How we did it
Coca-Cola North America (CCNA) faced stiff competition within the beverage category at CVS, particularly for its Simply brand. To capture more shelf space and improve distribution, Coca-Cola partnered with Acosta to develop a strategic plan focused on enhancing Simply’s visibility and sales growth. Ensuring distribution integrity and planogram compliance was critical to meeting consumer demand and optimizing product placement in stores.
The collaboration between Coca-Cola, Acosta, and CVS led to impressive gains for Simply, Minute Maid and fairlife brands. By implementing an enterprise-wide strategy, we successfully introduced four new products and secured over 150,000 incremental facings for Coca-Cola brands at CVS in 2024. Acosta helped double the shelf space for Simply’s popular orange juice and lemonade products. We also gained new distribution for Minute Maid and fairlife Core Power protein shakes.
Acosta worked hand-in-hand with independent distributors to minimize out-of-stocks and maintain planogram integrity at CVS stores. This approach ensured that Simply products were consistently available and properly displayed in line with the agreed shelf space. Additionally, Acosta provided detailed data to validate promotional performance, streamlining the process of paying invoices across multiple distributors.
Our targeted negotiations and distributor partnerships helped secure a multi-year brand exclusivity agreement, driving a 32% total sales increase for Simply at CVS in 2024. Notably, Simply’s 52-ounce orange juice saw a 41% sales surge, far outpacing CVS’ overall category performance. Simply and Minute Maid sales and share gains have exceeded projections and we’re continuing to build on this momentum for sustained growth.
