SWOT analysis of Corona Beer

Corona Beer is a popular brand of beer manufactured by the Mexican brewer Groupo Modelo that is sold in many countries across the world. The company which was recently taken over by Anheuser Busch makes numerous variants of Corona such as Corona Lager, Corona Extra, and Corona Light.

The brand which is positioned as light summer beer is also used for many cocktails and shandy. After the takeover, Corona continues to be one of the top-selling beer brands in the world and the variant Corona Extra is the beer with the highest number of exports. Though Mexican beers have always been popular Corona Extra stands apart in both taste and color and enjoys very high brand loyalty.

Page Contents

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Corona Beer

The following are the strengths of Corona Beer :

Target Market: While most of the other beers target youngsters, Corona has always been aimed towards a more adult and grown-up set of males and females who are well educated and classy. The beer targets both men and women and in fact research indicates that the beer is popular amongst women drinkers.
Advertising Strategy: Corona has always been a consistent advertiser and over the years it has not changed its advertising message or positioning of “ refreshing memorable moments”. Lately, the company switched from a high profile advertising agency to a smaller one which has also improved its visibility significantly.
Focus on the experience: Rather than just positioning the beer as a drink, Corona has focused on associating their beers to the experience of consuming the drink.Certain small aspects of associating a lemon wedge to the beer have gone a long way in differentiating the drink from its competition and focusing on the experience.
Mexican: Mexican brands of beer like Corona, Tecate etc have been popular in both USA and Canada and the image of being Mexican has benefited Corona. Mexican beers are light in taste easy to consume. The result is that customers tend to consume higher volumes of the beer.
Market Leadership: Corona is the top selling beer in its category and also a leading export brand. In the US Corona is the market leader in the light beers category and has a market share of around 29 %. This accounts for around 8 million cases of the brand.

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Corona Beer

Some of the key weaknesses of Corona are :

Dependence on the Dollar: Corona looks at business primarily in the USA and Canada and relies on imports. The rise of the dollar against other currencies will impact the bottom line of Corona drastically.
Low organic growth: Ever since the takeover of Corona by Anheuser Busch the organic growth of the brand seems to have stagnated. One reason for this is the over-dependence of the brand on developed markets like the USA where the beer industry has almost died.
Take over: The takeover of Groupo Modelo by Anheuser Busch has impacted the Mexican image of Corona negatively. Customers who preferred Coronos since it was a light Mexican beer now feel that the takeover may make it American in flavor.
Integration Issues: The integration between Anheuser Busch and Groupo Modelo has been going through a lot of crisis both legally and functionally and this is affecting both Budweiser and Corona sales.
Monopoly: The US which has always been one of the biggest markets for beer will be governed completely by AB In Bev after the merger of Groupo Modelo and Anheuser Busch. Once this happens the prices of certain brands of beer are likely to surge while others may dip which in turn may affect the standing and even existence of individual brands. The industry here is also under strict regulatory surveillance for ethical issues in these strategic alliances which is affecting the sales volumes of all brands.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Corona Beer

Some of the opportunities include :

Collaborative Effort: Craft beer is growing in demand globally with prime focus in developed markets. Many leading companies are trying to collaborate in the brewing of craft beer with the intention of throwing smaller players off the radar. This will offer more opportunities to improve efficiencies and streamline costs.
Increased awareness of foreign brands: I’m emerging economies like India where the number of pubs is growing in cities, people have become more aware of foreign brands and specifically ask for Corona since the brand is popular in the US and Canada.