Sting vs Charged

Introducing Energy Drinks in PET bottles was a great move by PepsiCo, which introduced Sting in the 20 rs price range. Sting provides nearly the same amount of caffeine as compared to RedBull with low sugar levels at 1/6th of the price. This made Sting a better option for Indian buyers to pick up an energy drink and buy it frequently because of its lower price range.

Charged by Coca-Cola lost a major market share because of the aggressive consumption of Sting in the Indian market. This resulted Charged to cut off more prices, nearly 25% from Sting price range which at least allowed Indian consumers to try it once.

Dropping the price of Sting from 50 rs to 20 rs by shifting focus from Can bottles to PET bottles made a drastic change in consumption charts in an upward direction for PepsiCo.

Price parody in India is a major factor in defining the target audience, Moster Energy Drink and RedBull may target different segments making it a working-class consumption product, Sting is now a regular energy drink for students and people in their late teens.

Meanwhile, Charged and Sting have the same target audience with nearly the same price range, cutting more prices will not make that much growth for Charged as a marketing campaign in the long run. The main reason is Sting is now at teens' taste levels. The way Pepsi-Cola and Coke played in the 2000s for regular soda drinks, energy drinks are taking the same place as it is also now regularly consumed.

Providing caffeine nearly the same as RedBull in the 1/6th price range gives Sting an edge. Charged will struggle more, and Sting will be a market leader in 2024 with major aspects.