The main weakness that Coca Cola has is that there are so many competitors is the market such as 7UP, Lilt, Dr Pepper, Pepsi, Fanta etc, in the market who are just as good as Coca Cola. The public may not accept or be happy with the changes I make which, is another weakness. Another weakness Coca Cola has is that there are so many brands in the market this means Coca Cola has to share sales.
People may not be happy with the original design of the product at the moment, which could also be a weakness.
Opportunities
By looking at the strengths I can take the opportunity and improve my position in the market. First of all many people drink Coca Cola and it is a popular soft drink amongst youths. People are earning more so will be able to buy Coca Cola in bulks. Due to the market expanding Coca Cola have a good position at the moment and has been a popular drink.
By doing well Coca Cola have made a lot of profit in the past and still are so if they maintain this position they will be able to have a better market share and stand out in front of their competitors this also means the market growing so more people will go for the drink. By using new technology to promote their products the business will expand and they will be promoting Coca Cola effectively. There is also the Internet available that would help them promote their product to a wider audience.
Threats
Main bigger brands would become a threat to Coca Cola such as Pepsi and Dr Pepper with whom they have to compete with in order to get a better market share and customers. Coca Cola would need to make sure that they attract a lot of customers by promoting their product by advertising effectively so that they are in front of their competitors. Competitors are a big threat to Coca Cola.
Customers are afraid to drink Coca Cola as it is fattening in order to encourage customers to drink Coca Cola the company will need to advertise and promote the product so that customers are attracted to it and purchase the product.
The affects of Coca Cola
If you look at the wrapper on a Coca Cola 1.5 litre bottle in the ingredients label it contains phosphoric acid in it. Minute quantities of ethylene glycol are also used which is acknowledged in the soft drink world for making it “really chilled”. This is popularly down as anti-freeze that prevents water from freezing at 0 degree C and instead drops it by 4-5 degrees with minute quantities. This chemical is a known slow poison in the calibre of arsenic. So, if you manage to drink about 4 litres of coke within an hour or so, you can die.
The Ph for soft drinks like Coca Cola is 3.4 this acidity is strong enough to dissolve teeth and bones. Our human body stops building bones at the age of about 30. Soft drinks do not have any nutrition value in terms of vitamins and minerals. It is high in sugar content, carbonic acid, and chemicals i.e. colorings etc. The impact of having cold soft drinks like Coca Cola after each meal is that our body needs an optimum temperature of 37 degrees Celsius for digestive enzyme functioning. The temperature of cold soft drinks is very much below 37 degrees or even close to 0 degrees Celsius. This will dilute the enzymes and stress the digestive system. The food taken will not be digested. In fact it will be fermented. The fermented food produces gases, decays and becomes toxin, gets absorbed by the intestine, circulates in the blood stream and is carried to the whole body. Therefore toxin is cumulated in other parts of the body, developing into various diseases.
The above is also a big threat to Coca Cola as if customers are aware of this they may not purchase the drink so to overcome this they would need to advertise this product more so that customers are not encouraged to turn to healthy drinks.
PEST Analysis
It is very important that an organisation considers its environment before beginning the marketing process. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and feed all aspects of planning. The organisation's marketing environment is made up from:
1. The internal environment e.g. staff (or internal customers), office technology, wages and finance, etc.
2. The microenvironment e.g. our external customers, agents and distributors, suppliers, our competitors, etc.
3. The macro-environment e.g. Political (and legal) forces, Economic forces, sociocultural forces, and Technological forces. These are known as PEST factors.
Political factors
Political factors include government regulations and legal issues and define both formal and informal rules under which the firm must operate. Some examples include:
- Tax policy
- Employment laws
- Environmental regulations
- Trade restrictions and tariffs
- Political stability
The external forces controlled by the government, both national and European, local authorities or other trade or activity orientated regulatory bodies are all covered by the political and the legal environment.
The rules and regulations set or developed by bodies under this heading have the force of law, while others are voluntary such as advertising codes of practice. These rules and regulations that are set by these bodies would have a great impact on our product as our product will need to be sold in the market to customers who will purchase our product. It is essential that we meet the other regulatory bodies otherwise it will be impossible for us to sell our product to our customers which means that we will not make a profit and will lose sales. Our time and effort will also be wasted, as our product will not sell at the end of the day. We will need to abide by the advertising rules so that our product is advertised to the highest standard and that our customers are drawn to our product which is why advertising appropriately is very important to businesses as if our product is not advertised properly we may lose a lot of money and sales. In order to follow the advertising rules and advertise properly we would need to follow “The British codes of advertising and sales promotion”. The British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion are written by the advertising industry through the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP). All the main trade and professional bodies representing advertisers, agencies, service suppliers and media owners are members of CAP.
My marketing strategy can have a great effect if the government puts the taxes up to control inflation. This can affect my marketing strategy because if customers don’t have much money then they will not be able to buy my drink and I will not be able to make a profit, as they wont be able to afford it. They would then look for a cheaper drink and buy that instead of my improved and developed coca cola. This may cause a big problem for me as my marketing strategy will not be met and I will not be making a profit. If the raw materials are not available for me to buy then I will not be able to go ahead with my marketing strategy and I will not be bale to make the changes to coca cola, this is if there is a change to the availability of raw materials.
Economic factors
Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers and the firm's cost of capital. The following are examples of factors in the macro economy:
- Economic growth
- Interest rates
- Exchange rates
- Inflation rate
At present inflation is low which means that Interest rates are down too so there is a high chance that consumers will buy my product and they have plenty to spend because they have more earning which means that they will be able to afford my product. I would be able to make a profit if customers buy my product. With unemployment at present been low there is some chance I may make sales because a lot of people would be earning and would be able to buy my product. As the interest rate is also low I will be successful in making a profit. Recession is one thing that coca cola needs to be prepared for just in case changes come in place in the economy so coca cola needs to be prepared and ready, as you do not know. The marketing strategy needs to be ready for these things as well. Coca cola will be able to make sales and profit and expand in future.
Social/ cultural factors
Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macro environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets. Some social factors include:
- Health consciousness
- Population growth rate
- Age distribution
- Career attitudes
-
Emphasis on safety
If a new drink comes out at the same time as I launch and promote my new coca cola drink then consumers will be distracted and buy that product depending on what the fashion trend will be, because when something new comes out consumers would normally turn to buying that as there is a lot of publicity when new products are launched especially when it is of a good quality or brand or has better taste, this is known as fashion trends. My marketing strategy may have an effect if a fashion trend of healthy drinking continues, as a lot of people are drinking healthy drinks. This may bring my sales down
Now a days both men and women go out to work in the world of employment. This role has been accepted in society now; their roles have in a way become equal in society. The old fashioned way of thinking that men should go out to work and women should stay home and look after children, or cook food all the time has died down although in some religions such thinking is still in place. Having two people in the household, both the man and women working means that there is more income coming in which means that consumers will not have a problem with buying my product and will be able to afford it as they have enough income coming in. If consumers do not have enough income they tend to settle for a substitute, which means a drink that is cheaper or would buy another drink instead.
If family members do not
Like coca cola then the
Buyer will not buy my
Product.
Technological factors
Everyone has their own way of thinking and now a days the younger generation or population seem to have a strong feeling and understanding about the environment and feel strongly about its effects. Their beliefs and views have become strong about the environment. Due to this we nay lose sales as consumers may stop buying the drink. They may argue that the fumes and smoke etc at the making process in the factory is harming the environment. Such protests can lead to bad reputation and publicity.
Technological factors
Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions. Some technological factors include:
- R&D activity
- Automation
- Technology incentives
- Rate of technological change
The Internet is a good means of distributing my product and I will use that so that consumers could purchase my product on line for example shopping. This way of distribution is becoming very popular and I will be able to make better sales and profit this way.
By using technology to produce my product I will be saving a lot of time and money and will be producing my product a lot of quicker for consumers to purchase. I will also be able to produce my product to the highest and best quality as by using technology quality is checked and is often reliable. I will be producing my product cheaply and at the same time to the highest standard for my consumers to buy.
I will definitely use technology to produce and distribute my product as I will not need as many labour or people to produce the product as technology will replace humans to do the job so I will not only be saving money but will also be producing quality goods at the same time because it also saves me from paying people to do the job. There is a problem however of using technology which is buying it in the first place as it is quite expensive and coca cola would probably not want to spend as much on producing the product however it may be an advantage for the future as they may be able to make more sales and more profit. By using technology you can ruin the environment because of the fumes etc so coca cola would need to consider the environment and what the public think too as this affects them, as we need to keep them happy, make the environment safe in order to make my marketing strategy a success.
