Coke and Pepsi slash deals in the run-up to sugar tax

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo both slashed their promotional activity in the run-up to the sugar tax.

Although it was the biggest promoting soft drinks brand, Coca-Cola reduced the number of featured space promotions in stores by 32.3% compared with the previous four-week period, while Pepsi cut its promotional activity by 22.2% month on month [4 w/e 1 April 2018].

When compared with the same period last year, Coca-Cola offered 33.3% fewer ­promotions, while Pepsi had 53.3% fewer deals in stores.

Playing the game: Soft Drinks Category Report 2018

Lucozade, Robinsons and Dr Pepper also ran fewer promotions in stores compared with the previous month, but ­Coca-Cola and Pepsi were the only soft drinks brands to reduce the amount of featured space promotions in stores ­compared with last year.

The biggest increases in promotional activity came from Capri-Sun and Monster, up by 269.2% and 566.7% respectively year on year.

Overall, deals on carbonated drinks accounted for just 2.21% of total promotional ­activity over the period, down from 2.49% last year. However, ­average savings were up by 2.8 percentage points to 33.8%, ­giving shoppers a better deal.

Coca-Cola increased average savings on its featured space promotions by 1.2 percentage points year on year to 31.1%, while Pepsi slashed its average savings by 11.3 percentage points to 18.3%.

“Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola’s savings fall below the average,” says Assosia director Kay Staniland.

Looking across grocery, the drop in promotional activity by Coca-Cola meant it wasn’t one of the top 10 biggest promoting brands last month.

“Coca-Cola, generally a ­regular on the top 10 list, came in at position 12, in comparison to eighth the previous month,” says Staniland.

In contrast, Lindt leapt into ninth place from 11th during the previous month after ramping up its promotions in the run-up to Easter Sunday. Cadbury was the biggest-promoting brand, with deals up 28.4% month on month.