Where Are Soft Drinks Sold?

The soft drink market is an extremely large and growing market in the United States and worldwide. In a recent year, 9.6 billion cases of soft drinks were sold in the United States alone. Where are soft drinks sold? The following data from Sanford C. Bernstein research indicate that the four leading places for soft drink sales are supermarkets, fountains, convenience/gas stores, and vending machines.

Place of Sale	Percentage
Supermarket	44
Fountain	24
Convenience/gas stations	16
Vending	11
Mass merchandisers	3
Drugstores	2

These data can be displayed graphically several ways. Displayed here is an Excel pie chart and a bar chart of the data. Some statisticians prefer the histogram or the bar chart over the pie chart because they believe it is easier to compare categories that are similar in size with the histogram or the bar chart rather than the pie chart.

Things to Ponder

1. How might this information be useful to large soft drink companies?
2. How might the packaging of soft drinks differ according to the top four places where soft drinks are sold?
3. How might the distribution of soft drinks differ between the various places where soft drinks are sold?