Coke vs Pepsi: two different growth stories

The two soft drink giants have gone through a very different kind of growth journey over the last 15 years. In 2009 Pepsi was 40% bigger than Coca-Cola, whereas in 2021 the gap had widened to 105%.

Pepsi after all is a multi category business, whereas Coca-Cola is still focused on drinks. If one would compare Pepsi Beverage business to Coca-Cola, Pepsi Beverage is much smaller.

In terms of margins, Coca-Cola is better margin business with around 60% Gross margins. Pepsi reached 50+% gross margin.

The influence of the pandemic was also dramatically different for these companies. Pepsi managed the pandemic quite well as the revenues declined only slightly (-3%) during the start of the pandemic. On the other hand, Coca-Cola saw four straight quarters of declining sales in 2020 (decline started prior to the pandemic).