Pepsi Marketing Strategy Report: Competitor Analysis and Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Pepsi's marketing strategy, examining its approach to perceptual mapping, competitor analysis, market segmentation, and targeting strategies. The report delves into Pepsi's use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to gain a competitive edge, its segmentation strategies targeting different demographics with products like Pepsi-Cola and Pepsi Diet, and its focus on brand promotion and product differentiation. It highlights Pepsi's positioning in the non-alcoholic beverage market, its international presence, and its efforts to address health-conscious consumers. The report also discusses the company's reliance on reseller marketing and e-commerce, and concludes by emphasizing the importance of advertising, user experience, and product quality to maintain a strong market position while addressing challenges like counterfeit products. References from Marketing Insider, Marketing91, and Research Methodology are included.

 Student’s Name:
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 TITLE: PEPSI MARKETING STRATEGY

Part A - Perceptual mapping and
competitor analysis
 The company uses corporate CSR to ensure that it has a competitive edge.
 For instance, in 2015 the Company sponsored the ICC World Cricket
Competition.
 Pepsi’s market segmentation strategy is effective as it has placed itself as
the main producer of beverages and foods.
 In the food industry the main competitor is Nestle which has branded itself
as the main producer of butter and related products.
 Nevertheless, the market positioning of Pepsi is better as it has branches
in over 200 countries, hence enjoys a larger market segment than its
competitor Nestle.

Perceptual maps

Targeting Strategies
 The main competitor of Pepsi in beverages and soft drinks is Coca Cola.
 The strategies used by Coca Cola include brand promotion whereby the Coca Cola company
leverages on the strong brand it has, to achieve global market.
 The Coca Cola company is the main competition in the Cola market as it has been in
operation for a long time, and has established a record of Strategic Corporate CSR to push its
position in the world.
 However, Pepsi enjoys better equity in the market promotion as it is believed to be a young
company compared to Coca Cola.
 The main area of product competition and differentiation is in offering carbonated sugar free
drinks. Pepsi is making efforts to show that its beverages are the better of the two.
 Targeting strategies are methods used by companies to ensure that they achieve optimum
sales of a given product to a given set of consumers.
 Targeting strategies includes the identification of the appeals that work for a certain
demographic.
 Some of the common targeting strategies include: identifying of segments that the market
will address; product differentiation and concentrated marketing (Marketing Insider, 2015).

Part B - Segmentation
 Segmentation is the division of market into particular needs and
potential consumers, this involves the use of differentiated and at
times undifferentiated products that fit certain demographics.
 Pepsi’s product segmentation is first achieved by the development of
different product that are used by different people in the same
market.
 For instance, the Pepsi-Cola is highly carbonated and fits the young
generation that has less regard for healthy eating; while Pepsi Diet
has less sugars which makes it suitable for the healthy eating people
(Marketing91, 2019).
 The main segmentation strategy is aiming at all generations, ranging
from 15-45 years with the tagline that Pepsi helps in refreshing and
enjoying life.

 The product is aimed for the average and above average earners
which makes it affordable to as many people as possible.
 The major consumers of the Pepsi products are mainly single people,
young couples or young children.
 The Pepsi products are in 22 brands (Marketing91, 2019)
 To effectively address market needs the products have unique
packaging, flavors as well as pricing to make it convenient to buy for
different users.
 The product is aimed for the average and above average earners
which makes it affordable to as many people as possible.
 The major consumers of the Pepsi products are mainly single people,
young couples or young children.

 Pepsi projects itself as a young and vibrant company whose products are
aimed at achieving the same experience.
 The market segment it addresses is that of people who use non-alcoholic
beverages.
 The strength of the company’s segmentation strategy is due to its strong
financial base, which makes it easy to have mass production and have as
many products as possible.
 Consequently, the company enjoys huge profits by employing the
economies of large scale production.
 The company utilizes a collaborative producer-consumer strategy to
ensure that its products have high appeal to the consumers.
 In addition, the range of products offered in different countries is
dependent on the country’s specific demand and consumption trends.

Part C - Targeting strategies
 The company’s major presence can be in the developing nations
as the developed nations already have many companies dealing
with similar products.
 The company has to project its products as healthy, compared to
its major competitor for Pepsi products is the Coca Cola company
whose products are majorly criticized for the health
consequences (Research Methodology, 2016).
 The company notes that product differentiation is the main
strategy to meeting the needs and preferences of its customers.

 The company employs a reseller marketing strategy to effectively
meet the customer demands of its retail segment.
 The retailer marketing and supply segment is often achieved by
having distributors in the different countries.
 The retailer segment is also embellished by use of e-commerce
to market and deliver its products.

 To have a strong hold of the market, it has diversified its range of
products to include as much of the demographic as it can.
 For example, the introduction of the Zero-sugar Pepsi-Diet makes
it possible to address the health conscious customers.
 In addition, noting that some of the customers maybe switching
their consumption from alcoholic drinks to non-alcoholic, the
company has differentiated products ranging fom mineral water
to beverages such as coffee.
 Thus, its market segmentation meets the various and related
preferences of the customers.

 The company’s market positioning is critical as it competes with
other well established companies, that is the Coca-Cola
Company and Nestle (Research Methodology, 2016).
 The company’s positioning is both domestic and international. It
addresses the international markets by being available in over 200
countries.
 The products it produces are fit for both rural and urban population
which makes it easy to have a wide market.
 The products meet the global standards which makes it effectively
compete with other giants such as Coca-Coca, Nestle and Mondelz.
 To increase its market positioning, the company invests in
international activities where it gains global recognition.

Conclusion
 Other means which Pepsi uses to increase its market position is
by intense advertising,
 The company also strikes a psychological bond with the
consumers by emphasizing on the user experience (Research
Methodology, 2016).
 The company also seeks to have high quality products which
makes its market position viable as it concentrates on improving
the quality of the product.
 The main challenge facing the company’s market positioning is
the rise of counterfeit products. Hence, it has to effectively deal
with counterfeits by ensuring that its products are highly
differentiated and its packaging is unique.

References
 Marketing Insider. (2015, June 30). Market Targeting - Targeting Market
Segments effectively. Retrieved from https://marketing-insider.eu/marketing-
explained/part-i-defining-marketing-and-the-marketing-process/market-
targeting/
Marketing91. (2019, January 14). Marketing Strategy of Pepsi - Pepsi Marketing
Strategy. Retrieved from https://
www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-pepsi/
Research Methodology. (2016, May 9). PepsiCo Segmentation, Targeting and
Positioning. Retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/pepsico-
segmentation-targeting-and-positioning-2/