Coca-Cola goes back to the corner store in face-to-face sales push
Coca-Cola Amatil will flood corner stores and cafes across Australia with sales representatives after a person-to-person push successfully halted a decline in the soft-drink giant's sales in Sydney's CBD.
The ASX-listed company has been suffering falling sales and profit as health-conscious consumers turn away from its most popular products, with earnings from its Australian beverages business falling 8.8 per cent last year.
CCA managing director Alison Watkins said on Wednesday the company had spent $10 million hiring 97 extra sales representatives to target corner store and cafe owners to encourage them to buy their products, and advise on how to promote them to customers.
The sales push, which has already been deployed, in Sydney's CBD, had delivered a 2 per cent volume growth in the year to date compared to an 11 per cent in the same period a year ago.
“These are some of the areas where we have been losing volume," Ms Watkins said following the company's annual general meeting in Sydney on Wednesday.
"A lot of these traditional outlets have been closing and new trendy cafes have been opening, and we had been probably assuming that those customers would be comfortable dealing with us through phone and online channels and hadn’t been investing in the face-to-face visitation of those customers."
The sales push was in the process of being rolled out nationwide, with evidence from NSW that it would have a "really meaningful" impact on its business.
Ms Watkins said the Australian beverages business was on track to return to earnings growth next year, with Coca-Cola No Sugar helping to return the Coke brand to growth in the second half of last year.
The company has not given guidance for earnings in 2019, but flagged it would be a "transition year" involving investments in the business ahead of a planned return to mid-single digit earnings growth from 2020.
CCA's profit fell 9.7 per cent last year, to $401.5 million, not including its SPC fruit and vegetable business, which it is in the process of selling.
The company's shares were up 1 per cent at $8.94 at 1.30pm.