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Pepsi Sales Bubble with Limited-Edition Soft Drinks
Cucumber, berry, and cinnamon soft drinks may come and go in Japan, but colas are seemingly forever- at least in Pepsi's product lineup. The company and its local partner, Suntory, are using limited-edition soft drinks to boost market share in the $30 billion Japanese beverage market and keep sales bubbling despite a cola war with rival Coca-Cola and fierce competition for space on store shelves. 
No new product is a sure thing, but the Japanese market is particularly challenging. Of the 1, 500 beverages launched there every year, only the tiniest percentage survives the introductory period. Why? First, because Japanese convenience stores are small, they make room only for products that sell quickly. New drinks that don't gain a following soon after they're introduced are pulled from store shelves in a hurry and replaced by the next new thing. Second, despite intense brand loyalty, many Japanese consumers crave novelty and go out of their way to hunt down limited-edition products made for specific seasons, regions, or reasons. Nestle has been effective in using a limited-edition strategy to drive sales of seasonal treats like soy-sauce flavored Kit Kat chocolate bars. Similarly, the Japanese division of Mars has attracted customers by offering limited-edition M&M candies linked to the local release of major Hollywood movies. 
When Pepsi and Suntory set out to tap this widespread interest in variety by marketing limited-edition soft drinks, they started with berry-flavored Pepsi Blue. In the United States, Pepsi Blue remained on the market for two years. In Japan, however, the entire population run of 1.7 million bottles sold out within a few weeks. That experience led Pepsi and Suntory to plan the short-and sweet life of Pepsi Red, Carnival, and other limited-edition soft drinks based on Pepsi drinks that are available in other countries. 
Now the two companies were ready to plan for the development and introduction of a blockbuster limited-edition summer soft drink. After testing 60 possibilities, they chose a cucumber-melon flavor, created samples, and asked for feedback from focus-group participants. The positive reaction prompted Pepsi and Suntory to produce 4.8 million bottles of Ice Cucumber soft drink.
As with the previous limitied-edition soft drinks, the entire production run sold out within a few weeks, fueled largely by word of mouth and YouTube clips showing fans gulping down bottle after bottle. But even though demand remained high, both scarcity and seasonality added to the appeal, which is why the partners decided not to produce more Ice Cucumber. "We didn't want it on the market past the summer," a Suntory marketer said at the time. "The value of Ice Cucumber is that it's gone already."
In contrast to the Japanese market, the U.S. market does not respond in the same way to unique flavors in beverages. For example, Jones Soda, a specialty soda brand, introduces limited-edition soda beverages like their annual holiday pack, which includes Turkey & Gravy, Wild Herb Stuffing, Pumpkin Pie, and Brussels Sprout flavors. The free publicity that Jones received from manufacturing these limited-edition flavored sodas was significant. The appeal is in the value as a collector's item, due to their novelty, rather than a beverage to guzzle down before the last one is purchased, as in the case of the Azuki-flavored Pepsi beverage introduced in Japan. 
Given the competitive environment, the pressure from retailers to make new products perform, the speed with which consumer tastes change, and the cost of launching a new soft drink, Pepsi and Suntory are being careful not to overuse their limited-edition strategy. To make each new product stand out, they plan no more than four limited-edition introductions a year. If all goes according to plan, consumers will be primed for the introduction of the next new taste treat and will recognize that they have to buy quickly before that flavor disappears. 
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