Power brands Coke and Pepsi dominate soda and soft drinks preferences list - discount houses consumer brand name soft drink preferences

Discount Store News, Oct 18, 1993

Consumers, regardless of where they shop, have strong brand preferences for soda and soft drinks, with cola sodas far and away the most wanted refreshments.

In both the overall soda and soft drink category and the more specific cola arena, Coca-Cola and Pepsi maintained their dominant standing as the leading drinks in DSN's annual Top Brands Survey of consumers, conducted by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates.

The study showed that 98% of those surveyed had a preferred soda and soft drink brand, the highest preference rating of any category. This was a two percentage point increase from last year's survey. Coke was listed as the preferred drink by 49%, followed by Pepsi's citation by 42%.

The two colas were also the only beverages to qualify as Power Brands. Coke ranked fifth and Pepsi seventh in this listing of leading brands, which combines the brands' rating as top performers by store managers and their ratings as preferred brands by consumers.

The beverages named as the Top 10 brands in the survey showed little change from last year's report, with RC and A&W new to the ranking, while Gatorade and Canada Dry just fell short. RC's placing seventh means that colas accounted for three of the top beverages, the most of any type of drink. Lemon-lime sodas were the next most preferred, with 7-Up and Sprite third and fourth on the listing.

The ubiquitous popularity of beverages has resulted in just under six in 10 consumers being "certain" they will find the drink they want in the discount store they frequent most. Another 30% were "sure" they would find the drink, with only 14% not confident. This high expectation cuts across all life stages--Busters (under 35), Boomers (35 to 49) and Empty Nesters (50 and up).

If those surveyed didn't find the specific beverage they wanted, six out of 10 said they would skip making a purchase, and 40% that said they would switch to another brand. Busters and Boomers showed the same high inclination to imbibe another brand, with Empty Nesters less likely to do so.

Only for in 10 consumers said they would purchase a store brand or private label beverage. Of those indicating they would, Busters and Boomers were equally likely to do so, with Empty Nesters less inclined to make this move.

The survey found that 5% of Wal-Mart's customers listed a private label or store brand as their preferred beverage, as opposed to the 4% of Kmart and Target shoppers who said the same. (Wal-Mart's private label Sam's American Choice drinks ranked No. 3 in the beverage Top Brands survey of store managers.)

Life Stage Analysis: Soda and Soft Drinks
(Top brands by age group)
      Busters             Boomers           Empty Nesters
     (Under 35)           (35-49)           (50 and over)
Coke         48.8%   Coke         46.9%   Pepsi        48.2%
Pepsi        42.5    Pepsi        43.2    Coke         48.2
Dr. Pepper   10.1    Sprite        8.6    7-Up         12.3
7-Up          8.9    Dr. Pepper    7.3    Sprite        4.8
Sprite        6.9    7-Up          5.5    Dr. Pepper    4.1
  Source: Discount Store News/Leo J. Shapiro & Associates

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