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第12课市场竞争

Soft Drink Wars: the Next Battle

软饮料战：下一次战争

The reformulation of Coke has given the feuding cola giants a chance to go at each other again.

可口可乐的重新配方为长期不和的可乐巨头提供了一个新开战的机会。

But Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are spoiling for yet another f ight, and this time they’re picking on the little guys: non-cola makers like Seven-Up and Dr Pepper.

By Monci Jo Williams

但是可口可乐和百事可乐一心想进行另一场战斗，这一次它们选中了小企业：“七喜”和“佩拍博士”。

In the U.S.soft drink industry, where 1% of the market is worth $ 300 million in retail sales, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo don’t wage mere market share battles.They fight holy wars.These days the fighting is on two fronts.One is on the vast plains of the cola business, where the reformulation of Coke has Pepsi on the defensive.The other is in the back alleys of the smaller, non-cola market.Until now these have been dominated by other companies.As growth of high-calorie colas slows, however, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are invading new territory.

在美国的软饮料行业，1％的市场份额就意味着3亿美元的零售额，可口可乐公司和百事可乐公司进行的不仅仅是争夺市场份额的斗争，他们进行的是“圣战”。目前他们的斗争有两条战线。一条是可乐生意的广阔战场，在这儿可口可乐的重新配方使百事处于守势。另一条战线是在较小的非可乐市场的后巷里。迄今为止，这些市场仍被其他公司所支配。由于高热量可乐的增长缓慢，可口可乐公司和百事可乐公司计划入侵新的领域。

Coca-Cola is moving in with two new products: Cherry Coke, a canned version of the old soda fountain favorite, and Minute Maid Orange Soda, which contains orange juice.Pepsi’s new product is Slice, a lemon-lime soft drink that also contains fruit juice.If these products live up to their early performance in test markets—a big if—they could produce $ 3 billion a year in retail sales.The skirmishes between the cola giants will precipitate a battle for supermarket shelf space and for the loyalty of battlers.The big guys will press bottlers to drop competing brands to make way for their new products.

可口可乐凭着两种新产品投入了战斗：一种叫做“樱桃可乐”，是原来的冷饮柜的宠儿的罐装版，另一种叫做“小少女桔子汽水”，含有桔子汁。百事的新产品是“斯来思”，它也是一种包含果汁的柠檬——酸橙软饮料。如果这些产品能够达到早期在试销市场的表现—这是个值得疑问的“如果”—他们在零售方面每年就能产出30亿美元来。可乐巨人之间的小冲突就会升级为一场为争夺超市货架空间和瓶装商忠心的战役。这两个巨商将迫使瓶装商们放弃与之竞争的品牌，以便为他们的新产品让道。

It’s too early to tell how the reincarnated Coke is selling, sinc e many bottlers are still working off old inventories.But the company isn’t leaving much to chance.Coca-Cola will back new coke with more than $ 70 million of advertising this

year, vs.the $ 50 million or so PepsiCo will spend on its flagship brand.Over the long term, however, many industry analysts believe the Coke reformulation will do little to dramatically change either Coke’s or Pepsi’s market share.Says Joseph Doyle Harris Upham brokerage firm in New York: “Twelve months from now, we’ll look back and see new Coke as a nonevent.” In all its variations, Coke holds about 29% of the U.S.market, Pepsi 23%.

现在判断新可口可乐产品的销售情况还为时过早，因为许多经销商还在销售存货，但是公司不会听任其命运。今年可口可乐公司会用7千多万美元的广告费来支持新可乐，而百事可乐公司也将花大约5千万美元为自己的旗舰商标作广告。然而，从长远来看，许多行业分析家认为，可口可乐的重新配方几乎不会给可口可乐或百事可乐的市场份额带来巨大的变化。纽约的Harris Upham经济业联号的Joseph Doyle说，“从现在起12个月后，我们再回头看，会发现可口可乐其实很令人扫兴。”把所有产品都算在内，可口可乐占美国市场的29％，而百事占23%。The company’s new formula was designed partly to keep Coke’s sales growing pared with Americans, who guzzle more soda than water, the rest of the world is still in the sipping stage.Coca-Cola’s goal is to kick up its slowing growth rate outside the U.S.from about 3% a year to 10%.Company executives think a less filling, more “guzzleable” new Coke will help.

可口可乐设计新配方的部分原因是为了保持可口可乐在海外销售的增长。和喝汽水比水还多的美国人相比，世界其他地区的人们简直仍处在“小口顺饮”阶段。可口可乐的目标是把美国之外减慢的增长率从一年3%提高到10％。该公司的经管人员认为，一种不太“灌人”、更易“狂饮”的新型可乐将会起到预期作用。Domestically, sales of soft drinks have been bubbling along nicely.They grew 6% last year, vs.2% to 3% a few years ago.But the cola makers may experience more growing pains.At least with the high-calorie colas that account for half of all sales (diet colas hold about 12%).Baby-boomers are showing a strong preference for healthier, less fattening drinks as they age—everything from diet soda to bottled water to fruit juice.For example, according to Beverage World, an industry magazine, fruit juice and fruit drink sales have grown from $ 1.2 billion in 1976 to $ 8.4 billion last year.John Costello, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Pepsi-Cola USA, thinks the popularity of fruit juices can be captured in new soft drink products such as Slice.“We want to take the vitality of the juice market and put it into soft drinks,” says Costello.

在国内，软饮料的销售一直不错。去年它们增长了6％，而几年前只有2％到3％。但是可乐制造商也许会经历更多的成长的烦恼，至少在高热量可乐方面，它占总销售额的一半（营养可乐占12％）。生育高峰期出生的人随着年龄的增长，表现出对有利健康、不易发胖的饮料的强烈的喜爱——所有一切，从营养汽水到瓶装水到果汁。例如，根据行业杂志《饮料界》的报告，果汁和水果饮料的销售额已由1976年的12亿美元增长到去年的84亿美元。美国百事可乐营销部的副经理John Costello认为，果汁受欢迎的特点可以被运用到像“斯来思”这样的新型软饮料产品当中。Costello说，“我们想汲取果汁市场的活力，把它注入到软饮料中。”Even without the new products from Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the non-cola field is crowded.Indeed, with so many regional and national brands out there, it is sometimes hard to keep track of who owns what and who’s competing with whom.But