Follow-up to B2: The U.S. soft drink battlefield is different than the rest of the world (even Canada).
Posted by
Mop (aka rburriel)
Nov 16 '14, 09:21
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Canada is unique of its own accord because of A&W (don't ask) but even more because of Cott which is easily the 4th largest soft drink manufacturer, if not the 3rd (surpassing Dr. Pepper 7-Up). Cott is unusual because it manufactures a lot of the store brand sodas, but also has license to manufacture a lot of the 3rd tier brands outside of the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised to see a merger between Cott and Dr. Pepper 7-Up in the next 5 years. Here's one case where mergers will lead to a clearer battlefield.
The international market is unusual because 7-Up and Dr. Pepper lost international bottling rights in bankruptcy to Pepsi and Coca-Cola respectively. So outside of the U.S., Pepsi doesn't sell Sierra Mist, they sell 7-Up, and Coca-Cola doesn't sell Pibb Xtra, they sell Dr. Pepper.
Mop
P.S. Coca-Cola has tried twice to merge with Dr. Pepper (before it became part of the Cadbury family, that was later spun off into its stand-alone company). At least one of those mergers was halted by regulators because it would give Coca-Cola a monopoly in the "pepper-based soda market."
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