39 Interesting Coca Cola Demographics

Founded in 1886 by John Pemberton, the Coca Cola brand has more than 500 different non-alcoholic beverages brands underneath its umbrella. With more than 120 years of service to the world with 3,500 total products being served in over 200 countries, Coca Cola measures itself in terms of global demographics instead of local ones.

Coca Cola is the second most used word in the world today. It is recognized in every known language in the world.

Coca Cola Demographics

It’s not just consumers that drink their products that Coca Cola counts as customers. Bottling operators, distributors, canning specialists, and wholesalers all do business with this brand. Unlike its competition, however, Coca Cola is sticking to their sweet sodas and carbonated beverages. More than 60% of Americans might be actively avoiding soda, but worldwide consumption of fizzy drinks in red cans with white lettering is actually increasing.

• Total sales increased by 1% in 2013 over 2012 numbers when measured in total sales volume.
• More than 100 million cases of classic Coca Cola were sold in 2013 over the 2012 numbers.
• Although case volume declined in North America by 2% and by 1% in Europe, it has increased by 3% in Latin America and the APCA region.
• US sales of Coca Cola account for only 19% of its total worldwide sales when measured by unit case volume.
• The key markets for Coca Cola are China, Brazil, Japan, and Mexico.
• Latin American growth for Coca Cola is expected to exceed 17% from 2013-2018.
• Although sales volume is down in the US, all sales are expected to exceed $70 billion annually through 2018.
• Middle-class teens are Coke’s core consumers around the world and there is expected to be a 50% increase in this demographic by 2020.

Coca Cola is going all-in on their sugary carbonated drinks with a $1 billion investment in advertising through 2016 and it’s probably a good bet to make. With over 800 million core consumers around the world expected to enter their primary customer segment by the year 2020, with an average increase of income in that demographic of 70% globally, the relatively static sales rates in North America and Europe can be ignored. Latin America and the Middle East show a massive potential for growth. That’s where the marketing is going to be.

Cocoa Cola Is Going Up When Soda Is Going Down

• Since the year 2000, Coke has kept a firm lead in the U.S. carbonated drinks market, with a 42.8% market share.
• The number of servings of Coke products that are consumed around the world on the average day: 1.7 billion.
• More than 3% of all the beverages that are consumed in the world today originate from Coca Cola.
• Coca Cola spans all customer demographics by offering at least one beverage in every category, including soy-based drinks, water, and energy drinks.
• The company makes so much money that it has more incoming revenues every year than 120 countries where Coke is sold.
• $74 billion. That’s the estimate market value of Coca Cola in the world today. That’s more than the rest of its primary competition combined.
• Soft drink revenues accounted for $28 billion for Coca Cola in the last year.
• The number of vending machines that Coca Cola owns around the world: 2.8 million.

Here’s a potentially scary thought. The world has consumed so much Coca Cola that if all the bottles were laid end to end, there would be enough to span 2,000 round trip journeys to the moon and back. That’s a lot of Coke. What makes this one of the world’s favorite drinks and brands is the fact that it provides people with a safe fluid resource. Many nations have limited access to safe water to drink. Coca Cola, which is either canned or bottled, provides an alternative that is affordable for most population demographics. That’s why Coca Cola has a 94% brand saturation around the world today. In short, unless you’re part of an isolated tribe of humans or live some place that is extremely rural, you’re part of a target demographic for this company.

How Much Coke Do You Drink Every Day?

• In the world today, the average person will consume at least one Coca Cola product once every 4 days.
• 403. That’s the average number of servings that Americans will have of Coke products in the next year. 63% of those servings will be Coca Cola Classic.
• Americans have 10.8 pounds of sugar added to their diet every year because of their consumption of sugar. That means 1.7 million pounds of sugar are consumed every year because of Coke.
• The average Mexican will drink 728 servings of Coca Cola products in the next year.
• On the other end of the spectrum, the average Indian consumer [from India, not a Native American/First Nations individual] will consume just 9 servings.
• Metal suppliers are also a demographic for Coca Cola. This brand uses 300k tons of aluminum to create cans for its drink.
• Health-conscious consumers are also a demographic for Coke, as there are more than 1,000 different kinds of juice drinks offered.

If there is any sort of distribution network in your area and if you have money to purchase something to drink, then there’s a good chance that you’re a frequent Coca Cola customer. You might not even realize that this is true. Even health brands of beverages, such as Odwalla, fall under the umbrella of Coke. This domination of the beverage market helps them to snag customers even when they are actively trying not to purchase Coca Cola products. That’s why this brand sees more than $100 billion in general sales every year. It is literally everywhere.

Who Drinks Coke The Most?

• Half of Americans aged 18 to 34 say they drink regular soda. This age demographic and men in general are also slightly more likely to consume soda than their counterparts.
• 65% of US households that make less than $30k per year drink diet or regular soda.
• People who are overweight tend to drink more soda in general than others. As a BMI rises, so do the chances of regular soda consumption.
• 13% of Americans say they don’t think about soda intake, down from 24% a decade ago.
• 19% of Americans don’t track the amount of sugar that they consume on a daily basis.
• Among those who drink any soda, the average daily amount is 2.6 glasses.
• 28% of Americans say they are drinking one serving a day, on average, and 20% are drinking two or more servings.
• 7% say that they drink 4 or more servings of soda every day.
• Soda consumption is higher in nonwhite populations than it is in Caucasian populations.

With the exception of population demographics that are drinking Coca Cola because it is their primary method of obtaining fluids, those who are drinking Coke are generally the people who shouldn’t be drinking it. Although self-reporting on weight shows that about 40% of people in soda drinking and non-soda drinking demographics feel like they are overweight, there is a direct correlation to the weight of someone and the amount of soda they consume. Nonwhite populations are slightly more obese than white populations and they drink slightly more soda. It’s a trend that is seen across all demographics.

Do People Really Prefer Coke Over Pepsi?

• 73% of Americans have at least a somewhat positive perception of the Coca Cola brand.
• In 2000, Coca Cola paid $156 million to 2,000 current and former African American employees to settle what was then the largest racial-discrimination case ever.
• Coke funded a Harvard scientist’s work that showed high levels of sugar consumption were considered to be healthy.
• In a WA GMO labeling vote, Coca Cola spent $1 million in “dark money” to defeat the measure. [Pepsi sent in $1.6 million]. It was voted down.
• In taste tests, Pepsi predominantly wins, but people still purchase Coca Cola more often than not.
• Diet Coke has a larger US market share than regular Pepsi.

The Coca Cola demographics prove one thing above all else: more goes into the popularity of a beverage than just flavor alone. There needs to be marketing, product placement, and distribution partnerships in place as well. This is why Coca Cola dominates even though it loses in blind taste tests. Some have even gone so far to suggest that the marketing of Coke actually rewires the human brain to want it more than Pepsi. What does this mean? That we’re all living in Coca Cola’s world. We just don’t always realize it.