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The battle for market share between billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Campa Cola, Coca Cola and PepsiCo is becoming increasingly intense in the world's largest consumer market. To win this war, all three giants are ready to go to any extent. Now PepsiCo and Coke have also started giving free fridges to shopkeepers. Also, Reliance is also taking similar steps to expand its consumer goods unit.
According to the information, the consumer goods unit of Reliance Industries and the American cola giant are on their expansion campaign, and are installing commercial refrigerators in small and big shops across India. Mohit Sood, Group President of Unitary Cooling Products at Blue Star Limited, said in a Bloomberg report that this is also one of the reasons behind the growth of these so-called 'visi-coolers'. Sood said that there is a special kind of momentum in this segment and also added that this category is growing faster than the annual growth of Blue Star.
According to iMark Group, the commercial refrigerator market in India—which includes Wizzy-coolers—is expected to grow from $2.8 billion in 2025 to $3.9 billion by 2034. This new round of Cola Wars in India is reviving a decades-old marketing strategy to grab the attention of buyers and that is capturing the fridge to increase sales. After three decades, competition in India's rapidly growing beverage market has become even tougher. The reason for this is that Reliance Consumer Products Limited's Rs 10 ($0.1) fizzy drink Campa has created a stir in the market dominated by American soda giants.
This has also led to a parallel boom for companies making refrigerators—from Blue Star and Tata Group's Voltas to global companies like Haier Appliances and Western Refrigeration, sales are seeing an increase. Retail outlets prominently display beverages in these glass door display units. These units serve as means of marketing and distribution to increase market share. Ravi Jaipuria, chairman of Varun Beverages, PepsiCo's bottling company in India, said in an earnings call last week that we are adding about five lakh or so pieces of chilling equipment—which is divided between Campa, Coke and us. He further said that apart from this, different outlets are also purchasing 400,000 to 500,000 coolers from their side.
Jaipuria said that whoever adopts a good strategy to enter the market and whoever is able to expand his distribution will win this battle. Last year, Varun had started a joint venture with Everest International Holdings to manufacture Vizi-coolers and fridges. The dominance of neighborhood grocery stores in India's scorching summers – especially in small towns and villages – makes coolers a key part of the distribution strategy of large consumer companies.
Unlike large supermarkets in developed markets, these grocery stores or small eating places have less space and money for refrigeration. Therefore, installing coolers becomes an essential infrastructure for retail rather than just a marketing tool. Arvind Singhal, chairman of consultancy firm 'The Knowledge Company', says that every brand wants to use it, be it Coke or Pepsi. He further says that obviously, when there is competition for market share, it helps.
According to an investor presentation made last month, Reliance's 'Campa' brand generated sales of more than Rs 47 billion ($493 million) in the year ended March 31. With this, it has become the fourth largest 'carbonated soft drinks' brand in the country, with a double digit market share in key markets. According to data from financial data platform 'Tofler', Coca-Cola India recorded an annual revenue of Rs 51.7 billion in the financial year ending March 2025.
The ongoing race for market share in India's cola segment has benefited these refrigerator manufacturing companies in recent months, but this growth is at risk of being harmed by the uncertainty created by the ongoing war in Iran and disruptions in the supply chain. However, with the heat expected to be intense and prolonged in India this year, the demand for these fizzy drinks is expected to increase. According to a statement by 'Crisil Ratings' released last month, this will provide an opportunity to beverage manufacturing companies to continuously spend on increasing their production capacity and increasing the number of visi-coolers.
