Coca Cola's Vending Machine

Coca Cola’s New Vending Machine

Coca Cola is one of the biggest companies around the globe. As a company they have

always tried to improve the technology involved in their supply chain. On United States

vending machines represent a big percentage of the revenue obtained by Coca Cola.

Coca Cola built and started testing a vending machine that has a temperature sensor and

a computer chip. This vending machine would set the price of the drinks according to the

weather. If the weather is cold, the Coca Cola can is going to be cheaper, but if it is hot

and people are claiming for a cold drink in the summer heat then the can of Coke could

be as twice as expensive. Coca Cola’s chief executive officer, M. Douglas Ivester

defended the idea with the phrase: “Coca Cola is a product whose utility varies from

moment to moment”. However, this breaking news started being rejected, making Coca

Cola’s image intolerable.

Later, Coca Cola sent a message on his website, clarifying that they were not introducing

vending machines with a temperature sensor, they said that they were just exploring

innovative technology that would help offer products people want at affordable prices.

However, Coca Cola’s CEO never took in account the response that this announcement

would have from customers and the media. Since 90’s customers began to be more

exigent with the products that they buy and started to look for an experience while they

were consuming the product. Made this announcement had a really bad impact on Coca

Cola’s image because customers started to wonder if the price that they were paying was

fair or not. Also, they believed that paid more for a product which the competitor also has

was just absurd. Value is based on customer’s perception, Coca Cola lost value because

their customers disagree with the idea of this new vending machine.

Coca Cola’s new vending machine: Pricing to capture value or not?

1.

Explain in your own words:

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Murphy’s Law: Even...