Feb 24, 2021
Sanket Ray – Coca-Cola India’s new president has highlighted that the core focus areas for the company this year would be quicker replenishment cycles at retail outlets, deeper distribution, and servicing in-home consumption. He said this while addressing his first all-India bottling partners meeting.
Ray also told the bottling partners that Coca-Cola has identified faster and deeper distribution in smaller markets, increased focus on profitability, and more investments in manufacturing of healthier beverages as key strategies the company will focus on this year, as the beverage maker readies for a crucial summer quarter.
Ray, succeeded outgoing president T. Krishnakumar in January this year. One of the youngest presidents of Coca-Cola India, Ray relocated from the beverage maker’s Mainland China business where he was a chief operating officer.
This summer is vital for Coca-Cola, as it recovers from the pandemic-hit last year when its single biggest quarter of April-June accorded with peak lockdown months and caused a complete washout. Sales at core out-of-home channels for beverages such as cinema theatres, restaurants, railway stations, and holiday destinations are recovering but gradually and remain under pressure. The April-June quarter accounts for over half of the Indian soft-drink industry’s annual sales of over Rs 20,000 with out-of-home consumption accounting for three-fourths of the category pre-Covid.
Coca-Cola, the country’s largest beverage maker, operates through a network of 14 bottlers, including its own bottling arm Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB). HCCB remains the company’s single largest bottling partner.
Following the Covid-induced lockdowns globally, Coca-Cola undertook a sweeping global reorganization exercise, pruning 17 business units with nine larger operating units starting January 1, 2021.