Supply and Demand and Coca Cola Increases free essay sample

To know the behavior of consumer when the price of a product increases or decreases. To analyse the change in demand due to some forces in the market. INTRODUCTION Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines internationally. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke (a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company in the United States since March 27, 1944). Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century. Being a bookkeeper, Frank Robinson also had excellent penmanship. It was he who first scripted Coca cola into the flowing letters which has become the famous logo of today. The soft drink was first sold to the public at the soda fountain in Jacobs Pharmacy in Atlanta on May 8, 1886. About nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day. Sales for that first year added up to a total of about $50. The funny thing was that it cost John Pemberton over $70 in expanses, so the first year of sales were a loss. Until 1905, the soft drink, marketed as a tonic, contained extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut. The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the largest single Coca-Cola bottler in North America and western Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for soda fountains to major restaurants and food service distributors. The Coca-Cola Company has, on occasion, introduced other cola drinks under the Coke brand name. The most common of these is Diet Coke, with others including Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola, Diet Coke Caffeine-Free, Coca-Cola Cherry, Coca-Cola Zero, Coca-Cola Vanilla, and special editions with lemon, lime or coffee. In response to consumer insistence on a more natural product, the company is in the process of phasing out E211, or sodium benzoate, the controversial additive used in Diet Coke and linked to DNA damage in yeast cells and hyperactivity in children. The company has stated that it plans to remove E211 from its other products, including Sprite and Oasis, as soon as a satisfactory alternative is found. DEMAND ANALYSIS DEMAND CURVES Demand curve refers to the quantity of the good that a customer is willing to buy and able to purchase over a period of time,at a certain price is known as the quantity demanded of that good. LAW OF DEMAND: It is normally depicted as an inverse relation of quantity demanded and price; the higher the price of the product, the less the consumer will demand From the figure we can say that when the price of product increases demand decreases vice versa,when the price was P1 quantity demanded was Q1,but when the price increases to P2 then quantiy decreases to Q2. FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND Price of relative goods: Demand for coca cola is also influenced by the change in price of relative goods. In case of coca cola there are number of substitute goods available in the market, we have Pepsi, Miranda, limca, spirit, etc. now if the price of coca cola increases from Rs 12 to Rs 20 whereas the price of other aerated drinks remain the same then the demand for coca cola will fall down. c INCOME OF THE CONSUMER There is a direct relationship between income of consumer and demand. Now coca cola being a normal good, if there’s an increase in income, the demand will increase and vice versa. TASTE AND PREFERENCES Taste and preferences of the consumers also influence the demand to greater extent. In case of coca cola, if there are hard core consumers who prefer the taste of coca cola, even if the price of coca cola increases, the demand will remain the same. But if the consumers have no taste or preference of coca cola, then if the price increases the demand decreases. GOVERNMENT POLICIES As the study shows, there was a steep reduction in the demand of coca cola when the pesticides were found in few samples of coca cola. As a result consumer was shifting from coca cola to other natural drinks so therefore the demand for coca cola decreased. TIME Time is an important factor that affects the demand of coca cola e. g. the demand for coca cola goes up during festive seasons and during summers AGE GROUP OF THE POPULATION This product is meant for the children, adults and also for the old people so the age groups are not much affected the demand of the product so demand remain same and by the increase in the population, the demand of the product also increases. SHIFT IN DEMAND CURVES SHIFT IN DEMAND CURVE refers to the change in demand due to change in factors other than price. Shift can be of 2 types- 1) Upward shift 2) Downward shift UPWARD SHIFT- When the demand for product increases, price being constant, due to change in other factors e. g. Increase in income. If there’s an increase in the income of consumers in the future, then there’s a possibility that the consumer will shift from local drinks in the market to coca cola. From this figure we can see that when the income of the consumer increase in the future then the demand for coca cola increases. DOWNWARD SHIFT- When the demand for the product decreases at same price. eg the demand for coca cola reduces when people found that there was pesticides found in few samples of coca cola. SUPPLY ANALYSIS SUPPLY: LAW OF SUPPLY: It states that if the price of a product increases, quantity supply will increase as the supplier will be willing to supply more to earn more profit. The law shows that there is a positive relationship between price and quantity supply. AS SHOWN IN THE FIGURE WHEN THE PRICE OF THE PRODUCT WAS P1 then the quantity supply is Q1, whereas if the price increases to P2 the quantity supply also increase to Q2. This show as the prices increases the producers are willing to supply more to earn more profit. In case of coca cola this holds true as the price of coca cola increases there will be increase in supply upto a certain level as there are other constrain like easy availability of closed substitute. In the long run if the producer continuously increases the price of coca cola then the demand for coca cola will fall down because of various substitutes available in the market. DETERMINANTS OF SUPPLY: PRICE: As stated in the law of supply, the price is positively related with quantity supplied for coca cola, in short run if there is an increase in the price of coca cola, the producers will be willing to produce more of the product. STATE OF TECHNOLOGY: Due to change in the state of technology in the production process, the cost of production will reduce; as a result supplier will be able to supply more at same price NUMBER OF CONSUMER: In the case of coca cola there are large number of consumer, as a result the supplier are willing to supply more to cater the needs for the large number of customer. PRICE OF INPUTS: Includes labour cost, machinery etc. if there is no scarcity in the supply of these factors so the cost for these factors will reduce as a result the producer is willing to supply more products at same price. SHIFT IN SUPPLY CURVE: Shift in supply curve means change in quantity supplied due to others factors while price remains the same. 1. Upward shift. 2. Downward shift. UPWARD SHIFT: Upward shift takes place when the supplier is able to supply at less at a same price. E. g. decrease in the supply of sugar due to increase in price and excessive exports of sugar results in decrease in production of coca cola. DOWNWARD SHIFT: Downward shift takes place when the suppliers are willing to supply at same price. e. g. due to improvement in technology the cost of production decreases and the suppliers are willing to supply more at the same price. ELASTICITY ANALYSIS Elasticity of demand The elasticity of demand for a commodity is the rate at which quantity changes as the price changes. Price elasticity is found to be relatively elastic. This means if there is small change in price lead to the big change in quantity demanded. In this case the elasticity for demand is said to more than one(Ed 1). From the figure we can see when the price of coca cola was p,the quantity demand was Q, when the price increases to P’ then the quantity demanded to Q’. Therefore we can say that coca cola is elastic in nature and its elasticity for demand is more than 1. (Ed1) DETERMINANTS OF DEMAND ELASTICITY Availability of substitute: In the case of coca cola substitutes are easily available in the market. The market is already flooded with many aerated drinks. Example: pepsi, LMN, mirianda, thumbs up, etc. So even if there is a increase in the price of coca cola, the consumers will shift their consumption from coca cola to aerated drinks because of easy availability of related substitutes. TIME: The demand for coca cola is always related to a time factor. This implies that elasticity of demand varies with the length of time period. In case of long run elasticity of demand is elastic (because the period is long enough for the people to shift their taste and preference) and in case of the short run the demand remain inelastic. INCOME LEVEL: The demand for coca cola is elastic for middle income group. The middle income group is sensitive to the change in price. Therefore if there is an increase in price of coca cola, the demand in the middle income group will decrease. PROPORTION OF INCOME SPENDS ON THE GOODS: Coca cola is that product which is meant for the youngsters. In the long run the demand is relatively inelastic because even in the long run if there is a increase in price of coca cola even the hard core coca cola drinker will shift their preference because of the constrain in their pocket money whereas in short run the demand is inelastic. INCOME ELASTICITY If the income rises by 20% then the demand will rise by 10% the curve is positively sloped means that elasticity of Income is 0 and