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MBA 652 1) How would you characterize the energy beverage category and competitors in late 2007? The energy drink market is very competitive as it has several major brands in play. These brands include drinks like Red Bull, Monster Energy, and PepsiCo’s AMP. The major purchases of the energy drinks are made in the convenience stores, supermarkets, and mass merchandisers as they account for over 69 percent of the retail sales compared to about 30 percent of sales made in restaurants and night clubs (Kerin & Peterson, 2010). Red Bull currently dominates the Energy drink as it boasts an estimate of 43 percent of dollar sales in 2006 while the closest competitor has a 16 percent of the sales share (Kerin & Peterson, 2010). The United States beverage market grew by 1.2 percent in 2010 following some years of back-to-back decline of the previous two years. 2) What target consumer market should be chosen for a new energy beverage brand? There are about 43-45 million energy drinkers in the United States which is roughly 18 percent of the total United States population from ages 12 and above. The heaviest users of energy are males which make up about 70 percent of energy beverage consumption. The consumer market that needs to be targeted is women and adult, because judging from statistics they are the one segment of consumers that the energy beverage markets have not yet tabbed into even though they make up the significant part of the population. 3) What product should be introduced and how should be introduced and how should it be positioned and differentiated? The product that should be introduced should be introduced in a single-serve package and it should be both regular and sugar-free energy beverages, this is because according to market statistics the regular beverages make up 80 percent share of the market, meanwhile the sugar-free energy beverages make up the remaining 20 percent of market share. The product