Lime-A-Rita Swot Analysis

Lime-A-Rita, a product line by Anheuser-Busch, was first launched in April 2012. Anheuser-Busch brews more than 100 brands in the U.S., and with the help of flagship brands, Bud Light, Budweiser and Michelob Ultra, they hold a 45.8 percent share of the beer market (“Anheuser-Busch,” 2017). Lime-A-Rita is the brand's take on a traditional margarita, the drink can be enjoyed from the can, or served over ice (Bud Light Lime Lime-a-Rita, 2012). The Lime-A-Rita brand became the second-best selling new product launch that year, with Straw-Ber-Rita becoming the largest share gainer in the beer industry in 2013 (PR Newswire, 2017).

Target Markets A target market is a fairly homogeneous, or similar, group of customers to whom a company wishes to

Anheuser-Busch is a huge company and contacts are made to prevent any channel conflicts from occurring. Mike Esterl, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, stated that in, “Last November, Anheuser also told more than 500 wholesalers who distribute its products across the U.S. that it wants them to sell fewer rival brews. The company warned that wholesalers who aren't tightly ‘aligned' with Anheuser might be prevented from acquiring other wholesalers through equity agreements, a type of business contract, that Anheuser holds with the wholesalers,” (Esterl). It doesn’t seem likely that Anheuser-Busch will run into any huge channel conflicts. According to the above statement, it seems as if Anheuser-Busch usually has the upper hand in their contracts with channel

They agreed that it would be more profitable if they kept the same prices than to be in competition with each other (Kendall and Kell, 2013). Due to Lime-A-Rita being a new type of product on the market, Anheuser-Busch had to base their pricing on their main competitor. On the Lime-A-Rita website, a 12-pack of 8 oz. cans is $15.59. Lime-A-Rita is also offered in 25 oz. cans, with prices ranging from $2.99 to $3.69. The Lime-A-Rita website allows a customer to enter their address to find the best price, with the fastest delivery (Lime-A-Rita).

Product Line Pricing Ever since Lime-A-Rita was brought to the market in 2012, there has been new flavors introduced. By 2016, Anheuser-Busch introduced Splash by Lime-A-Rita. With Splash being sold in glass bottles instead of cans, the pricing is different. Splash by Lime-A-Rita comes in a 6-pack of 12 oz. bottles, with the price ranging from $6.99 to $14.99. With there now being an entirely new product after four years of launching Lime-A-Rita, consumers will now have an option to purchase Lime-A-Rita or Splash by Lime-A-Rita. This causes the market share for Lime-A-Rita to decrease. In order for Lime-A-Rita to minimize cannibalism, there are more flavors being introduced to attract more