In this opinion piece, Michael Rolph, CEO of Yoyo Wallet, reacts to Coca-Cola’s acquisition of Costa Coffee and explains why a data-led loyalty programmes could help the new brand.
We woke up this morning to the news that Coca-Cola is to buy Costa Coffee from Whitbread, in a £3.9bn deal that will see the global soft drinks giant enter the coffee market for the very first time.
But through this acquisition, Coca Cola enters the coffee market at a time when Costa have themselves said that “footfall weakness” is having a negative impact on sales (they reported a 2% fall in like-for-like sales in the first three months of 2018).
In such a saturated market, Coca Cola will need to come up with a strategy that clearly puts Costa front-of-mind for UK coffee drinkers, who consume a massive 95 million cups a day....