WHERE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COKE AND PEPSI LIES:

Coke and Pepsi both are the close competitors in the industry. Coca-Cola Company is traded in the New York stock exchange as “KO”. Coke is the manufacturer, retailer and marketer of a nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup whose headquarter is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Pepsi Company is also the manufacturer, marketer and distributor of the concentrate syrup whose headquarter is based in purchase, New York. Coke and Pepsi both take a concentrated formula from their franchiser, and then the job of the franchisee is to dilute the concentrate and refill the bottles and then distribute to the suppliers and consumers.

The market share of Coca-Cola vary as per country but its estimated global market share is around 56%, but in India coke holds a market share of around 69% in 2011. Coke is the global market leader in the Beverages industry followed by Pepsi.Coca-Cola and Pepsi both are considered to be the highest dividend stocks in the beverages industry. If we look at the cola’s wars then Coca-Cola was far ahead and has already won that competition. In US, diet coke was considered to be the second most sold soda brand whereas Pepsi is at in the third position.

In the salty snacks division Pepsi Company has a leadership position controlling 40% of the world’s market which give PepsiCo an opportunity for the growth. The emphasis of Coca-Cola is on the cultural leadership and it is one of the key to drive there marketing plans for the future. Coke has strong international presence whereas Pepsi has an advantage in the healthier products which is gaining popularity with the passage of time.

Pepsi and coke both have a brand power and they both differentiate their product from their smaller competitors. Coke’s product portfolio has 16 billion dollars brands. These brands includes Fanta, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet coke, minute maid and others, whereas Pepsi owns 22 brands from where they has the sales of around more than $1 billion.The challenges that coke and Pepsi both are facing is that they have the stable volume growth in the developed countries and the reason behind that is saturation of the market as the industry trend analysis is moving toward the healthier nutritional habits. Also in the last week of Feb 2014 the coca- cola company Spanish subsidiary had shut down one of its plant that is located in the Austria region. Around 2500 workers have been affected by this decision. The workers that are being laid off are shouting saying that the people residing there should not consume the beverage. This could affect the Investment options of the Coca-Cola Company as it is the 2^nd largest plant in Europe. This could also impact the stock market predictions as well.

Coke and Pepsi are considered to be the best dividend paying stocks in the beverage industry The Pepsi dividend payout ratio is 50% which meant that it retains half of their income and rest were paid to the shareholder. So for the shareholder it is an attractive investment option and it would impact the stock market prices whereas Pepsi payout ratio is 34%. The dividend yield of coke is 2.7% whereas that of Pepsi is around 3.1%.

The news came from the south Asia region that India which is currently Pepsi Co largest market globally announced its plan that the company investing $5.5 billion in India by 2020 therefore India is considered to be good investment options by Pepsi Co.