Coke will be back on shelves of the warehouse club's approximately 560 stores around Monday, Costco CFO Richard Galanti told investors during the Issaquah, Wash.-based company's earnings conference call Thursday. [image-nocss] He did not want to comment further on the matter.
Last month, Costco decided not to order any more products made by the Atlanta-based company until the squabble was resolved.
The brands subject to the dispute included Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite and Squirt, Dasani Water and Vitamin Water along with several energy drinks.
The retailer made the dispute unusually public, posting messages in stores nationwide and telling shoppers its reasons online. But now it has been resolved, Galanti said.
"Our signs basically said it alluntil we can provide our members with these products at competitive prices and provide our members with value, we are not prepared to sell it and we are now going to sell it," he said.
Costco members pay an annual fee to shop for groceries as well as luxury items. The company limits the markup on products it sells.
The public squabble between the wholesale-club operator and Coca-Cola revealed real tensions as retailers and product makers square off on prices, said the report. As shoppers continue to look to save money in the recession, retailers want to keep them shopping by giving them low prices. But product makers like Coca-Cola want to maintain their profits, so they do not want to cut prices.
These types of disputes happen regularly between retailers and product makers, but they are not typically known to the public, John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest, told AP. "Certainly what was unusual was Costco making it as visible as they did on their website."
Costco did not remove Coca-Cola products from its shelves, but it did not reorder them during the three-week dispute. Sicher said it was likely that given how quickly soft drink products move off shelves, it is likely that some were out of stock for at least a short time.
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