Coca-Cola Enterprises Marketing

Contents Page

Introduction 02

Purchase decision making 03

Brand Loyalty 05

Research validity and reliability 07

Market Research 08

Major competitors 09

Customer satisfaction survey 10

Conclusion 13

Appendix 14

Introduction

Coca-Cola Enterprises, established in 1986, is a young company by the standards of the Coca-Cola system. Yet each of its franchises has a strong heritage in the traditions of Coca-Cola that is the foundation for this Company. The Coca-Cola Company traces it's beginning to 1886, when an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John Pemberton , began to produce Coca-Cola syrup for sale in fountain drinks. However the bottling business began in 1899 when two Chattanooga businessmen, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead , secured the exclusive rights to bottle and sell Coca-Cola for most of the United States from The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola bottling system continued to operate as independent, local businesses until the early 1980s when bottling franchises began to consolidate. In 1986, The Coca-Cola Company merged some of its company-owned operations with two large ownership groups that were for sale, the John T. Lupton franchises and BCI Holding Corporation's bottling holdings, to form Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. The Company offered its stock to the public on November 21, 1986, at a split-adjusted price of $5.50 a share. On an annual basis, total unit case sales were 880,000 in 1986. In December 1991, a merger between Coca-Cola Enterprises and the Johnston Coca-Cola Bottling Group, Inc. (Johnston) created a larger, stronger Company, again helping accelerate bottler consolidation. As part of the merger, the senior management team of Johnston assumed responsibility for managing the Company, and began a dramatic, successful restructuring in 1992.Unit case sales had climbed to 1.4 billion, and total revenues were $5 billion.

Market Intelligence is about providing a company with a view of a market using existing sources of information to understand what is happening in a market place, what the issues are and what the likely market potential is.

The Purchase decision making

An individual or an organization has its own stages of making decision when it comes purchasing,

This model is important for anyone making marketing decisions. It forces the marketer to consider the whole buying process rather than just the purchase decision (when it may be too late for a business to influence the choice!)

A customer can obtain information from several sources:

* Personal sources: family, friends, neighbours etc

* Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays

* Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organisations; specialist magazines

* Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the product

The usefulness and influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. Research suggests that customers value and respect personal sources more than commercial sources (the influence of "word of mouth"). The challenge for the marketing team is to identify which information sources are most influential in their target markets.

In the evaluation stage, the customer must choose between the alternative brands, products and services.

How does the customer use the information obtained?

An important determinant of the extent of evaluation is whether the customer feels "involved" in the product. By involvement, we mean the degree of perceived relevance and personal importance that accompanies the choice.

Where a purchase is "highly involving", the customer is likely to carry out extensive evaluation.

High-involvement purchases include those involving high expenditure or personal risk - for example buying a house, a car or making investments.

Low involvement purchases (e.g. buying a soft drink, choosing some breakfast cereals in the supermarket) have very simple evaluation processes.

Why should a marketer need to understand the customer evaluation process?

The answer lies in the kind of information that the marketing team needs to provide customers in different buying situations.

In high-involvement decisions, the marketer needs to provide a good deal of information about the positive consequences of buying. The sales force may need to stress the important attributes of the product, the advantages compared with the competition; and maybe even encourage "trial" or "sampling" of the product in the hope of securing the sale.

Post-purchase evaluation - Cognitive Dissonance

The final stage is the post-purchase evaluation of the decision. It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision. This arises from a concept that is known as "cognitive dissonance". The customer, having bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable. In these circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch brands next time.

To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs. Then after having made a purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision.

Brand Loyalty, corporate Image and repeat purchasing

The Brand Relationship

Relationships are