The Cola war

The beverage market is getting tougher, with the coming of a new entrant, Big Cola has joined the soft drinks market, threatening to give Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola a run for their money.
Backed with heavy cash – N5 billion from AJE Group, a multinational beverage company with headquarters in Lima, Peru – Big Cola is set to battle Coke and Pepsi for the Cola market.
Its entry into the market a few weeks ago, is, however, eliciting a lot of interest from brand analysts.
In a report by Ventures Africa, expectations are high that the production of the soft drink in variants is expected to further deepen competition in a market segment currently dominated by Coca-Cola, Pepsi and La Casera, among other carbonated drinks in the country.
While Big Cola comes with enormous global brand weight, the view that it will dwarf existing brands has been premised on various indicators. One of is that Big Cola has presence in over 20 countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa.  Another is that with 25 years of experience, AJE is the 10th largest soft drink company in sales volume and the fourth largest producer of carbonated soft drinks in the world. As a result, “a company whose vision is to be one of the top 20 multinational enterprises by year 2020,” analyst said, “could become a major and worthy opponent of a top multinational company like Coca-Cola.”

For the full story, check The Nation newspaper.