Soft drinks manufacturer focuses on expansion
Between 2013 and 2015 the already well-entrenched Pepsi Co Inc. plans to spend in excess of 18 billion baht to further its already extensive reach in the Thailand and Southeast Asian marketplace.
Pepsi Cola first entered the Thailand market in 1952 and now, as it passes its 60th year of operations, a recent survey claims around 73 percent of Thai people who responded said Pepsi was their favourite brand of carbonated soft drink.
The company now wants to maintain and strengthen that solid position and has evolved a three-pronged strategy to move its business forward over the next two years.
In the first instance Pepsi Co Inc. announced they had inked a deal with DHL, the world-renowned logistics company, to take over the distribution of Pepsi products throughout Thailand and Southeast Asia.
The company has also signed distribution contracts with major retail outlets such as 7-Eleven, Big C, Family Mart, Makro, Tesco-Lotus, and Tops.
As part of these contracts the company will eventually install new freezers across these stores in Thailand and have post-mix machines with its partnership outlets.
Having strengthened their distribution network, Pepsi Co Inc. will complete work on its production plant at the Amata City Industrial Estate in Rayong province. The total cost of this plant is expected to be about 5.2 billion baht and will be the largest of its kind for Pepsi in the world.
In 2011 Pepsi Co Inc. accrued revenues in developing and emerging markets of around US$22 billion (about 682 billion baht) which was up from US$8 billion (about 248 billion baht) just six years ago.
The management of Pepsi-Cola are well aware of how strongly their product has grown in these markets, mainly in the Asia-Pacific belt, and wants to not only keep this momentum going but drive it even faster.
Naturally, these expansion plans augur well for local employment opportunities in the Rayong and Chonburi areas. In order to make sure their current workforce is kept well trained and primed for the next two years of expansion, Pepsi-Cola has invested over 9,000 hours of training to its 3,000-strong full and part-time employees through most of 2012.
As Jagrut Kotecha, the general manager for beverages of the Pepsi-Cola Thailand division, was quoted as saying, “Thailand is the largest market in Southeast Asia and a growth engine of [our] Asia-Pacific business, and we’re committed to investing in the market to drive our future business.”
Certainly the future of the carbonated soft drinks market in Thailand and the region (particularly with the opening of neighbour Myanmar) looks increasingly profitable.
