Product
Pepsi Light is a PepsiCo ltd product that is among many of the company’s product. The product is an alcohol free beverage that is sold in stores, restaurants and other places. Pepsi Cola is a global product that received high sales and great market share due to the brand name which has existed for years. Pepsi light is associated with sports and mostly targeted to the youths between in different parts of the world. Pepsi light operates under the brand name of Pepsi. Pepsi Company uses the brand strategy for their branding strategy and their products also. However, Pepsi Light operates on different lines just as other Pepsi products such as 7up and Miranda.
The name under the Diet Pepsi is at the moment distributed in the external countries in the United States, Australia, UK and other countries using the English Language. The product si offered in different quantities and prices and its packed in a 250ml bottles and 2.25Liter bottle. Competition is very high in this industry and it is therefore advisable to develop high quality products with unique packaging and the company should always practice product development and modification time after time in order to meet the customer’s satisfaction.
Price
When introducing a product into the market it is essential to carry out market research in order to understand the competitors pricing strategy. It is always important to price product or services similar to those of competitors or slightly lower than those of competitors. High pricing of products will always lead to fewer sales and most of the customers will always go for competitor’s products or substitute products especially if they serve the same purpose. Coca-Cola Company is the direct competitor of Pepsi Company. Pepsi Light was introduced in the market with a friendly and favorable pricing strategy compared to that of Diet Coke and this helped the company to acquire sales easily and fast. Both are international companies producing high quality product. Therefore in order for Pepsi Cola to acquire sales and acquire a large market share the marketing department put introduced the product with fewer sales than those of the competitors.
In most countries where Pepsi Light was introduced the market was mature. The industry is generally driven by growth in population, and also the amount of innovation of the product and the advertising. Due to the nature of maturity in the market, Pepsi has opted to pricing discrimination strategy in order to maximize consumer demand value. The Company uses the following types of discrimination strategies:
Direct Price Discrimination: The easiest way of extracting the surplus of customers is giving them different prices in regards to their power of purchasing and their location. This is a strategy that has been clearly visible in the international operations of Pepsi. The prices of the product in Brazil, Mexico and Eastern Europe are always lower than those prices in Asia despite the fact that the concentrate cost is practically the same. The direct price discrimination used by Pepsi si normally based on the channels of distribution segmentation. The prices vary from those in restaurants, gas stations, single drinks and other location depending on per unit basis even though their adjusted costs for distribution and packaging cannot warrant the type of discrepancy. This kind of segmentation is claimed to help the product pricing differences which are situational based. Most of the customers said to be more insensitive are the customers in a restaurant who require a during to go with their meal. Also, buyers at a gas station are likely to be price sensitive compared to a family shopping for a weekend then purchase a twelve pack for consumption at home.
Indirect Price Discrimination: Pepsi uses quantity discounts and also price coupons in different supermarkets as tools of indirect price discrimination. It is however obvious that brand name is the most crucial tool of indirect price discrimination that Pepsi uses. The equity of Pepsi brand enables the Company to maintain its power of pricing. The image of PepsiCo products such as Pepsi Light translates into perception for higher quality vis-à-vis of other substitute drinks and private labels.
Place
PepsiCo is an international company that is recognized in most parts of he world. The country sells its products in approximately two hundreds countries worldwide. In the globe, PepsiCo has employed about 198,000 people who sell its brand. It is evident that environmental stewardship is a major part of the vision of Pepsi Company and the incorporation is taking great measure in reducing their consumption of energy and instead transforms their model of business by replacement of oil, fossil and gas usage and starting their manufacturing with energy sources which are renewable. Pepsi Light is sold in different parts of the world and it competes with other international products such as Diet Coke. In most places the product is associated with sports and it is always promoted when there are international sporting activities.
When locating a product it is very essential to consider the environment according to the target market of the product. Pepsi Light is not a beverage to be located in cold areas or very remote places. The product target market is the youth and therefore it essential to place the beverage in certain areas such as the malls, institutions like colleges, high school canteens, parties and other relevant areas. These are areas which call for the sale of the product unlike remote areas where most of the clientele do not even recognize the drink. Cold areas also are not preferable to the drink since people would more prefer warm drinks such as milk, coffee and tea.
Promotion
It is essential to use proper promotional strategies in order to acquire greater sales for a product or service and also so as to face the stiff competition especially in International Market. In order to acquire sales for their product Pepsi Light, the company used various promotional strategies such as personal selling, sales promotions, public relations and intense advertisement. A good example of a promotion that Pepsi did was adding the star wattage by using Mariah Carey to take an international commercial. Partnership is another means of promotion that has increased the sales of Pepsi products. Mariah Carey wrote and recorded ringtones which were only available exclusively through cool tones of Pepsi and Motorola phones promotion.
PepsiCo has also instituted a promotion known as Pepsi Stuff Promotion which allows the buyers to accumulate points through buying their products. These points could later be used to purchase other products and this has proved to be a very high quality promotion which attracted a large clientele. Tiger woods’ was also another celebrity used to promote PepsiCo product known as Gatorade Tiger. The company still continues its association of promotion with THE Super Bowl and NFL.
Action Plan (IMC) Budget, Controls
In order to create a good action plan, budget and controls Pepsi Company should follow the following strategies:
Main Cooperative Body: This is essential in order to comply with the objectives of marketing. It is therefore essential to list down the various companies and non-profit organizations they will join with in order to promote the community and sell more of their products.
Maintaining Current market situation: Pepsi Company must come up with proper and efficient strategic moves which will enable maintain the current situation in the market. The company should avoid any strategies which might lead to fall in sales and should instead fight to survive in the market.
Developing a new offer and its pricing: Pepsi Company has always been able to develop and introduce new offers in the competitive market. Marketing development strategy should be the company’s strategy in the coming years and this means that fact sheet of all the new products are enclosed because each new product has its pricing policies. The key concept should be creativity and innovation
Promoting Marketing Activities: This is considered the major issue in the action plan. The marketing activities should be as per the marketing mix and market segments desired.
GANTT Scheme: Display of all the above issues is necessary in a table which clearly states what should be practiced within the next four quarters, when, by who, and how much money its going to cost.
Marketing Yearly Budget: This is done in order to support the GANTT chart. A proper and dedicated budget should be created. The budget should also be created according to the company’s resources and for easier analysis of yearly profits. The budget helps in planning and control of organizational resources.
Work Cited
Marketing Teacher. (2013, n.d.). PespsiCo Marketing Mix. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from Marketing Teacher: http://www.marketingteacher.com/case-study/pepsico-case-study.html#
