PepsiCo chief brands bottling flexibility “hard to believe”

Al Carey, PepsiCo’s chief executive has described the company’s lack of bottling flexibility as “hard to believe” and has said that the firm is working with bottlers to create new package sizes for its beverages business.

Speaking at a conference in Europe, Carey said that PepsiCo is aiming to hold or improve it share value by the end of 2012 but could not so by continuing to lower prices. Instead, the firm will develop new, smaller package sizes in an attempt to boost its profit margins.

Carey revealed that the beverages giant will release three new package sizes this summer – 222 ml cans, 1.5 litre bottles and 20-unit packs. More launches are planned for 2013.

“This gives an opportunity to play the margin mix game, and the retailer and us to make more money out of these packages,” Carey said. “I would say that our competitor [the Coca-Cola Company] did a better job on this – but we can do way better,” he said.

Carey added that sales of PepsiCo’s single serving business were up 4 % as of 3 June but the firm’s larger format business remains flat. Plans are also afoot to launch a mid-calorie cola and the company expects to sell 25 million cases in the year after launching.