rey market Coca-Cola products from Ireland is driving down prices in the UK and seriously disrupting Coke's promotional strategies.Soft drinks buyers in the UK have told various media outlets that the scale of the problem is so bad that for some Coca-Cola brands, one third of the volumes sold are coming from grey market sources.
Wholsalers and agents are selling products made by Coca-Cola Hellenic, who holds the Irish bottling licence, to UK retailers at a 20%-30% discount on the prices offered by CCE, the GB bottler.
The bulk of the volumes are going into discount stores, who are then able to sell Coca-Cola products for considerably less than supermarkets.
A 500ml bottle of Coke could cost as low as 69p in discount stores, but as much as £1.19 in the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's.
However, it has been also reported that some larger supermarket chains have recently started buying up grey market stock from Ireland in an effort to close the pricing gap.
