At the 2024 National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show, The Coca-Cola Co. demonstrated how it helps retailers modernize and drive in-store traffic with beverage and equipment innovation, sustainable initiatives, actionable insights and bundling.

“At Coca-Cola, we recognize that convenience retail is evolving rapidly. As a total business partner, our goal is not just to provide retailers with a diverse beverage portfolio, but also to equip them with the tools and insights needed to navigate these changes,” said Kevin LeMoyne, head of convenience retail division of North America at The Coca-Cola Co., in a statement. “By modernizing the retail experience, we're helping convenience stores meet shifting consumer demands, increase in-store traffic and ultimately grow their businesses.”

The Coca-Cola Co. showcased its full portfolio of brands in one booth at this year’s NACS Show, including BODYARMOR, POWERADE and Topo Chico. The company debuted several flavor innovations coming in 2025:

• Coca-Cola Orange Cream combines the taste of Coca-Cola infused with orange and creamy vanilla flavors. Available in both Coca-Cola Orange Cream and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Orange Cream varieties starting Q1 2025, this flavor was crafted in response to consumer demand for the iconic and nostalgic taste of orange cream.

• Sprite + Tea, launching next spring, is a blend of Sprite’s lemon-lime taste and crisp iced tea flavors. Developed through multiple rounds of consumer research, this innovation capitalizes on the viral trend of Sprite and tea bag mixing, which garnered national media attention and more than 121 million views on social media. Sprite + Tea also will be available in a zero-sugar option and offer a satisfying, Sprite-forward experience with the distinct flavors of tea.

• POWERADE Xtra Sour, the next rendition of POWERADE’s line of sour flavors, builds on the success of the limited edition run in 2024 with new flavors that are even more sour. Debuting summer 2025, the lineup of flavors will include Peach Pucker, Grape Shocker and Cherry Kicker.

The Coca-Cola Co. also showcased recent award winners, including Sprite Chill and Topo Chico Sabores.

The Coca-Cola Co. showcased partnerships with convenience store retailers that drive sustainability and help meet their business objectives. For examples, The Coca-Cola Co. continues to advance sustainability by expanding its portfolio of 100% recycled plastic (rPET) 20-oounce bottles for Coca-Cola Trademark products nationwide. This builds on the success of DASANI’s 2022 transition to 100% rPET bottles. Additionally, Coca-Cola has redesigned its small PET bottles in the United States and Canada, reducing plastic weight from 21 grams to 18.5 grams across several product lines.

The Coca-Cola Co. also is partnering with companies such as r.World and Oscar Sort to enhance sustainability efforts through innovative solutions. The two partners were showcased in Coca-Cola’s booth. Coca-Cola served samples in reusable r.World cups at the show, which were collected, taken to r.World’s Las Vegas collection center, washed and reused. Another way Coca-Cola showcased a partner to enhance recycling efforts is with the Oscar Sort, a zero-touch, zero-waste station that gamifies recycling and can increase diversion rates by up to 300%, the company shared.

Additionally, Coca-Cola is empowering its partners with actionable insights and targeted marketing programs to drive traffic and boost basket size. Coca-Cola Lens launched in May of this year and features articles authored by Coca-Cola experts spanning consumer insights and marketing trends for retail, foodservice and on-premise. Coca-Cola Lens utilizes proprietary tools and data, plus insights from secondary and third-party sources, to bring insights into focus via a digestible, user-friendly website. Accessible to all at Coca-ColaLens.com, the platform is designed to empower operators to make data-driven decisions. Six new articles launched in September, including Trip Missions and Trends, Rethinking Value and the Convenience Retail Heat Map.

Coca-Cola is collaborating with its retail partners and other leading brands to develop innovative food-and-beverage bundles aimed at increasing basket size for retailers. At the NACS Show, Coca-Cola highlighted a new partnership between Sprite and Takis ― a pairing that resonates with Gen Z consumers’ strong preference for spicy flavors in chips and the proprietary research indicating Sprite’s refreshing qualities pair well with spicy snacks, it says citing Kantar Profiles/Mintel, November 2022. 

The partnership will debut with large and small store retail partners in early 2025.