The story appears on

Page A11

September 30, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Business » Consumer

Coca-Cola eyes revenue from coffee

COCA-COLA China aims to diversify its revenue by introducing the Georgia brand in the ready-to-drink coffee beverage market on the mainland.

“Chinese consumers are less price sensitive toward non-alcoholic drinks, and there are more growth opportunities in China for high-end products,” said Laurel Gu, senior consumer research analyst for market research company Mintel in China.

Two flavors of Georgia coffee, original and latte, were developed by Coca-Cola’s Global Innovation Technology Center in China to cater to local tastes. The coffee will initially be sold in seven cities and provinces including Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the firm said.

Although China’s average consumption of non-alcoholic drinks is still relatively low compared with developed nations, it is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of around 10 percent in the next five years, Mintel said in a recent research report.

A survey of 3,000 Chinese Internet users conducted earlier this year found that 20 percent said they’ve spent more on non-alcoholic drinks in the past 12 months, while 58 percent said their expenditure remained the same.

Coca-Cola’s move to introduce Georgia came after the company launched the Shui Dong Le flavored drink earlier this year as it intends to rely less on sparkling beverage. Nestle, Suntory and Uni-President Enterprises are the top three sellers in China’s ready-to-drink market. The overall market size jumped 30.8 percent annually in 2013 to 262.5 million liters, according to market research firm Euromonitor International.

But Coca-Cola retained the biggest share in the market for soft drinks in 2013 with 13.9 percent.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend