“It’s no secret that 2013 was a challenging year,” began Larry D. Young, president and chief executive officer of Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), in his address during the company’s fourth-quarter 2013 earnings call. “We’re up against the toughest [carbonated soft drink] (CSD) category headwinds I’ve seen in my career. And yet, our teams remained focused on delivering against our strategy.”
This attitude of resiliency in the face of the current market climate was echoed across the CSD beverage category, including by Atlanta-based The Coca-Coca Co.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Muhtar Kent and Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi during their respective fourth-quarter 2013 earnings calls. Each of the Top 3 companies reported relatively flat sales in 2013. For example, The Coca-Cola Co. reported 1 percent worldwide sparkling volume growth for the full year. On a more regional basis, PepsiCo Americas Beverages (PAB) marked a 5 percent CSD volume decline in North America, and DPS experienced a 2 percent CSD volume decline in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.