Coca-Cola Adds Sales Tools For Vending And Micromarket Operators

ATLANTA -- The Coca-Cola Co. is ramping up its resources to give full-line operators the biggest bang for their buck when merchandising its products in their vending machines and micromarkets.

The beverage giant's cokesolutions.com portal, a go-to resource for full-line vending operators, has several new tools. Among them is a video, which can be downloaded by operators who register to use Coke's site, to help sell the benefits of micromarkets and reinforce awareness of the concept among existing clients and prospects.

Also new is an online tool to help operators design food and beverage "bundles," with an interactive calculator to determine profit. For example, the suggested discount bundle price for a banana for $1 and Coke's Dasani water for $1.50 would be $2.29. Operators can also download an advertisement for the offer to the kiosk, or print out a copy to display in the store.

The website also serves as a guide for operators to ensure they are merchandising the right brands and number of SKUs by location type, by accessing Coke's suggested planograms for office, industrial, manufacturing and healthcare locations.

At cokesolutions.com, operators can also find suggested pricing, and order stickers, static clings and other POS materials, including calorie-count graphics. The site stores printable sell-sheets on any product, too.

One of Coke's newest products is Fairlife, marketed as "better" milk, with 50% more protein, 30% more calcium and 50% less sugar than regular milk. The beverage giant is targeting vending and micromarkets as retail channels for the new drink, which must be kept refrigerated from the warehouse to the location. Core Power, a high-protein shake made with pure milk, is another new dairy product launched by Coca-Cola a year ago. Also hitting the market is Coca-Cola Life mid-calorie soda sweetened with cane sugar and stevia.

Additionally, the "Share a Coke" bottle personalization campaign has returned, and the beverage giant is encouraging operators to take advantage of the excitement it creates as consumers search for their names on bottles in their micromarkets.

The expanded Coca-Cola marketing website is at cokesolutions.com.

PAYING OFF:Coca-Cola's Scott Corley demonstrates mobile payment app that directs Coke fans to NFC-capable machines, where they can use their smartphones to pay and take advantage of loyalty rewards. Corley said one-third of Coke's machines already are NFC-capable, and steady expansion of the technology is ongoing.