Most of the wholesalers, vendors, provisional store owners and small-time shopkeepers selling soft drinks of various brands have stopped purchasing them due to a steep hike in the maximum retail price (MRP).
There has been nearly 20 to 30 per cent rise in the MRP of all the branded soft drinks which has made them “un-affordable”, they said.
Marketing manager Amit Kumar of Jai Beverages Pvt Ltd, Bari Brahmana, Jammu, said the hike was a part of the company’s strategy.
The company’s plans relating to distribution, cost-effectiveness of the products and reading of the market trends keep on changing. They mainly hinge on the demand and supply which is directly proportional to sales.
Though not strictly against buying the products, the shopkeepers claimed that the soft drink giants had also reduced the profit margins of the vendors which was hurting them.
“There is a 10 per cent profit on a 200 ml soft drink worth Rs 10 at MRP. The glass bottle sold to the customer always remain at the risk of breakage. However, this was compensated through the profit margin from the drinks in plastic bottles at higher MRPs,” said Rajesh Gupta, a provisional store owner at Rehari Chungi.
He added that the margin had now dipped to merely 5 per cent on all category of drinks of various quantities. This has made vendors have a second thought about purchasing stocks in bulk.
An official of one supplier said though there had been a steep hike in the MRP. the soft drink companies were mulling to take some drastic steps to maintain the market balance.
“There could be some rollback of the rates, but probably not up to the earlier ones,” he said.
Soft drinks lose fizz as MRP goes up
