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Firstly, if you haven’t noticed it yourself, it seems like Coke is available everywhere compared to Pepsi. For example, at Union House, you can only find Pepsi at the mini supermarket Foodworks, while Coke can be bought at all other food outlets. Vending machines too are almost exclusively Coca-cola and the same applies to the city. Food outlets like McDonalds, Subway, Nando’s, sushi outlets etc all sell Coke (compared to only KFC who sells Pepsi). It is possible to find Pepsi in places such as 7-eleven, supermarkets and petrol stations however these places also sell Coke as well. The list of places you could buy Pepsi from is small compared to the amount of places that sell Coke.

Suppose you were in the city with no specific preference between the two and you wanted a cola soft drink. Also assuming there is a cost to travelling to purchase the drink, as you would be better off walking less, and that both have the same price. You could purchase Pepsi but it’ll take effort and some traveling (say 500 meters) to try and find a 7-eleven or a KFC to purchase, or you could purchase Coke which is widely available within a smaller radius (e.g 50 meters). As a rational consumer you would choose Coke, saving time and money to minimize your travel costs. Hence Coke has a convenience advantage. The convenience advantage belonged to the company which established itself first in the market, and whether it offered exclusive deals to businesses such as bulk purchases.

Due to this advantage, a consumer would purchase Coke more often and thus leads to brand loyalty and continued consumption of Coke. This is because over time as we constantly purchase Coke, our minds tend to think of Coke rather than Pepsi whenever we want a cola soft drink. This is evident whenever we order at a restaurant, the waiter asks ‘would you like anything to drink?’ and your response would typically be ‘yes, I would like a Coke thanks’.

The way soft drinks are sold also play a role here. Aside...