There is a big possibility that La Casera, the pioneer apple drink in Nigeria may not win back their market share in the carbonated drinks market.
According to experts in the consumer and soft drinks space, the aggressive attempt through a conversion strategy to increase consumers demand and shift their attention from competitors like Bigi, Pepsi, Coca Cola, and others may not help to restore their initial market share of 10-20 percent.
“It is just simple and easy strategy of driving consumer convention that is, trying to stir consumers away from other drinks. Right now their market share is like one percent from the 10-20 percent they were years before in the carbonated drinks market,” a carbonated drinks experts who wishes to be anonymous said.
“This will help them drive their revenues and increase their market share at a minimum percent of about 3-4 percent,” the expert added.
On October 10, 2019, La Casera Apple Drink announced the launch of a new under the crown consumer promotion tagged “Refresh & Connect” which is aimed at rewarding the brand’s esteemed consumers and to further strengthen the existing bond with the consumers.
The promo which ran for three months encouraged consumers to partake in the promo to win various prizes like smart TVs, smartwatches, laptops, mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets, La Casera products and airtime worth millions of naira.
According to Ayorinde Akinloye, a consumer analyst at CSL Stockbrokers, they are trying to acquire consumers because the drink has less brand position in the market.
“Over the five years, there have been a lot of competing carbonated drinks in the market. And I feel it will struggle to attract consumers because they consider taste more and when you look at one of the reasons la Casaca lost its brand position which is the rumours that the drink is unhealthy, and those sentiments still remains around consumers and it will be difficult to turn around. If at all they gain increase in market share, it will be very minimal,” Akinloye further added.
In early 2000s, there was a market disruption as the La Casera Apple brand made it entry into the Nigeria market. It is also noteworthy that it was the first to introduce pet plastic in its packaging. Nigerian consumers across all ages and social classes “fell in love” with the drink, owing to its affordability and convenience of consumption as an on-the-go drink.
But this was short lived as its other competitors (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) reacted with the launch their own pet bottle drinks into the market in 2004. And also another direct competitor, Bigi Apple drink challenged the dominance of La Casera in the apple drink segment.
“A lot of multinational companies were pushing out a lot of drinks and consumers had the mindset that the drink can only go with snacks, unlike other drinks which can go with any meal and that is a lot of revenue they are losing,” the carbonated drinks expert said.
Abiola Gbemisola, a Consumer analyst at Lagos-based investment firm, Chapel Hill Denham suggested that for the drinks company to get back at the top they should focus on their target market, be innovative by pushing more products with different flavours and try to sell them to the target market at lower price points.
