HOUSTON -- When it comes to orange juice, price is proving to be a significant factor for consumers.
uice in two markets through recent promotional initiatives.
In New York, Minute Maid is enjoying a 350% increase in market share, according to Coca-Cola spokeswoman Chris Bozman, following a new pricing strategy that brought the previously more expensive not-from-concentrate orange juice to the same price point as its from-concentrate juice.
"It's a strategy that we've implemented all across the U.S., but New York is a heavy not-from-concentrate area, so the results here were particularly dramatic," she said.
In New York City, Minute Maid not-from-concentrate orange juice increased in market share from 1.9% to 6.5%; in Albany, from 0.9% to 4.7%, a 500% increase; and in the Northeast overall, market share increased from 2.1% to 4.8%, an approximately 225% increase, according to ACNielsen-supplied figures from Coca-Cola.
With the aim of debunking the competition's claims that not-from concentrate orange juice is higher quality, Minute Maid vice president John Clendening said the campaign began with a packaging redesign earlier this year that gave all the product line's chilled juices a similar appearance.
"There's absolutely no reason for consumers to pay more for a product that does not offer more," he said in a statement.
"Consumers have been led to believe that not-from-concentrate is somehow superior to other forms of orange juice, and that's simply not true.
"Not-from-concentrate orange juice should be offered to consumers as merely another option -- and priced accordingly."
Meanwhile, an extra effort was underway in Florida -- where, in addition to the pricing strategy -- its "Sunshine Showdown" campaign, in progress since May 1995, accounted for a 380% increase in market share statewide.
The "Sunshine Showdown" included advertising and sampling programs in which Florida consumers were asked to take a blind taste-test of Minute Maid Premium Choice and Tropicana's Pure Premium, both not-from-concentrate products. About 270,000 consumers participated in the taste-test over 1,000 days of sampling at 1,300 supermarkets and "sampling vans" at various events through the spring and summer, according to the company.
