Spin-off: bye bye Pepsi?

[Lord Manhammer]

Carrefour (a global supermarket chain based in France) just announced that they will stop selling Pepsi products in 4 countries because of significant price hikes. It is estimated that this may happen in the USA as well. This is an interesting tactic to battle rising grocery costs.

So what if Pepsi ceased to be sold? Would you care? What do you think of the move by Carrefour?

 

[Southernmiss]

I like the tactic to slow down out of control monopolistic price increases.

Don't drink Pepsi. Coke products on the other hand...

However, a big Coke price increase would nudge me to change my consumption of Barqs and Dr. Pepper which isn't a bad thing as I am trying to wean off them this year.

I would be surprised if a major US supermarket chain followed suite as they're also monopolistic.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I like Pepsi better than Coke, but don't drink much soda anyway, so I would only miss it occasionally.

I do like the tactic of "hit them in the pocketbook" though.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I would be sad. I prefer Pepsi products over Coke.

 

[Meriweather]

I prefer Coke.
Here they all go on sale for the same price. Listed in the same ad

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I don't really drink much soda and when I do it's not cola (usually ginger ale) and I don't really care about the brand.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I prefer Coke.
Here they all go on sale for the same price. Listed in the same ad

Around here Coke is usually pricier than Pepsi. That's mostly why I've "switched" to Pepsi, but I don't really drink that much.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I drink Dr. Pepper, which is supposedly a Pepsi product, but around our area, it seems to be done by Coke (at least it's brought to the grocery stores by the same person who brings the Coke). As long as that continues and I can get my Dr. Pepper, I'm OK.

 

[Giraffe_Zen]

I'd be sad. I drink Pepsi when I have migraines and I cannot drink Coke due to one of the ingredients that I'm allergic to.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I would be sad. I prefer Pepsi products over Coke.

Me too!

 

[Kwami]

I drink Dr. Pepper, which is supposedly a Pepsi product, but around our area, it seems to be done by Coke (at least it's brought to the grocery stores by the same person who brings the Coke). As long as that continues and I can get my Dr. Pepper, I'm OK.

Dr. Pepper is not a Pepsi product. It's not a Coke product, either. Instead, it's a product of Keurig Dr. Pepper (formerly Dr. Pepper Snapple). They often contract with local Coke and Pepsi bottling plants to bottle and distribute their sodas, so who bottles Dr. Pepper will change with time and location. Unfortunately, this can also affect its availability at stores that sell only Coke products or only Pepsi products.

This group also makes Hawaiian Punch, Snapple, 7-Up, Keurig, Crush, A&W, Schweppes, and lots of other popular soft drinks.

 

[Micca]

I might drink a half-dozen soft drinks per year, either cola is fine with me.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I used to prefer Pepsi but as grocery prices (and everything else) has increased substantially, I only buy what is on sale. A 2 liter of Pepsi or Coke used to be 79 cents and when the 12 packs were on sale, they'd be $2.50. Now, on sale a 2 liter is $2.50. I priced a 12 pack a week or so ago and it was $8.99. Florida just passed a law allowing Canada to import certain drugs. I'm all for anything to bring down these costs.

 

[_19disnA]

I don't care for the taste of Pepsi and drink Coke instead. I would imagine this is more of a way for that grocery chain to attract media attention and perhaps a negotiating tactic regarding the price increase of Pepsi. Here in the US, most restaurants only serve Pepsi or Coke products so I doubt they would stop offering soft drinks. There are also lots of grocery stores that sell various brands of soft drinks along with places like Wal-mart's where I imagine their prices are determined by the volume of the items they sell. If a grocery store stopped offering a certain brand's product (which seems unlikely), people would just buy a different brand.

 

[tvguy]

As long as they don't pull Sam's Cola off the shelf, I'm okay.
I grew up drinking Shasta Cola and RC.
I was on a Little League Board of Directors for 7 years, and every year that was one of the hot potato topics, what brand of soda to sell in the snack bar? Every adult had a preference, few kids cared as long as there was soda there to go with their hot dog for their snack bar buck after their game. Soda companies usually made it easy, whichever company had the best incentives got the contract. They'd give us free scoreboards, or $1,000 cash to switch.

 

[CynBeth]

I prefer Coke over Pepsi for a cola but do enjoy Mountain Dew every once in a while.

 

[kdonnel]

I don't understand why a grocery store chain would stop selling a product because it had a price hike from the manufacturer.

All the grocery store chain needs to do is pass on the price increase to the consumer, just like any other product sold at the grocery store.

This sounds instead like a play by the chain to pressure Pepsi into a lower price to them so they can have a higher margin when selling to the consumer.

 

[Kitty 34]

Diet Caffeine Free Coke is my pop of choice.

 

[bcla]

Carrefour doesn't have a presence in the United States so I doubt their influence will matter here.

However, Pepsi has generally been known for bigger can/bottle sales compared to Coke products that dominate the fountain beverage market. Still - Pepsi won't go away as long as they still have fountain beverages. They basically have Yum Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut) as well as Costco.

There are some weird ones too such as who distributes Dr Pepper. In my area the canned/bottled versions of Dr Pepper are distributed by a Pepsi bottler. And I'll find Dr Pepper distributed along with Pepsi or Coke in fountains. Not sure what the licensing deals are like that allow that.

 

[Chili327]

As long as they don't pull Sam's Cola off the shelf, I'm okay.
I grew up drinking Shasta Cola and RC.
I was on a Little League Board of Directors for 7 years, and every year that was one of the hot potato topics, what brand of soda to sell in the snack bar? Every adult had a preference, few kids cared as long as there was soda there to go with their hot dog for their snack bar buck after their game. Soda companies usually made it easy, whichever company had the best incentives got the contract. They'd give us free scoreboards, or $1,000 cash to switch.

Yep, RC was always my first choice, but i grew up on Pepsi so it would be sad to see it go, but i don't really drink soda anymore anyway (except Oli-Pop) so not a big deal in my day to day.

Diet Caffeine Free Coke is my pop of choice.

I'm guessing you're from the Midwest?
https://popvssoda.com