SWOT Analysis of Corona: Renowned Global Beer Brand

Updated on: Dec 28, 2021

In our previous article, we went through a complete SWOT analysis of Carlsberg. In this study, we are going to go through the SWOT analysis of Corona.

One of the world’s best-selling beer names in the world – Corona is a brand that has a high reputation among beer drinkers due to its unique and refreshing taste. As the brand is vintage to the world of beers, operating since 1925 and the pride of Mexico. Why? Because the brand has always catered to its customers in a significant manner and kept its target audience interested. 

Another aspect that gave Corona a leading position today is its marketing campaigns. As the world is swept away by the online stores, marketing has also taken a phenomenal turn and if you are interested in learning about the latest in the digital marketing industry – attend our Free MasterClass on Digital Marketing 101, led by the Founder and CEO of IIDE, Karan Shah.

Therefore, the goal of this article is to provide you with valuable insights surrounding the brand, using the latest facts, updates and even how Corona gained its supremacy in the beer industry. So, let’s now dive in to know more about Corona before starting with the SWOT analysis of Corona.

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About Corona

SWOT Analysis of Corona - Corona Extra

Corona beer is a Mexican origin beer company. Corona Extra was first brewed in 1925 in  Cervecería Modelo in Mexico City, Mexico. Corona focuses on four main products, Corona Extra, Corona Light, Corona Premier and Corona Familiar. The latter beverages come in different sizes and ounces. 

Corona beer was produced in Modelo beer, a brewery. The brewery began producing beer Corona in its “quarter” bottle presentation and it was at this time that the idea was to replace the now traditional transparent bottle with a brown bottle. 

Corona’s logo and name were inspired by the one Corona that adorns the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. 

Corona now is a very popular Mexican beer brand worldwide, produced by Grupo Modelo, which is part of the Belgian multinational AB Inbev. The beer Corona is a worldwide known beer brand, distributed through more than 159 countries in five different continents.

Quick Stats on Corona
Founder Antonino Fernandez
Year Founded 1925
Origin Mexico
No. of Employees 40,000
Company Type Private
Market Cap N/A
Annual Revenue $ 7.5 Billion (2020)
Net Income/ Profit $ 398.4 Million (2020)

 

SWOT Analysis of Corona - Corona Range of Varities


Products of Corona
 

Corona has been dealing with a range of beers to suit every need:

  • Corona Extra
  • Corona Light
  • Corona Premier
  • Corona Familiar
  • Corona Non-alcoholic drink


Competitors of Corona

Corona competes on a global level while maintaining its quality and uniqueness, it competes with global brands such as:

  • Budweiser
  • Heineken
  • SAB Miller
  • Femsa
  • Diageo

Now that we have seen a brief overview of the company, we can now delve right into the SWOT analysis of Corona.


SWOT Analysis of Corona
 

A SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning and management technique that helps an organization determine their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to business competition or project planning. It is a useful planning system that allows Corona to help identify its performance about its competitors and the industry as a whole.

To better understand the SWOT Analysis of Corona, refer to the infographic below:

SWOT Analysis of Corona - SWOT Infographics of Corona

Let us now learn more about the SWOT Analysis of Corona by starting with its strengths.

Strengths of Corona

Strengths are determinants that help identify the company’s unique qualities, what features does it excel at and what makes the organization stand out from the rest of the competition. 

  • Target Consumer: While most of the other beers under the competition target youngsters, Corona has always focused its target towards an older group; 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.
  • Marketing and Advertising: Corona has always been a consistent advertiser and over the years it has not changed its signature message or positioning of “refreshing memorable moments”. Moreover, Corona advertises its beverage as more than just a drink. Corona positions itself as a ‘medium’ in which consumers can associate their beers to the experience of consuming the latter. 
  • Leadership in the Market: Corona is regarded as one of the best selling beers in its respective category while being a prime leader in the export section. Further, in the U.S, Corona beers dominate the market claiming 29%, which accounts for 8 million cases around the world.
  • Engaging with Environment: As beer Corona was born at the beach, the brand had pledged to protect 100 islands from plastic by 2020 and they did it successfully. This initiative increases the accountability of Corona in the beer market.
  • Innovation: The company is always aiming for development and innovation. Due to their advanced facilities and equipment, they can ensure that their product is of its utmost quality ensuring value to consumers.
  • Location: Because of the location of the company which is Mexico surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, it has an ease of access to resources such as water, supplies, and even has the advantage of logistics.
  • Sponsorship: Since the inception of Corona, it has been sponsoring many sports including boxing, ATP’s premier worldwide, Mexico national football team etc. Also, it was the sponsor of the SBK Superbike World Championship for 9 consecutive years from 1998 to 2007.


Weaknesses of Corona

Weaknesses are pointers that may prevent an organization from functioning at its prime level. There are areas in which Corona has to improve:

  • Low Systematic Growth: Since Corona was acquired by Anheuser Busch, the organic growth of the company is lagging. This is due to the company’s over-dependence on well-developed markets like the USA where the beer brand name is almost crashed.
  • Monopoly: The US, which was always one of the leading countries for the beer industry, will be taken over by AB Inbev after the integration of Grupo Modelo and Anheuser Busch. After the latter happens, prices of certain brands of beer are likely to rise while others may plunge which in turn may affect the presence and even existence of individual brands.
  • Incorporation Issues: The integration between Grupo Modelo and Anheuser Busch has been undergoing a lot of legal and functional crises in turn affecting both Budweiser’s and Corona’s sales.
  • Poor Margins: Corona’s key markets are developed countries where the beer business is established and pricing is the only differentiating feature. Though Corona’s Extra beer has high-profit margins, their light & premier beer, which should account for the majority of their income, do not.
  • Increased Expenses: Over expenditure have always been a problem for companies. The number of expenses by the company is increasing which results in a decrease in profits every year. Even though they have a high net revenue their profits are falling every year. A reduction in profits may create possibilities of losses in the future.


Opportunities for Corona
 

Opportunities are prominent external circumstances that may provide Corona with a competitive advantage.

  • Synergetic Endeavour: As craft beer is growing in demand globally with a prime focus in developed markets, many leading companies are trying to join forces in the brewing of craft beer to divert mishaps off the radar. The latter will offer more opportunities to improve efficiencies and increase costs.
  • Increased Awareness of Foreign Brands in Various Countries: In emerging nations like India, for example, where the number of clubs and pubs are increasing in the city, a majority of people ask for the brand ‘Corona’ due to its universality in the US, Canada and various other nations.
  • Launch New Varieties: Corona only deals in 4 varieties of beer named extra, light, premier and familiar. Corona should think of launching new products like new beer varieties, snacks, fruit beverages, desserts, etc. Corona can also consider launching beers that may be low-carb to serve health-conscious customers.
  • Improve its Digital Presence: Being one of the top beer brands in the world, Corona should take the opportunity of the booming digital era and build a stronger relationship with its customers online using digital marketing strategies. Having a strong digital presence creates a lasting impression and attracts new customers.

Bonus Tip: You must also market your business digitally using the above digital marketing strategies. But, to apply the latest digital marketing strategies, first, you should learn various sets of digital marketing skills from a renowned institute like IIDE where experts from the digital industry are the teachers and instructors of these courses. Also, learning these skills has been proven beneficial for students who are looking for career growth and opportunities. So, do check out for your benefit.  

  • Change in Lifestyle: With the lifestyle change, many people believe in enjoying life by eating and drinking to the fullest. This can be a great opportunity for the company to reach potential customers and increase sales.


Threats to Corona 

Threats are factors that have the likelihood to disrupt an organization. 

  • Government Regulations: Corona should monitor the fast-changing government regulations under the growing pressure from protest groups and non-government organizations, especially regarding the aspects of environment and labour safety.
  • Bargaining Power of Consumers: Over the years the bargaining power of customers of Corona Beer has increased significantly which is a pressure for the company to lower their prices since Corona is a high-quality product.
  • International Geo-Political Factors: Geopolitical factors have taken a turn for growing trade barriers. Developments such as Brexit, Russian sanctions, foreign exchange crisis & inflation in Venezuela, lower oil prices etc are impacting the cross border business environment.
  • Competitors’ Low Prices: The company may be challenged to control its prices as compared to its main competitors. Other competitors have lower prices compared to them. Consumers may opt to purchase cheaper products that may look and taste like Corona beer.
  • Covid-19 Controversies: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Corona beer brand has been disrupted several times due to the brand’s name being similar to that of the virus. Also, this is the main reason why Corona beer has been avoided in the US market.

For large corporations like Corona Beer, it is essential to break down their brand into the above-mentioned steps to have a more successful strategy and decision-making process for the year to come.

This ends our detailed SWOT analysis of Corona. Let us conclude our learnings below.

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To Conclude 

It is true that Corona is a well-reputed brand worldwide with a large number of fanatics. In accordance with the SWOT analysis of Corona, we analysed that the company’s key driving factor is its marketing strategy in the present and the past but would have to improve on its focus on other market segments rather than depending on the US.

As competition is increasing between all beer companies on a global scale, it is the survival of the fittest. The latter means, as the competition is intense, the only way out is by thriving in this ever-changing online world of digital marketing. Being well-versed and efficient is key to succeeding as a global company in today’s era. If you are interested in grasping a skill or investing in upgrading your skills in digital marketing, feel free to check out IIDE’s 3 Month Advanced Online Digital Marketing Course to know more.

We hope this blog on the SWOT analysis of Corona has given you a good insight into the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

If you like to read such insightful and extensive analyses of companies just like the SWOT analysis of Corona then you can find more such interesting case studies on our IIDE’s knowledge portal.

Thank you for taking your time out to read this, hope you found the case study on the SWOT analysis of Corona informative and insightful. Share your views on it in the comments section below. 

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Author's Note:

My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

Practical assignments, case studies & simulations helped the students from this course present this analysis.

Building on this practical approach, we are now introducing a new dimension for our online digital marketing course learners - the Campus Immersion Experience.

If you found this case study helpful, please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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