Our Belief...

Our belief is that managers are unable to make well-rounded decisions without building their own full body of knowledge on a business. International and domestic travel is a critical component of our research, allowing us to conduct channel checks, tour company facilities, and meet with senior management. There is no substitute for being on the ground to assess how businesses are really performing compared both to their potential as well as to their competitors.

Mom-and-Pops

We visited multiple mom-and-pop shops throughout Argentina. Although people in Northern Argentina use the bigger retail stores often, the mom-and-pops have a strong presence. We found that Coke product inventory was far superior in every shop we entered, and that the displays and coolers were likely to be Coke-centric. The bottlers were doing a nice job digging a deeper moat around their business while protecting it along the way.

Single-serving Coke product promotion

Cooler significantly increases sales

Outside Coke promotion at small mom-and-pop

Dowe inside of mom-and-pop

Lower-end neighborhood market