'They don't know what they're doing': A seismic shift that set off the retail apocalypse could hit companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi next

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• As online sales grow, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo could be the next victims of the retail apocalypse.
• Up to 30% of beverage sales are impulse buys, and Coca-Cola and Pepsi target in-store shoppers.
• "I think the discourse around e-commerce remains an antiquated discourse ... On average, they don't know what they're doing," one beverage industry analyst said.

Beverage industry giants like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo could be in deep trouble as customers ditch in-store shopping for e-commerce, analysts say.

Impulse buys make up roughly 30% of overall beverage sales, Alliance Bernstein & Co analyst Ali Dibadj said at Beverage Digest's Future Smarts conference on Friday. As people increasingly shop online, those sales are in danger.

"That's something that's not being addressed right now," Dibadj said.

Without customers grabbing a Diet Coke while checking out at Walmart or grabbing a two-liter bottle of Pepsi at the grocery store, the beverage industry could be in serious trouble. As sales of soft drinks by volume have dropped for 12 consecutive years, companies like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo do not want to risk losing an opportunity to get their products in customers' hands.

Pepsi

"I don't think most beverage companies are particularly well prepared," for the rise of e-commerce, Macquarie Capital Senior Analyst Caroline Levy said Friday.

"I think the discourse around e-commerce remains an antiquated discourse ... On average, they don't know what they're doing," Dibadj said.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo contested the idea that they're ignorant or ignoring the growing impact of ecommerce.

Both companies mentioned e-commerce sales in their Friday presentations at the conference. Coca-Cola, specifically, has been investigating click-and-collect grocery sales, trying to create bundled deals (such as meal kits) and exploring new impulse "triggers" online.

Still, considering the apocalyptic impact that customers shopping online has had on brick-and-mortar retailers, the impact of e-commerce cannot be underestimated. Every industry will be affected, and that includes food and beverage companies.

"Retailers who are agile and reimagine the art of the possible will be big industry winners," Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told investors earlier this year, referring to the industry's "seismic shift" towards digital and mobile. "Those who do not will struggle mightily."

With a huge chunk of their business at stake, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo can't afford to fall behind - or have an industry rival beat them to the punch.

"Until the day we have instantaneous cold beverages delivered to our home while we're sitting at our computer, e-commerce challenges impulse," Dibadj said.