Coca-Cola still hoping to rebound from the struggling soft drink market
You may know of the Coca-Cola Freestyle dispensers, in which you can choose from tens of different options of drink flavors. These options range from Vanilla Coke to Raspberry Sparkling Aquafina.
On Friday, Coca-Cola announced their new Freestyle 9100 dispensers, to which consumers can connect through Bluetooth. The Freestyle app will allow consumers to choose their beverage before they walk up to the dispenser, creating more customizability and efficiency.
According to Coca-Cola, “more than 50,000 Coca-Cola Freestyle units pour 14 million drinks per day.” This extraordinary number has come after just nine years of development.
Additionally, the new machines will have never-before-seen features that are apparently the way of the future – this includes audio functionalities and optical sensors. It is unclear as to what these added features may do, but it shows that Coca-Cola is looking forward instead of staying in the present.
This new system will be revealed at the National Restaurant Association (not to be confused with the National Rifle Association, which also has the abbreviation NRA) in Chicago this upcoming weekend.
The 9100 platform is expected to launch in 2019, and while investors have not shown much enthusiasm yet, they may after this weekend.
Further, Coca-Cola (KO) shares have been down nearly 7% this year, largely due to consumers’ growing concern with obesity. However, they may see a slight bump with this new platform.
Also, this new system will allow companies to add some of their own special beverages, such as Taco Bell’s Baja Blast. This will benefit both parties, boosting beverage sales for fast-food chains and usage of the system for Coca-Cola.
Assumingly, there is some data collection software in these units that will allow Coca-Cola to see which drinks are consumed the most. This will give Coca-Cola a competitive advantage, providing them with more information about its consumers and what they like to drink. Based on those numbers, they can tailor their manufacturing and development to certain beverages over others.
Coca-Cola and the market for soft drinks has taken a hit recently, but with this technological advancement and the use of data collection, Coke may rebound in 2019.
Featured image via Pixabay/3dman_eu
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