CONSUMER

PREFERENCE
BETWEEN
COCA COLA AND
PEPSI
 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

PURPOSE

The overall purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of different factors affecting
consumer preferences on a local market.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Which brand of soft drink is preferred Coca Cola or Pepsi?

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study analyzes the consumer preferences of Coca Cola and Pepsi in Gujranwala.

THE RESEARCH DESIGN

Survey instrument, First, we will interview a small group of person’s. Based on these exploratory
findings develop a questionnaire to the consumers who have a connection with organization. A
quantitative method will be applied, and thus a questionnaire with 200 respondents on the local
market will be conducted. The respondents will be divided into three different age groups: ≤ 18, 19-
34, and ≥ 35, and represent a diverse set of people who are at different stages in their lives.

TIME FRAME

The time frame necessary for completion of this research is approximately 1-2 months.

BUDGET

The budget for this project is up to 10000 Pak Rupee.

 ABSTRACT
The purpose of our research was to study consumer preferences between Coca Cola and Pepsi.
To evaluate this a questionnaire was developed in such a way that the preference of consumers
can be judged easily. The data was collected through questionnaires from 200 respondents. After
analysis of data the result was extracted that the coke is preferred over Pepsi in most of the cases.
 INTRODUCTION
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines
throughout the world. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is
often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the
United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was
invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman
Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink
market throughout the 20th century. The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to
licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. Coke products could be found in over 200
countries worldwide, with consumers downing more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings
each day.

American Multinational food and beverage corporation. Headquartered in Purchase, New York,
United States. Formed in 1893 (as Brad's Drink)1898 (as Pepsi-Cola) 1961 (as Pepsi). In 1965
Merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company and Frito-Lay, Inc. Founders Caleb Bradham, Donald M.
Kendall, Herman Lay. Pepsi is recognized as Pakistanis National drink Pepsi's greatest rival is
Coca Cola. Coca Cola has an international recognized brand. Coke's basic strength is its brand
name. But Pepsi with its aggressive marketing planning and quick diversification in creating and
promoting new ideas and product packaging, is maintaining is position in Pakistan. Pepsi is
operating in Pakistan, through its 12 bottlers all over Pakistan. These bottlers are Pepsi's strength.
Pepsi has given franchise to these bottlers. Bottlers, produce, distribute and help in promoting the
brand. Pepsi also launched its fast food chain KFC i.e. "Kentucky Fried Chicken." We also did
analysis of the soft drink industry in Pakistan and worldwide. The soft drinks set to become
world's leading beverage sector. Global consumption of soft drinks is rising by 5% a year.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
1 The study was conducted between two global giants Coca Cola & Pepsi-cola. This research
paper is basically a comparative study of two well known competitors in beverage industry of
Pakistan which are Pepsi Cola & Coca Cola. The primary purpose of this paper is to find out
which company is leading the market. This research required us to conduct the consumer
research on why they chose the drink. To find out the factors & reasons that influence to choose
their preferred drink.

2 There have been recent increases in the aggressiveness of marketing for the Coca-Cola
Company’s Coke Zero product. According to Consumer Choices in the Beverage Aisle, Coke
Zero has had higher penetration in the market among men than women. To delve deeper into the
subject of reasons why Coke Zero has been more successful among the male population, this
research study examined the attitudes of college students towards three different varieties of
coke: Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero.

3 As consumption of bottled water is increasing worldwide. Prior research shows many

consumers believe bottled water is convenient and has better taste than tap water, despite reports
of a number of water quality incidents with bottled water. The authors explore the demographic
and social factors associated with bottled water users in the U.S. and the relationship between
bottled water use and perceptions of the quality of local water supply. They find that U.S.
consumers are more likely to report bottled water as their primary drinking water source when
they perceive that drinking water is not safe. Furthermore, those who give lower ratings to the
quality of their ground water are more likely to regularly purchase bottle water for drinking and
use bottle water as their primary drinking water source.

4 Consumer behaviourable changes make “Yesterday’s luxuries are today’s necessaries”.The

present study attempts to know the buyer behavior of health drink users. Seven brandsof health
drinks are available in the study area. Horlicks, Complan, Bournvita, Boost, Maltova, Viva and
Milo. This study would bring to light which brand of health drink is mostly preferred by the
consumers and why they choose a particular health drink. The study implies that there is an
imperative necessity on the part of the manufacturers to supply tastier drinks at competitive
prices but at the same time should see that the quality or standard is not deteriorated.

5 This paper extends research linking advertisement factors which effecting consumer Preference
from one product to another product . aerated drinks companies are spending a lot of money on
their Advertisements, celebrities etc. About 35% of the total cost is Advertising cost for a aerated
drink company. Therefore Advertising is an important aspect of the companies to promote their
product, and generate sales. It is also important for the companies to know whether their
advertisements are effective or not, In order to check the impact of the advertisements, we have
taken this as our research problem.

6 The study was entitled under a “Customer preference towards Soft Drinks” which focused on
finding the impact of various independent factors such as Brand, Price, Quality, Taste,
Aesthetics, Variety, Availability, Discount& Offers, Brand Ambassador, Advertisement, Eco-
Friendliness and Ingredients on overall customer preference towards soft drinks. It was examined
with Multiple Regressions statistical tool together with examination of various demographical
factors that affect the customer preference was also studied using simple frequency table & chi
square. From this study we conclude that all the factors such as Brand, Taste, Aesthetics,
Variety, Availability, Discount & Offers, Brand Ambassador, Advertisement, Eco-Friendliness
and Ingredients except Price, Quality, and Quantity has significant impact on overall Customer
Preference.

7 Soft Drinks were common preference among all the individuals before juices were being
introduced. With the changing lifestyle and income levels, people are shifting their consumption
patterns and have therefore become more health conscious thus leading to increase in demand of
juices. The study focused on the preference and consumption pattern of soft drink and fruit juice
on the basis of different age group of people living in Indore city. The study concluded that there
exists a significant difference between the consumption pattern of the soft drinks and fruit juices
in all age groups. The study also remarked the frequency of consuming fruit juices is more than
that of soft drinks due to health consciousness of people.

8 The purpose of this study was to examine the brand awareness in rural area and to study the
interest of consumers in branded products of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). The brand
awareness showed increasing tendency everywhere and Garhwal Region of Uttarakhand State
was not an exception to it. To examine the validity of this general statement that was being
discussed day in and day out by the researcher, market managers, producers, consumers,
advertisers, etc., Research Paper on brand awareness in rural area of Fast Moving Consumer
Goods in Garhwal Region of Uttarakhand was taken up.

9 Over the last decade the health consciousness of consumers has become an important factor
driving the agri-food market. Healthier food products have entered the global markets with force
in the past years and rapidly gained market share. Various studies have concluded that better
understanding of consumer perception of healthy foods and its determinants are key success
factors for market orientation and development and for successfully negotiating market
opportunities. The basic purpose of this research paper was to identify the influence of various
factors on the buying decision of customers. Paper also attempted to determine the
awareness level & loyalty status of consumers. To develop the conclusions exploratory &
descriptive research designs were used. Primary data was collected with the help of questionnaire
method & data was analyzed with the help of various statistical techniques. Conclusions of this
paper help in clarifying the changing customer behavior in health food drink product industry.

10 Wine is a complex product. Preferences for it are not only highly heterogeneous throughout
the population, but also amply susceptible to context. The objective of this study was to discover
and measure these preferences, focusing on a set of non-sensory attributes of wine.
To identify the most relevant non-sensory attributes of wine,from the consumers’ standpoint we
consideredfour sources: existing literature, a Delphi survey (applied to wine marketing experts),
in-depth interviews and a web-pagesurvey answered by fairly large sample ofwine consumers.
Not all sources were consistent on which attributes were the most important. Notably, consumers
did not selectprice as a relevant attribute on the web survey, even though it had been considered
relevant in the in-depth interviews. Finally, six wine attributes were selected for inclusion in a
statedchoice (SC) experiment: grape variety, alcohol level, label design, product
recommendations, price and discounts.

11 The experiment was conducted to develop functional beverage based on taste preference and
studied its storage life. 32 full factorial design was used to identify significant factor and base
formulation. The “one factor at a time” optimization method was used to optimize formulation.
The study showed that sweetness, sourness and their interaction have significant effect on overall
acceptability in the development of functional beverage. Optimal combination per liter of
functional beverage for men was found to be 73 mg saccharin and 30 ml of lime juice. For
women, however, the optimal combination of each liter of functional beverage was 60 mg
saccharin and 47.5 ml lime juice. Honey, garlic paste, black cumin seed powder, Sodium-
benzoate, ascorbic acid, annatto color, citral, methyl phenyl acetate and water was common
ingredients. Organoleptic taste test indicated that men and women preferred sweet and sour
beverage respectively

12 The US Food and Drug Administration and Institute of Medicine were currently investigating
front-of-package (FOP) food labelling systems to provide sciencebased guidance to the food
industry. The present paper reviews the literature on FOP labelling and supermarket shelf-
labelling systems published or under review by February 2011 to inform current investigations
and identify areas of future research. The findings indicated that the Multiple Traffic Light
system has most consistently helped consumers identify healthier products; however, additional
research on different labelling systems’ abilities to influence consumer behavior was needed.

13 In this study it was showed that brand image does have an effect on preferences and observers
evaluate product performance differently when brand image is part of the equation. However,
Generation Y is often cited as being skeptical of advertising, because they have been bombarded
with media their entire lives. Therefore, this study examined a product targeted towards
Generation Y, energy drinks, and compared stated brand preferences to actual product
performance.In the study, participants were asked to complete an online survey about energy
drinks and within the survey they were asked to rank five energy drinks (Red Bull, Monster, Full
Throttle, Amp, and Rockstar) in order from favorite to least favorite. Several days later, the
participants then came to the Applied Psychology Research Center on campus and participated in
a blind taste test where they again ranked the energy drinks favorite to least favorite.

14. The research mainly dealt with the mind set of the consumers buying health drinks. The
study on the Brand Loyalty on Consumer Health Drinks clearly explained the Taste, Preference,
Essentials of the consumers consuming health drinks in their day to day life. This research also
focused on the changing preference of the customers because in today’s time, there are much
more options in choosing the health drinks according to the consumers taste. In order to increase
the customer’s satisfaction, marketers have developed various marketing programs.
Questionnaires were designed and distributed to the consumers for the collection of primary data.
This research also denoted a viable solution to estimate the “Brand Loyalty” from the various
Analyses done. This research also gave clear information of which Brand was the most preferred
by the Consumers in consuming their day to day health drinks. This paper also gave the readers
awareness on the overall usage of the health drinks consumed in total by the customers all over
the area.
 DATA ANALYSIS
1. How many liters of cold drink do you drink per week?

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
less than 1 one to four to six seven to greater
three nine than 10

2. Which soft drink brand do you drink the most?

21%

Pepsi
Coca-Cola
79%
3. Which brand of soft drink is easily available in the market?

31%

Pepsi
69%
Coca-Cola

4. What is your view on Coca-Cola as a brand?

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Very Bad Bad Neutral Good Very Good
5. What is your view on Pepsi as a brand?

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Very Bad Bad Neutral Good Very Good

6. What do you associate the brand Coca-Cola with?

90
80
70
60
50 Strongly Disagree
40 Disagree
30 Neutral
20
Agree
10
Strongly Agree
0
7. What do you associate the brand Pepsi with?

80
70
60
50 Strongly Disagree
40
Disagree
30
Neutral
20
Agree
10
Strongly Agree
0

8. Do you know what Coca-Cola advertises?

13%

Yes
No
87%
9. Do you know what Pepsi advertises?

18%

Yes
No
82%

10. What is the influence of advertisement on your choice of soft drinks?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Very little Little Neither A lot Very Much
11. How does a brand’s sponsorship affect your attitude towards the product?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Very little Little Neither A lot Very Much

12. How often Coca-Cola arrange different sports and music events in a year?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
<1 2 3 4 5>
13. How often Pepsi arrange different sports and music events in a year?

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
<1 2 3 4 5>

14. What do you think about the use of celebrities in their advertising campaigns of Coca-Cola?

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Very Bad Bad Neither Good Very Good
15. What do you think about the use of celebrities in their advertising campaigns of Pepsi?

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
Very Bad Bad Neither Good Very Good
 INTERPRETATION
In interpretation we are going to interpret our analysis of data about the preferences of
consumers according to the responses gathered through questionnaire. The response
against every single question is interpreted below. The percentage is calculated from the
sample of 200 students.

1) 40.5% of our respondents responded that they drink 1-3 liters of soft drinks and
12% responded that they drink 7-9 liters of soft drink.
2) 79% of respondents responded that they drink Coca-Cola and 21% of respondents
drink Pepsi.
3) 68.5% respondents reported that Coca-Cola is easily available in the market and
31.5% responded that Pepsi is easily available.
4) 50.5% of the respondents rated Coca-Cola as very good brand and only 0.5%
rated it as very bad.
5) 46% of the respondents rated Pepsi as good brand and only 2% rated it as very
bad.
6) Association with Coca-Cola brand
i) Trendy (35% Agree)
ii) Cool (36% Strongly Agree)
iii) Innovative (33% Strongly Agree)
iv) High Quality (38.5% Strongly Agree)
v) Youthful (25.5% Agree)
vi) Traditional (30% Strongly Agree)
vii) Boring (30% Strongly Disagree)
viii) Sponsor (40.5% Agree)
ix) Advertisement (37% Strongly Agree)
x) Slogan (39% Strongly Agree)
7) Association with Pepsi brand
i) Trendy (22.5% Agree)
ii) Cool (29.5% Agree)
iii) Innovative (24.5% Strongly Agree)
iv) High Quality (25% Agree)
v) Youthful (24.5% Agree)
vi) Traditional (29.5% Neutral)
vii) Boring (28% Strongly Agree)
viii) Sponsor (32% Agree)
ix) Advertisement (33% Strongly Agree)
x) Slogan (39% Strongly Agree)
8) 87.5% of respondents responded that they know what Coca-Cola advertises and
22.5% of respondents negated it.
9) 82.5% of respondents responded that they know what Pepsi advertises and 12.5%
of respondents negated it.
10) 26.5% of respondents reported that advertisements has A lot influence on choice
of soft drink and 7.5% responded it influence very little.
11) 30% of respondents reported that brand’s sponsorship has A lot attitude affect
towards the product and 5.5% responded it affected very little.
12) 30% of respondents reported that Coca-Cola arrange 3 music and sports events in
a year and 10% reported it arranged <1.
13) 30% of respondents reported that Pepsi arrange 4 music and sports events in a
year and 12% reported it arranged <1.
14) 36% of respondents responded that use of celebrities in Coca-Cola advertisement
is Good and 6% responded it as Very Bad.
15) 33% of respondents responded that use of celebrities in Pepsi advertisement is
Good and 9% responded it as Very Bad.
 CONCLUSION
We concluded that overall Coca-Cola is preferred over Pepsi as a soft drink. The
preference of Coca-Cola over Pepsi is basically due to better brand positioning and its easily
availability. The other factors due to which Coca-Cola in preferred is of its advertisement
campaign (its sponsorship, musical events).
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 Questionnaire of Business Research

We are the student of SARGODHA University conducting the research to investigate the impact of
different factors affecting consumer preferences on coca cola and Pepsi. Your response is valuable for
us and will be kept confidential.

Gender Male Female Qualification

Age Below 20 20-35 36-50 Above 50
Income Below 25000 26000-35000 36000-50000 Above 50000
Experience Year Profession

Please follow the following criteria

1. How many liters of cold drink do you drink per week?

≤1 1-3 4-6 7-9 ≥ 10

2. Which soft drink brand do you drink the most?

Coca-Cola Pepsi

3. Which brand of soft drink is easily available in the market?

Coca-Cola Pepsi

4. What is your view on Coca-Cola as a brand?

Very bad Bad Neutral Good Very Good

5. What is your view on Pepsi as a brand?

Very bad Bad Neutral Good Very Good

6. What do you associate the brand Coca-Cola with?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5

Trendy 1 2 3 4 5
Cool 1 2 3 4 5
Innovative 1 2 3 4 5
High Quality 1 2 3 4 5
Youthful 1 2 3 4 5
Traditional 1 2 3 4 5
Boring 1 2 3 4 5
Sponsorship 1 2 3 4 5
Advertisement 1 2 3 4 5
Slogan 1 2 3 4 5

7. What do you associate the brand Pepsi with?

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5

Trendy 1 2 3 4 5
Cool 1 2 3 4 5
Innovative 1 2 3 4 5
High Quality 1 2 3 4 5
Youthful 1 2 3 4 5
Traditional 1 2 3 4 5
Boring 1 2 3 4 5
Sponsorship 1 2 3 4 5
Advertisement 1 2 3 4 5
Slogan 1 2 3 4 5
8. Do you know what Coca-Cola advertises?

Yes No

9. Do you know what Pepsi advertises?

Yes No

10. What is the influence of advertisement on your choice of soft drink?

Very little Little Neither A lot Very Much

11. How does a brand's sponsorship affect your attitude towards the product?

Very little Little Neither A lot Very Much

12. How often Coca-Cola arrange different sports- and music events in a year?

>1 2 3 4 5

13. How often Pepsi arrange different sports- and music events in a year?

>1 2 3 4 5

14. What do you think about the use celebrities in their advertising campaigns of Coca-Cola?

Very bad Bad Neither Good Very Good

15. What do you think about the use celebrities in their advertising campaigns of Pepsi?

Very bad Bad Neither Good Very Good