Other Coke Brands Will Soon Disappear from Shelves

Coca-Cola is “retiring” some of its brands in an effort to trim its beverage portfolio of brands and products that have not done well in terms of sales.

One of those disappearing from shelves by December 31, 2020, is TaB, a one-calorie diet soda that was launched in 1963 when diet drinks were unpopular. TaB hung around for nearly 60 years but has lost market share with the huge number of diet drinks that emerged in today’s market, including Diet Coke.

TaB holds a place of distinction for beverages as it introduced the idea of a cola drink that has almost no calories at a time when sugar-sweetened beverages were the norm. Diet Coke, Coca-Cola North America Group Director Kerri Kopp said that “if not for TaB, we wouldn’t have Diet Coke or Coke Zero Sugar. TaB did its job. In order to continue to innovate and give consumers the choices they want today, we have to make decisions like this one as part of our portfolio rationalization work.”

Retiring Brands to Invest

There have been significant changes in core consumer base and preferences in recent years and retiring products like TaB has paved the way to investing in the more popular Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.

It also made possible the investment in brands like Minute Maid and Simply, as well as launching new products like Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Coca-Cola Energy, and AHA flavored sparkling water.

Other brands that Coke is retiring include ZICO coconut water in the United States, Coca-Cola Life, and Diet Coke Feisty Cherry. Regional products such as Northern Neck Ginger Ale and Delaware Punch, which Coke has acquired over the years, are also disappearing.

Coke’s Global Head of Innovation and Marketing Operations Cath Coetzer has shared that the people behind Coke are “challenging ourselves to think differently about our brands to accelerate our transformation to a total beverage company. This isn’t about paring down to a specific number of product offerings under our brands. The objective is to drive impact and growth.”

The changes to the company’s beverage lineup have already been in the works before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit. What the pandemic did was only to get the company executives to move faster because of the supply chain challenges and shifting shopping behaviors brought about by COVID-19.

Editor’s note on the news about Tab Being Phased out:

This article is created to inform you of the news about retiring the Iconic Coke TaB Diet Drink. If you have questions regarding the news and its updates, please send us a message!

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