One notable trend in 2014 was the rise in unit prices of soft drinks, which meant that higher revenues per unit case made up for declining volume sales. The improving economic environment in the U.S. was instrumental in boosting customer purchasing power, and this in turn prompted strategic price increases by retailers and beverage makers. Despite a 1% decline in volumes in 2014, revenues for CSDs for Coca-Cola’s North America unit increased on a year-over-year basis, mainly on a strong 4% price mix in the second half of the year. Strong pricing also helped PepsiCo offset the 2% decline in its North America CSD volume sales.
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