by the customers enable the company in gaining a competitive advantage in the market as well (Kotabe and Helsen 2014).
It is necessary for the company to integrate the efforts so that the products can be designed and communicated with the consumers in a better manner. The use of the model allows the company in showing the benefits to the customers regarding the products and services that they are offering. The strengths and weaknesses along with the competition level and threats present in the market will help in assessing the positioning of the company within the industry. The integrated model also consists of the positioning that needs to be developed with the help of the mission that is followed by the company along with the competencies and skills that needs to be present within the company (Maarit Jalkala and Keranen 2014).
It is very important for the company to understand the factors that will help them to be competitive in the market so that the mission, objectives and vision can be set accordingly. The industrial analysis is based mainly on the Porter’s model that allows them in identifying the competitors, substitutes, suppliers, buyers and the potential threats present in the market (Hoskisson et al. 2013). The competitors have a strong level of influence on the potentiality of the market with respect to the products and services that are being provided by the company. The bargaining power of the suppliers and buyers also affect the overall prices and quality of the products that are being offered by the company. This plays an important role, as it allows the company to position itself in the market in a better manner by offering a superior or premium quality of product (Brenes, Montoya and Ciravegna 2014).
The company also needs to position itself in the market in a proper manner so that the needs and behaviour of the customers can be identified. This will allow in providing better level of solutions and products to them so that it can result in a competitive advantage. The resources that are available within the company needs to be identified in a proper manner and utilized in the weak areas so that it can be turned in to strengths (Singh, Kalafatis and Ledden 2014). The evaluation of the competitions present in the market also needs to be done in a proper manner so that it can allow the company to position its brands and products in an appropriate manner. The company can either concentrate its brand on a particular segment or cover all the customers by diversifying its products (Solomon et al. 2014).
This model allows the company in strongly improving its image based on the level of communication that is being done by the company with the customers. The communication needs to be effective in nature so that it can attract the customers by providing the messages of the products in a clear manner (Urde and Koch 2014). This will help in triggering the psychological needs of the customers within the market so that the attractiveness of the product can be increased. The psychological positioning of the company can be done by providing specific attributes or by categorizing the users with their characteristics. This will allow in gaining a competitive advantage by the company over the rivals that are present in the market (Adina, Gabriela and Roxana-Denisa 2015).
The literature review has stated that there are different forms of positioning strategies that can be taken up by the companies. It is necessary for Coke to understand the best possible method that will allow them to be sustainable in the market as well as gain competitive advantage over the rivals. The use of Porter’s Five Forces will help the company in evaluating the external environment where the business is continuing its operations. It will allow in understanding the strengths that are present within the business along with tits potentiality of sales. It will also result in understanding the financial strengths for launching a diversified brand or increase the promotion of the existing brand in the market. Moreover, it will also allow in localizing the market according to the customers so that the brad can be differentiated.
The use of market positioning by the company will help in having a rich profile of consumers whose behaviour can be influenced towards the products. This is due to the fact that the segmentation of the customers can be done in a proper manner through the different attributes that are present within the customers. The awareness of the brand needs to be increased in the market so that its attractiveness can be increased among the customers. The company may target the product on a particular section of customers so that their affinity can grow towards the brand. This will also result in increasing the attractiveness of the brand in the market. The company may also focus on specializing the product so that it can help in gaining a competitive advantage in the market. Moreover, the company can also target all the segments so that the coverage of the product can be increased. This will also help in increasing the base of customers and result in increasing the level of profit as well. This will also help in reducing the level of risk of the company with respect to the product that is being supplied in the market.
The psychological positioning also needs to be considered by Coca-Cola, as it helps in building a strong and corporate image of the brand. This can be addressed with the analysis of the internal environment through the value chain concept of Porter. It will help in differentiating the products by dividing it in two groups. The primary activity will help in the development and manufacturing the product so that it can result in increasing its sales. The company needs to make the attributes of the product specific in nature so that the tangible and abstract attributes can be understood by the customers. The users can also be categorized through the common characteristics that they share with respect to personality, life stages and life style by the company so that the attractiveness of the product can be increased. It will also help in competing within the other products such as PepsiCo who is a major rival of Coca-Cola. The company can also dissociate its brand with new products by surveying the market. This will help the company in having a better knowledge of the needs and demands so that the development of the product can be done in that manner.
Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that the Coca-Cola needs to identify the strategic positioning strategy in a proper manner so that their product Coke can increase its sales in the market. The use of the right strategy will allow the company in associating themselves with the customers in a proper manner with respect to its brand. The positioning strategy needs to be used with respect to the internal and external environment along with the psychological factors so that it can help in increasing the attractiveness of the product. This will also result in increasing the level of profit, as large quantities of the product will be consumed by the customers
Reference List
Adina, C., Gabriela, C. and Roxana-Denisa, S., 2015. Country-of-origin effects on perceived brand positioning. Procedia economics and finance, 23, pp.422-427.
Baumgartner, R.J., 2014. Managing corporate sustainability and CSR: A conceptual framework combining values, strategies and instruments contributing to sustainable development. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 21(5), pp.258-271.
Brenes, E.R., Montoya, D. and Ciravegna, L., 2014. Differentiation strategies in emerging markets: The case of Latin American agribusinesses. Journal of Business Research, 67(5), pp.847-855.
Hoskisson, R.E., Shi, W., Yi, X. and Jin, J., 2013. The evolution and strategic positioning of private equity firms. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(1), pp.22-38.
Karnani, A., 2014. Corporate social responsibility does not avert the tragedy of the commons. Case study: Coca-Cola India. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 9(3), p.11.
Kotabe, M. and Helsen, K., 2014. Global marketing management.
Maarit Jalkala, A. and Keränen, J., 2014. Brand positioning strategies for industrial firms providing customer solutions. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 29(3), pp.253-264.
Pendergrast, M., 2013. For god, country, and coca-cola. Basic Books.
Singh, J., P. Kalafatis, S. and Ledden, L., 2014. Consumer perceptions of cobrands: The role of brand positioning strategies. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(2), pp.145-159.
Solomon, M.R., Dahl, D.W., White, K., Zaichkowsky, J.L. and Polegato, R., 2014. Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). London: Pearson.
Urde, M. and Koch, C., 2014. Market and brand-oriented schools of positioning. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 23(7), pp.478-490.
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