Coca-Cola is shifting its focus away from acquisitions and small innovations and prioritizing E-Commerce for seeking opportunities despite Covid-19…
Coca- Cola is holding back on acquisitions and mergers, refocusing on innovation and prioritizing e-commerce as it promises to emerge stronger after the Covid -19 pandemic.
On 27th May, speaking at the RBC capital markets global consumer and retail conference, the financial officer of Coca- Cola, John Murphy laid out the company’s plans after the pandemic, even though there will be a clearer update at the end of the second quarter in July.
Murphy also mentioned that, despite Covid-19, ‘ investing in business is the number one priority’. The focus is shifted towards E-commerce and M&A is of ‘ low priority now’, which he said was a part of slight tactics.
Before the pandemic, Coca-Cola had invested hugely in acquisitions as it looked in diversifying its portfolio, including buying Costa in the UK for 3.9 billion dollars.
Most of Coca-Cola’s head office staff work from home under lockdown across various countries, Coke has found an opportunity for marketers to understand better around consumer buying behavior.
Murphy explains: “One learns a lot by practicing. One can learn a lot about different ways in which they can order. You can order online or collect it from somewhere or you can have it delivered. So, there are lots of opportunities out there with new solutions being created.
With lockdown causing a rise in e-commerce, Murphy says that it is more important that its brands ‘ become good in the online category just as in the offline category’. He explained that there are opportunities and challenges as to address how we go to a market with a shopper which has got multiple options for each step along the way to purchase.
Even if online sales are increasing, e-commerce remains a small percentage of Coca-Cola’s business. Looking towards the future, Coca- Cola plans to streamline their innovation to aim at bigger, and product launches that are more effective. By, keeping that in mind it will put innovation pipeline under scrutiny.
