*Says its e-commerce sales has tripled this year

Forex crisis never affected our operations, Coca Cola explains

Coca Cola Nigeria Limited has insisted that its operations have not been affected by the country’s current foreign exchange crisis.

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The company stated that its source for most of its inputs locally including plastics, crowns, label and sugar.

The company further explained that concentrate imports are not that huge to cause a disruption to the business.

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iBrandTV gathered that the company had recorded a triple increase in its e-commerce sales this year in Nigeria after the coronavirus-induced lockdowns led to a change in consumer habits across the country.

The US beverage giant saw a sharp rise in online sales of its products after the Nigerian government was forced to impose lockdown with movement restrictions on people as part of measures to curb the spread of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

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in an interview with Bloomberg, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Coca Cola Nigeria, Alfred Olajide, stated that without providing details as the company is not listed in Nigeria, said, “The first one month of Covid-19 was the pivot point,” for e-commerce penetration in the company. We have more than tripled the e-commerce business that we have in our portfolio.

“Right now e-commerce orders as a proportion of sales is still in the single-digit but the ambition for us is to scale it to double-digit and make it a very big significant channel of choice for our consumers,” the CEO said without giving a timeline.

“We are partnering to help the trend grow and you will see more of that coming through in our strategy.”

READ ALSO: FG Set To Tax Global Tech Firms Operating In Nigeria

Olajide noted that while the high unemployment and inflation rates have negatively impacted the disposable income, the company is beginning to experience return back of sales probably to the pre-Covid period as the economy improves.

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He said that the company which also produces Fanta and Sprite carbonated drinks in addition to Eva water, is partnering with popular e-commerce platform, Jumia Technologies, to push its products in the country.

The Coca-Cola Nigeria boss said that as part of its market strategy to boost its sales after the market downturn in 2020 due to the pandemic, the food and beverage firm has adjusted prices and has smaller, more value-based pack sizes to cater for consumers that have low disposable income.

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He said, “What we do as an organization is to look for ways to continue to be more efficient. There is a lot of recovery happening in the business and I will peg it to the fact that the country itself is improving.”

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