In its first year, Coca-Cola only sold 25 bottles. This factoid circulates on social media as an encouraging quotation shared by business professionals.
In reality, Coca-Cola probably sold 100 times more than this bogus statistic claims.
The truth is that Coca-Cola was a failure from the start. John Pemberton, the founder of Coca-Cola, most likely made around $50 in his first year. When you consider he spent $70 on advertising, this is a colossal failure.
According to the website “World of Coca-Cola,” the beverage was first prepared by an Atlanta pharmacist — Dr. John S Pemberton — in the year 1886.
The first servings of the drink were not sold in bottles but in glasses at the price of five cents per glass. This website is maintained by The Coca-Cola Company.
As mentioned on the website, “During its first year, sales averaged a modest nine servings per day in Atlanta. Today, daily servings of Coca-Cola beverages are estimated at 1.9 billion globally.”
According to the website “World of Coca-Cola” in 1894, to make the beverage portable, the company started to sell it in bottles.
“In 1894, impressed by the growing demand for Coca-Cola and the desire to make the beverage portable, Joseph Biedenharn installed bottling machinery in the rear of his Mississippi soda fountain, becoming the first to put Coca-Cola in bottles. Large-scale bottling was made possible just five years later,” says Coca-Cola.
So, while Coca-Cola definitely didn’t sell 25 bottles in its first year, it wasn’t some overnight success.
It took years to cultivate such a worthwhile brand with so much sticking power. That in itself is something to consider when you wonder why you haven’t reached your dream targets yet.
