EUROPE – Coca-Cola European Partners has announced plans to invest over US$566 million (€500 million) in 2019 and has created CCEP Ventures, innovation investment programme geared towards delivering technology-focused service.
The investment is part of the multi-year €1.5 billion (US$1.69 billion) investment programme, targeting to enhance new technology, supply chain capabilities and coolers.
CCEP said the initiatives will help meet new business standards while improving service to customers and consumers in the respective markets.
The company is looking to developing and investing in new digital solutions such as mobile sales tools, new business analytics capabilities to improve promotions and forecasting with customers.
It is also expanding digital services to customers for example, Kollex, a digital joint venture for the beverage wholesale trade and the away-from-home market in Germany.
“We’re investing in key areas of the business to make it easier for customers to do business with us, and to offer consumers a wider range of great products.
Last year our targeted investment programme helped to create €8.7 billion in value for customers – nearly €600 million more than 2017,” said Damian Gammell, Chief Executive Officer at Coca-Cola European Partners.
The CCEP Ventures on the other hand, will focus solutions across customer experience and support, logistics and distribution, future packaging design and technology, prediction and pricing analytics.
Improving supply chain capabilities
The company said it is investing in new manufacturing lines in Halle, Mannheim, Barcelona, Seville, Ghent and Wakefield to provide customers with more product choices.
To check on its carbon footprint, CCEP is increasing the amount of recycled plastic in products through a collaboration with Ioniqa, global producer of PET resin.
Another area of investment will be increasing capacity for refillable glass bottles and trialling new routes to market.
The company has partnered Loop and Carrefour in France for returnable and refillable glass.
In the year 2019, the company is expanding cold drink equipment by placing 69,000 more coolers in customers’ outlets, in addition to enhancing better outlet targeting and segmentation through an expanded range of cooler sizes and types.
“Our business faces future disruptive trends that need innovative solutions and we need to adapt and learn quickly.
CCEP Ventures will help us bring the best minds and ideas from the outside world into our business. It will help us find, fund and foster new solutions and scale with speed,” said Gammell.
