Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Coca Cola has many qualities that allow them to attract customers. Qualities include the availability of products, familiarity of the product and the quality of the product. Coca Cola is available in over 200 countries worldwide. Easy access to the products allows consumers to not only become familiar with the product but to also choose it because it is easy to find.

 

Another factor that contributes to consumer decision making is excessive promoting. From commercials to billboards, Coca Cola makes sure that their products are put "out there". When people constantly see Coca Cola everywhere, they are lead to believe that the product is good and are willing to try it. Often time’s celebrities will help to promote the products as well. When people see that a famous person that they look up to drink Coca Cola, they themselves will want to drink the product.Currently, the show American Idol promotes Coca Cola by showing famous musician judges drinking it, displaying it all over the stage and by putting it in their commercials. In return, Coca Cola sponsors American Idol.

 Finally, Coca Cola drives people to buy their products because it is refreshing and quenches thirst. The quality of Coca Cola drives customers to buy more. Coca Cola also offers a wide variety of different carbonated drinks and juices for consumers to choose from. In case customers get tired of one product they will have other products available to them, therefore keeping them as a customer. Having a wide variety of products allows the company to give people what they want and more of it. Customers are driven to buy products that satisfy their needs.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Coca Cola began operating in other countries in 1906. The first countries they expanded to were Canada, Cuba, and Panama; however, after Fidel Castro’s government began seizing private assets from cuba in the 1960s, Coca Cola has not been sold there ever since.

In 1912 the company expanded to the Philippines. Since then coca cola has been operating in many countries around the world. Today coca cola gets 25% of sales from Latin America, 22% from Europe and the Middle East, 6% from Africa, 18% from Asia and 29% from North America. The company has remained successful in these countries due to the global availability, having bottlers in the country cut costs for importation and makes it easier to access the product.

Coca Cola is known for having ongoing innovation; they continuously promote and create new products to satisfy consumers. Coca cola plans to invest 30 billion dollars in markets around the world within the next five years. Infrastructure is a major factor in building Coca Cola into more cities. It is difficult to expand due to the lack of roads and electricity. Without infrastructure, it will be difficult to make coke available to lower class people living in places like China, India and Africa. Coca Cola currently has 53.1% of the international carbonated beverage market share, which makes them the leading carbonated beverage company. International marketing has created a lot of difficulties for Coca Cola over water sources.

In 2004, India blamed Coca Cola for depleting water wells for poor farmers in one of the bottling plants. The bottling plant was later shut down which negatively affected profits for the company. In 2011, Coca Cola purchased half of one of the biggest bottling companies in the United Arab Emirates and opened up its 42^nd bottling plant in china months later. The expansion into the UAE and china will yield huge profits and new customers for the company. Coca Cola is currently working on expanding to Cuba and North Korea where its products are not sold; however, they will face difficulties finding partners for production and distribution.