Coronavirus (COVID-19): how The Coca-Cola company is refocusing its business

As part of its Q1 results announcement, the company withdrew its previous guidance for the full year. Coming into the quarter it was delivering sold volume growth of 3%, excluding China. However, as the pandemic spread globally, it experienced a significant change in consumer spending patterns. This included a major decline in away-from-home spending, stocking up in food retail and accelerated ecommerce growth, as stay at home mandates and social-distancing practices came into force.

Given that the out-of-home channel represents around half of the company’s revenues it is expecting a significant impact on its second quarter results. Since the start of April, it has seen global volume fall 25%, with most of the decline coming from its away-from-home business. This includes eating and drinking channels and on-the-go channels such as convenience. In some markets, such as India, social-distancing measures have also impacted at-home sales.

IGD