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Enrico's revolution has already put Pepsi in a position where it can hurt Coke. For the first time in years, the Big Red growth machine is double-clutching, feeling the dark side of globalization in places like Brazil, its third largest market, where the recent devaluation hurt business severely. Coke's sales are also weak across Asia, and the company's huge investment in Russia is underwater. Pepsi needs to make a dent in Coke away from home, because the Atlantans derive most of their profits outside the U.S., where Coke outsells Pepsi 5 to 1.
At home, Pepsi's restructuring--and the cash thrown off by the IPO--allows it to take dead aim at Coke's near monopoly in fountain soda sales. It's a hugely important part of the business. Pepsi holds its own in grocery and discount stores, but the fountain business gushes profits for Coke. Now, free of the restaurant business ("Why buy from one of your competitors?" Coke sales reps used to be able to say to fast-food operators), Pepsi can become more effective. Even if the campaign doesn't win many big accounts--it did win Bojangles and Pizza Inn recently--it could force Coke's costs up 30% to 40% this year, according to analysts. Last week, for instance, Coke retained its business with Burger King, but the victory might yield lower profits because of the added concessions Coke had to make. Pepsi is also throwing money at vending operations, after ignoring the sector for years. The company says it has increased the number of machines 240% since 1997.
Enrico is also enlisting a powerful ally in this campaign--Frito-Lay, the Dallas-based subsidiary that is to snacks what Coke is to sodas. Frito accounts for two-thirds of Pepsi's sales and profits, and it is one of the most efficient companies in the world at getting products to retail via its truck routes. In the past, Pepsi did little to leverage Frito's commanding position as America's premier snack company. Now it intends to use Frito's muscle as a wedge for all PepsiCo products.
In the aisles, the new PepsiCo is trying to combine sodas and snacks in lavish displays at supermarkets and convenience stores. In targeting consumers, what Pepsi calls the "Power of One" makes perfect sense: it's all about making sure that everybody who buys a salty bag of Tostitos or Lay's potato chips has to think twice before passing up that thirst-quenching bottle of Pepsi or Mountain Dew across the aisle.
In the back offices of supermarkets and discount stores, Pepsi is waging another kind of war, pitching itself not just as a supplier but also as a partner in a highly competitive business. Combined, Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tropicana account for $11 billion in retail sales at supermarkets--hefty numbers that Coke can't match. "We represent up to 13% of their profits," says PepsiCo's new senior vice president for sales and marketing, Al Carey. Last month Carey accompanied Enrico and the presidents of Pepsi, Frito and Tropicana on a historic first joint call on a major retailer to remind the customer of those figures.