Hold Onto Your Straws! Here Comes Pepsi NEXT

After reading the article on “Hold Onto Your Straws! Here Comes Pepsi NEXT”  on brand channel, I was surprised that Pepsi finally decided to produce a new product to compete with Coca Cola. It seemed like Pepsi and Coke have just derailed from producing new products and decided to invest in other products such as Vitamin Water. Pepsi NEXT boasts 40 calories per 8-oz serving and has 60% less sugar while promising the rich taste of full-calorie cola. Consumers have been waiting for a soda that offers the same taste, but contains much less sugar and calories since consumers have been more health conscious in the past few years . NEXT will definitely be a strong competitor of Coke Zero as this new product is almost a perfect substitute of Coke Zero and consumers will be attracted to the decrease in health risks and also to the claim that the taste will remain like the regular full-calorie cola. It has been a while since either company has produced a new product based on their original line of Coke or Pepsi and this sudden release of Pepsi NEXT will spark interest in consumers.

PepsiCo was able to understand consumer needs and innovate a new product that would meet those needs. With little firms competing in the industry of sodas, their new product would differentiate them from competitors and this could potentially capture a large market share as they will have a competitive advantage with the new superior product. With Pepsi already well known around the world, Pepsi NEXT may have a short introduction stage and profits may begin to increase soon after the product’s release as Pepsi NEXT quickly enters the growth stage of the product’s life cycle. It would be interesting to see how other brands will react with such a strong threat.