Coca-Cola will replace its Coke Zero product with the newer Coca-Cola No Sugar this September to boost consumer recognition of its sugar-free offerings.
The company introduced Coca-Cola No Sugar just over a year ago after it found that about half of consumers did not know Zero was sugar free.
“We said we would let people decide and we are pleased to say the results are in – Australians have decided that Coke No Sugar is it,” Coca-Cola Australia's marketing director Lucie Austin said in a statement.
“Australians have embraced Coke No Sugar - which from day one was carefully crafted to taste even more like Coca-Cola Classic. It is no surprise that people are preferring it over Coke Zero."
Coke Zero, introduced to Australia in 2006, will be entirely phased out by September, the company said on Wednesday.
Austin said 3.5 million Australians had drunk Coke No Sugar since its launch and the product was helping grow the low- and no-sugar drinks category.
No Sugar was the result of five years of development and 15 consumer trials to get the taste of a non-sugar drink as close as possible to full-strength Coke.
Attempts by Coca-Cola and its local bottler, Coca-Cola Amatil, to grow their sales of low-sugar and sugar-free products come amid rising public concern about sugar consumption and its link to obesity, and growing calls for Australia to follow other countries in introducing a sugar tax.
The country's biggest soft drink makers, including Coca-Cola and Pepsi, last month vowed to cut the amount of sugar in the drinks they sell by 20 per cent over the next seven years.
The target is for a percentage reduction in sugar relative to the amount of drink sold, rather than a volume reduction in sugar, meaning higher sales of bottled water and other sugar-free products will work towards its goal.
Coca-Cola has reformulated 22 drinks in the Australian market since 2015 to contain less sugar, and has been shifting its portfolio to include more no- and low-sugar drinks, such as bottled waters and coffee, as consumers shift away from sugary drinks.
Coca-Cola Amatil's sales of fizzy drinks have fallen 8.1 per cent by volume over the past two financial years, its financial results show.
