Who will win the battle of the Cola’s as Pepsi fires another shot

April 20, 2018 in Business, Companies, Trade & Industry by Editor

April 20, 2018 – The three big cola franchises in Uganda are set for battle. Pepsi franchise holder Crown Beverages this week launched UGX3bn promotion as it beat the retreat from a price war it ignited three years ago.

As oil prices receded in 2015, Crown Beverages added to the disruption caused when Hariss International launched Riham Cola; by igniting a price war that appears to have backfired. Crown discounted its 2-litre unit to UGX 4000 against Cocacola franchisee Century Bottling’s 1.5 litre unit for the same price.

But Century finally fought back last year, by also launching a 2-litre bottle that appears to have caught Pepsi’s minders off guard. Crown Beverages has been unable to fight back as pressure to maintain yield saw its price edge up to UGX4200 on supermarket shelves while Century has maintained the UGX 4000 price tag.

With yields under immense pressure from Riham and variety of low-priced non-alcoholic beverages, Crown did not even fall for the bait when Century further discounted its 2-litre unit by 10pc during the Easter season.

Instead, Crown now appears to be betting on a big promotion in which consumers send a code under the crown to a messaging service to win prizes. Crown last this week launched UGX 3 billion marketing campaign in which consumers stand to win instant cash and gif prizes.

In all, 12 minivans and two dozen television and an equal number of motorcycles will be won during draws that will run over the next twelve weeks. It was however, not immediately clear if participants in the draw will be contributing to the campaigns cost since they have to send a short code whose charge has not been disclosed to a messaging service.

Crown Beverages marketing chief Brandon Ssemanda did not respond to our requests for information while Century Bottling was also non-responsive to our inquiries.