Ahead of ICC World Cup 2019, the U.S. soft drink maker giant Coca-Cola is planning to introduce its new sports drink called ‘Powerade’ in the Indian market.
Coca-Cola is expected to launch the drink within the next two months and will be competing with PepsiCo’s Gatorade.
According to the Economic Times report, “The drink is currently available in India only through imports, but Coca-Cola is planning to launch a locally-made version of Powerade in India.”
Quoting to the Devendra Chawla, CEO of Spencer’s Retail, the report said that “The functional sports drinks market is beginning to resonate with millennials and we see a good offtake at retail stores.”
“However, unlike a couple of years back now there are dozens of specialized hydration products for consumers to choose from,” Chawla added.
In an interview with Coca-Cola, CEO James Quincey, last month told The Economic Times that “It will be the Coca-Cola’s second attempt to launch locally-made Powerade in India as its earlier plans did not work out.”
“Our focus is how to grow the business but reduce the calories,” James added.
Commenting more on this, Chawla said that “Work needs to be done to develop the category as versus global consumption, in India it is more of a night consumption or mixer drink. Besides, women are less convinced about the health benefits of the category compared to men.”
A recent report by Research and Markets forecast the global sports drink market to touch $28.6 billion by 2023 from $22.2 billion in 2017 expecting to grow at 4.3%
