Coke and Pepsi Lose Market Share; 7UP Drops off the Top-10 List
The Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, Inc. saw their share of the U.S. soft-drink market decline last year in a report that ranks the top-10 U.S. makers of carbonated soft drinks (CSD).
Coca-Cola, the industry leader, saw its market share drop by 0.9% to 43.1%. PepsiCo (No. 2) saw a drop of 0.1% to 31.7%. Coca-Cola’s case volume dipped 1% to 4.4 billion, while PepsiCo had 3.2 billion cases with a gain of 0.4%, according to annual rankings by Beverage Digest/Maxwell, a Bedford Hills, NY-based data service that tracks soft-drinks sales.
As for individual brands, Coke had a 17.9% market share, down 0.7%. Pepsi ranked No.2 with 11.5% market share and a 0.4% dip.
Cadbury Schweppes and Cott Corp., the leading producer of private label CSDs, increased their share of the $65.9 billion market. Cadbury Schweppes is the No. 4 CSD producer followed by Cott, National Beverage, Big Red, Red Bull, Hansen Natural, Monarch Co. and Rockstar.
The overall industry grew 1% in 2004. Together, the top three companies—Coke, Pepsi and Cadbury Schweppes—accounted for about 90% of industry volume, the report, which was released last Friday, said.
There were some changes in the top-10 brands last year. Diet Dr Pepper re-entered the rankings at No.9. Sprite dropped down one place to No. 6, Diet Pepsi moved ahead of Sprite into the No. 5 spot. And for the first time since the tracking began in 1985, 7UP dropped out of the top-10 brands.
Coke Classic holds the No. 1 spot with 17.9% market share, followed by Pepsi at 11.5%. Both saw a slight dip in market share of 0.7% and 0.4% respectively. Volume for both was also down at 3% for Coke and 2.5% for Pepsi. Diet Coke holds the No. 3 position, followed by Mountain Dew (Pepsi), Diet Pepsi, Sprite (Coke), Dr Pepper (Cadbury), CF Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper and Sierra Mist (Pepsi).
The retail value of the soft-drink industry overall grew 3.25% to $65.9 billion, up from $63.8 billion in 2003, as prices increased faster than volume.
