Dr Pepper Preps 2012 Price Increase

NEW YORK -- Carbonated soft drink consumers with a taste for Dr Pepper will pay slightly more for the beverage in 2012.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. President and Chief Executive Larry Young said Monday that the company expects to see a modest 1.5-percent to 2-percent price increase next year, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Speaking at a Beverage Digest conference, Young explained that the company expects cost increases to be more favorable in 2012 than they were in 2011.

"We're not going to see the big [cost] increases we saw in '11," Young said.

Over the past year, Dr Pepper Snapple, and its competitors Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. implemented price increases as commodity costs rose significantly. In recent weeks, Nielsen Co. data has shown some consumer resistance to the higher prices, with sales volumes slumping and lower-cost private label sodas gaining share, the news outlet reported.

Young said consumers are still adjusting to the higher prices after a long period when drink companies held the line.

"Everyone's used to a low entry point," he said. "We're going to have a period where we figure out the elasticity" to higher prices.

 

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