Indirect Distribution Channels of Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola does not rely on direct distribution mechanisms alone but also has accommodated the indirect distribution channels to increase its product volume throughout the world. The organization has partnered with local and international firms to oversee the production of Coca-Cola beverages through providing beverage bases and syrups, and concentrates but still own the brands and are responsible for the marketing of the products in the market (Mokhov & Ryabukhin, 2018). Each of the channel members involved in the distribution of Coca-Cola products play an important role such as that of delegation. Alone, the company would not produce enough beverages to satisfy the ever increasing demand for the beverage in the market. Bottling partners, play the major role in enabling faster distribution of the products to the consumers. In my opinion, Coca-Cola can increase its efficiency in the adoption of indirect distribution channels by first vetting potential partnerships to ensure that the bottling companies have the same vision and mission to achieve Coca-Cola core objectives.

2. Warehouse and transportation: Channel leaders

A Channel leader is an organization that is responsible for overseeing the management of a distribution channel and channel partnerships. The distribution channels of a product manufacture, wholesalers and retailers and in most cases, the manufacture or a selected retailer becomes the channel captain for the products. Vehicle manufacturing is an example of product that may require the utilization of warehouse and transportation service to distribute its products from the factories to the consumers. Tesla motor vehicle industry that has specialized in the area of Electric vehicles, has succeeded to become its own channel captain in distributing the vehicles to various consumers as well as strategically placing numerous charging points (Fleming, 2013). Tesla has not partnered with a wholesalers to manage its product distribution channels, giving the organization an opportunity to fully control its products in the market.

3. IMC Campaigns

Integrated Marketing Communication is a widely used method for product marketing and increasing product awareness. The method utilizes an approach where all information and communications are carefully linked together to achieve the core objectives of the advertising company; to increase consumption or increase the product visibility in the market. “Let me teach the world to sing” was a popular IMC strategy to market their Coke product locally and internationally. The campaign fully utilized the social media and news media to broadcast the information about the coke products by Coca-Cola through a musician, who was a public figure to reach out to the targeted audience (Sarich, Zaman & Misra, 2016). It was a successful venture for the company as many people were directly influenced by the musician to continue buying Coca-Cola products especially the Coke soft drink.

4. Public relations

According to Yun (2007) is the technique that companies use to manage the distribution or spread of information from a producer company to the (consumers) public. Coca-Cola Company has successfully deployed the public relation mechanisms to power their marketing campaigns as shown by the ”share a coke” campaign in 2014. This concept was widely publicized on the news media and social media; on twitter the hashtag #shareacoke become one of the trending topics worldwide. The campaign was unique as it promoted the sharing of personal experiences when consuming the product. In fact, consumers of the soft drink worldwide showed some excitement when they bought a coke bottle with their name on it. In my opinion, this was the most successful public relations campaign for Coca-Cola products, especially the Coke.

5. Derived and Fluctuating Demand

Derived demand, which describes the demand that buyers place of a particular good due to the changes in the price of another related good, has always resulted into higher consumer spending and hence higher economic performance of a nation. An example of a situation where a derived demand occurred was during the gold rush periods. During the gold rush, there was increased demand of gold products and items, forcing proprietors of the gold to seek more gold to manufacture products (Keel, 2013). The rush for gold in turn increased the demand for equipment such as the pick and shovel and hence the suppliers of picks and shovels sold more and they gained higher profits than the proprietors themselves.

6. Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Organization can use customer satisfaction surveys to measure the level of satisfaction that consumers receive by consuming their services and products. Additionally, the surveys can be used to identify unhappy customers, device ways to ensure maximum satisfaction and create a pool of loyal consumers in the market (Nie, 2009). An example of a survey question that can be used to measure the satisfaction of UMUC students is listed below:

Dear Client,

Thank you for choosing us to serve you. Please let us know about the service you received from our crew. We highly appreciate the business with you and want to ensure that the service provided was to your expectation.

Sincerely, Dean of Students.

Overall, I am satisfied with the service provided in UMUC

o Strongly Disagree

o Somewhat Disagree

o Neither Agree nor Disagree

o Somewhat Agree

o Strongly Agree

The question or survey question to be answered by the student is most appropriate, clear and precise. The question wants to find out how satisfied they are with the services offered at the school and does not let the minds of the students wander or guess about what service they need to give feedback about. Since they are students, they understand the feedback will be about the services in school.

References

Fleming, B. (2013). Electric vehicle collaboration-Toyota Motor Corporation and Tesla Motors [Automotive Electronics]. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 8(1), 4-9. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/mvt.2012.2233933

Keel, T. (2013). After the gold rush?. Gold Bulletin, 46(1), 1-1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13404-013-0084-y

Mokhov, V., & Ryabukhin, M. (2018). Sustainable development program «COCA-COLA HBC RUSSIA». Investment And Innovation Management Journal, (4), 68-72. http://dx.doi.org/10.14529/iimj170410

Nie, G. (2009). Customer satisfaction management with ”Counting Opinion” surveys. Public Library Quarterly, 28(3), 204-211. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01616840903106980

Sarich, R., Zaman, R., & Misra, C. (2016). Discussion and analysis of the marketing strategy of Coke Zero in the US market. Merici - Ursula Hall Academic Journal, 1. http://dx.doi.org/10.22459/m.01.2015.05

Yun, S. (2007). Exploring the embassy sampling strategy for large-scale cross-national study in replicating the normative theory of global public relations. Public Relations Review, 33(2), 224-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2007.02.010