Segmentation, Target Market and Positioning of Coca Cola

This article discusses the segmentation, target market and positioning of Coca Cola. It also covers digital marketing, branding, product and service decisions, pricing decisions, distribution and supply chain management, integrating marketing communications, and people, physical process and partnership.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Introduction to Marketing
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1INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
Segmentation, Target market and positioning
Coca Cola, in general, does not have a specific target market and they offer their products
to almost everyone. However, the main customers of the company are the people aged between
12 and 30 (Coca-cola.com, 2019). They always look to expand their market by development of
new products. The different brands of the company are always successful in reaching the
customers. However, the people with busier lifestyle and the young people who are addicted to
such things are the primary consumers of their products. The target markets are also the students
of schools and colleges and their families. The total age segments of the products of Coca Cola
are mainly the people are between 18 and 25 in some countries (Coca-cola.com, 2019). The
positioning of Coca Cola lies within the world soft drink market. The company sells all of their
products in around 200 countries all over the world (Armstrong et al., 2015). The tagline ‘think
global, act local’ has been very effective for the company to sell their products.
Digital marketing and social networking
The digital marketing process is one of the most effective facts that Coca Cola has
embraced to sell their products and develop their marketing strategies. The young consumers of
the company always favor the exposure in the social media. This is why the social media has
always been an effective medium for the company and their selling strategy. They have also
taken some motivating digital marketing campaigns that have impacted positively on their sales.
Coca Cola is also very much active in the social media and their digital marketing
advertisements have drawn the attention of their young customers indeed (Armstrong et al.,
2015). The recycling-based digital advertisement called the ‘Love Story’ has indeed attracted the
attraction of their young customers. They also strive to take the opinion from their consumers on

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how they can put their efforts in a better manner and be successful in their quest to overcome the
difficulties in some regions of the world like African countries (Coca-cola.com, 2019).
The power of branding
Coca Cola is a brand that was born in the United States of America but they have turned
global in a very short time (Coca-cola.com, 2019). Their advertisements have made the company
very famous in all over the world. The branding of the company’s products are very much
important to gain the highest benefits. They have recently launched the program by which they
have created a ‘common identity’ for all the variants of their products (Armstrong et al., 2015).
Coca Cola has often used the classic logo of theirs so they can send the message to their
customers that irrespective of adding sugar or no sugar; their product quality would always
remain the same indeed. Coca Cola always sets to prefer the less complicated branding style so
the consumers can understand their offerings to their customers (Coca-cola.com, 2019). The
brand has used the script style font in the crisp white. It is in contrast with the crimson red
background (Cross, Belich & Rudelius, 2015).
Product and service decisions
The products and services of Coca Cola are designed for excellence in the world and their
products are probably the best according to the quality. They have always designed their
products as per the needs of their consumers (Cross, Belich & Rudelius, 2015). The products
with no sugar or less calories have been produced for the people who suffer from diabetes or age
related syndromes. The low calorie soft drinks will prevent the people from the diseases. Some
of such products are Dasani, Sprite, Powerade, Minute Maid, Fanta, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke
and others. They provide their customers with more than 19 billion servings in different types of

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products indeed (Coca-cola.com, 2019). The company provides such products and services to
their customers so they can keep the balance in their caloric intake and the physical activities. It
must be mentioned in this regard that the Coca-Cola Zero has been one of the most significant
beverages that has become quite successful in their quest to become the world’s best beverage
and soft drinks producers. Thus their services and products are considered as their main success
factors (Hassan & Craft, 2012).
Pricing decisions
The pricing strategy of the company has been very helpful to gain the attractions of their
customers. They prefer the price of their products within the limit of the consumers and
according to the economic situation of the countries. The process should be set as per the
demands of the target markets of the company. The pricing strategy of the company is believed
to be better than all the competitors of the company. In some regions like African countries they
obviously cannot keep the prices of the products too high because of the poor economic
conditions of the country (Hassan & Craft, 2012). The company likes to sell their products
through the direct selling and indirect selling process. These are the two primary distribution
channels for the company (Ryan, 2016).
Distribution and supply chain management
As discussed above the main distribution channels for the company are direct selling and
indirect selling. Their supply chain system is also very strong in all the regions all through the
country (Kapferer, 2012). In the direct selling process the company sends their products to all
their showrooms and shops by using their own transport system. This proves that their supply
chain and logistics system is very much strong and effective. They use almost 550 vehicles to

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supply their bottles of soft drink to their shops (Ryan, 2016). In the indirect selling process, they
have also employed some agencies and whole sellers that would send their products to the shops.
The company always focuses on the sustainability of their supply chain so they can get the
highest benefits from their customers. They use the advance technologies to support their supply
chain management and logistics (Tanwar, 2013).
Integrating marketing communications
The company Coca Cola has been very much efficient in applying their integrated
marketing communications. The IMC strategies of Coca Cola are considered as an ideal one in
this context. Some of the strategies they use as their IMC strategies are the TV advertising,
banner ads, methods in mass media and print advertising (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). The
adverting method is one of the basic methods for doing the marketing in the world and their
ways of promoting products have been very much efficient in this context indeed (Hugos, 2018).
They have also presented some made some advertisements throughout their history that have
some significant impacts on the culture and the entire society. Apart from that the packaging
design of the company has been quite impressive and it has contributed to the IMC strategy of
the company in a big way. The use of the social media and rapid developments of science and
technology, they have overtaken their competitors in a long way (Christopher, 2016).
People, physical process and partnership
The company has a reputation in engaging with the culture and community in different
manners. This is why their impression in the community has been much positive. They have
made partnerships with many health and social organizations that has been helpful for them to
gain the faith of their customers (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). They have recently focused

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on the health and well being of the customers. This is quite inspiring for the customers to believe
in their products. The company has also committed themselves to the challenge of obesity among
individuals. Thus their initiatives for the well-being of the people have been quite appreciable in
different manners.

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References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Buchwitz, L. A., Trifts, V., & Gaudet, D. (2015). Marketing: an
introduction.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Coca-cola.com. (2019). Coca-Cola Global. Retrieved from https://www.coca-cola.com/global/
Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., & Rudelius, W. (2015). How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing
Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.
Hassan, S. S., & Craft, S. (2012). Examining world market segmentation and brand positioning
strategies. Journal of Consumer marketing, 29(5), 344-356.
Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Jobber, D., & Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2012). Principles and practice of marketing (No. 7th).
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Kapferer, J. N. (2012). The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic
thinking. Kogan page publishers.
Ryan, D. (2016). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital
generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
Tanwar, R. (2013). Porter’s generic competitive strategies. Journal of business and
management, 15(1), 11-17.

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