Juice Segments Weigh Down On PepsiCo India

“Carbonated soft drinks have an opportunity but it is lesser than the others,” said Ahmed El Sheikh, PepsiCo’s new head in India to the Times of India. With an aim to make business more concrete and bring in sustainable profits, there is a need for PepsiCo to focus where the growth lies says the report.

PepsiCo Effected Heavily

Sheikh told the publication that hydration and juice segments have a faster growth rate than carbonated water which may lead to transform the portfolio of PepsiCo. “Carbonated is an integral part of our business, it is growing and will continue to grow. Is it the fastest growing category we have? The answer is no,” he told the Times of India.

The report further says that the PepsiCo has delivered results in the past years and credits the previous head, Shivakumar for it. “The business had gone into a transformation phase for two-to-three years, which has resulted in us breaking even last year,” he said. Going further, Sheikh has done segregation of the company products and has then assigned targets to each. “Gluco Plus (affordable hydration drink) is not my target in modern trade, Himalayan (mineral water) is,” he told the Times of India. “We have a large portfolio but do you want to play with every category in every channel, the answer is no. Setting the right priority between the segments is the job we need to do.”

“It’s easier said than done,” he adds. “This segmentation and to execute it in reality in a cost-efficient manner is very challenging and needs lot of muscles. We are working on building that muscle, including digitisation of total supply chain network.”