Plastic Cups Industry

{draw:frame}

December 8, 2009

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 2

Industry/Product Category Overview 2

Market Size 2

Growth of Product Category 3

Recent Product Innovations 3

Market Sub-Segments 4

MARKET SECTOR RESEARCH 4

Differentiation 5

Value to Consumers 5

Fit in the Market 5

Pricing Strategies within Market 6

NEW PRODUCT INFORMATION 7

PRICING STRATEGY, TACTICS, AND THEORY 8

CONCLUSIONS 9

BIBLIOGRAPHY 11

Introduction

Industry/Product Category Overview

Market Size

Growth of Product Category

The Solo cup company was founded in 1936. Solo was and still is one of the biggest companies in the plastic disposable cup industry. In 2006, the company posted sales of over 2.4 billion dollars. Since the founding of the consumer packaging industry, growth has been exponential. The industry is multi-billion dollar commerce and one that most consumers contribute to at one point or another.

Plastic cups are now an everyday item in many people’s lives and have literally countless uses. With the modern, fast-paced lifestyle, convenient, disposable plastic cups are practical. There are also niche products that are still plastic disposable cups but they have a bit of flare to them. Some of these products include insulated plastic cups and cups that have hand grips added to them.

The first Solo red, basic cup that most people know was introduced in late 1972. Since then, the popularity has grown exponentially. What used to be just a family consumer product has now morphed into a product that is used by some of the biggest corporations in the world. 80% of Solo’s sales come from these large corporations such as Starbucks and fast food restaurants who use other, smaller containers as condiment holders.

Recent Product Innovations

In the plastic tableware industry, lines have blurred between “disposable” and “reusable.” With many disposable cups now being marketed as dishwasher safe, low-grade dinnerware...