Ben Jones, a 21-year-old merchandiser for Coca-Cola Enterprises, weaved in and out the aisles of a Roswell grocery store on a recent Friday morning, stopping every few feet at another section of beverages.

Clad in a gray shirt with Coca-Cola red pinstripes, Jones is on the front lines of a rapidly broadening contest between Coke and Pepsi.

John Spink/AJC (ENLARGE)

Vitaminwater has helped diversify Coca-Cola's product line.

John Spink/AJC

Old-style Pepsi and Coke products warily eye each other at a Chevron on Woodstock Road in Roswell.

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Your Turn Which of these are you more likely to consume?   Cola   Bottled or enhanced water   Teas   Juice drinks   Sports drinks Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Five days a week for three to four hours a day, Jones works this Publix store from the Smartwater rack in the front to the Coke soda displays in the back. In all, Atlanta-based CCE, the Coca-Cola Co.'s largest bottler, places beverages at 16 points in this one outlet.

"We hit them at every angle," said Jones, rounding a soda display and heading for the water and energy drink sections.

For decades, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been butting heads for shelf space on the soda aisles of grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies and super centers.

But the rivalry is moving well beyond soft-drinks. The Cola Wars have spread to juices, teas, waters, sports drinks, energy drinks and ready-to-drink coffees.

With U.S. sales of carbonated soft drinks on the slide for three years straight, industry executives and experts predict more expansion to come as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and their respective bottling partners look to boost profits and volume in their home market.

The changes have been driven by consumers searching for healthier options and also showing a strong interest in a wider variety of beverages, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of trade publication Beverage Digest.

U.S. consumers are buying fewer soft drinks and more beverages such as teas, waters and energy drinks. Non-carbonated beverages have grown in the past five years from about one-quarter to one-third of the non-alcoholic beverage market, Beverage Digest data shows.

Instead of pushing a few mega-brands of soda, beverage companies are having to manage a complex portfolio of drinks, Sicher said.

Since 2000, CCE has doubled the number of stock keeping units, or SKUs, it delivers to 420. Each SKU represents a distinct beverage and packaging size. In that same time, the Pepsi Bottling Group, PepsiCo's largest bottler, has seen its SKUs double to 450.

In the next 10 years, the number could grow to more than 1,000 SKUs for a major bottler, Sicher predicts.

"The industry is changing dramatically," he said. "It's gone from an industry which 20 years ago was all about marketing a relatively small number of brands to an industry where the premium is really on things like smart innovation and excellent logistical execution by the bottlers."

Pink Powerade?

Pepsi was first to diversify. It signed joint ventures with Lipton in 1991 and Starbucks in 1994. It acquired SoBe in 2000 and Gatorade in 2001. These moves have given Pepsi the lead in teas, ready-to-drink coffees and sports drinks, according to Beverage Digest.

In the past year, though, Coca-Cola has countered by buying Glaceau enhanced waters and Fuze juice drinks. It reached agreements for Campbell's juice drinks and Caribou and Godiva bottled coffees. Another ready-to-drink coffee, under the Illy brand, is expected to be offered in North America in 2008 or 2009.

The expanding market can be seen at a CCE warehouse on Atlanta's northside that serves much of the area. Pallets are stacked high with red cartons of Coca-Cola Classic and silver packs of Diet Coke.

But more of the floor space is being devoted to new brands and flavors.

CCE has added recent creations, such as Rockstar Roasted Latte and a pink-colored Powerade Strawberry Lemonade, in the past few months.

The Coca-Cola system also has extended and repackaged major soft-drink brands. CCE is now delivering Coke Classic, Diet Coke and Coke Zero to Atlanta-area restaurants in contoured aluminum bottles.

"Street fight" for sales

Speed and flexibility are more important than ever, said Terry Marks, president of CCE's North America group. When Marks joined CCE 20 years ago, Coca-Cola and its bottlers worried that adding new products would complicate the system.

"I can actually remember agonizing over whether or not we should add a six-pack can and two-liter root beer," Marks said. "We really rung our hands over the operational impact of it."

The Coca-Cola system has since become more willing to add beverages and more nimble in the market, Marks said.

CCE is retiring 45-foot side-bay trucks, good for delivering large amounts of a few brands, and adding 35-foot box trucks that carry pre-packed palettes of an assortment of beverages tailored to each outlet.

Market analysis and strategy also has changed, Marks said. Unlike sodas, which often sell in bulk, some of the newer drinks move one bottle at a time. The volumes are low, but the price points can be high.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are constantly trying to gain an upper-hand in even the smallest outlets, searching for nuances or trends to determine the right product mix, Marks said. A convenience store near a gym, for example, might be a good place for Vitaminwater.

"It's a street fight," Marks said. "It's the knowledge of what's in that area that enables the account manager to make the right decisions because he or she knows the shoppers in that area."

Coca-Cola at every turn

Jones, the CCE merchandiser, joined the Coca-Cola bottler last year and has learned quickly that this competition with Pepsi is about attention to detail.

Starting at 5:30 a.m. each weekday, Jones walks the aisles of this Roswell Publix, replenishing beverages and assessing what's moving and what's not moving in the CCE family.

Sodas are still a big part of what he handles. Coke soft drinks are in a vending machine near the door, coolers at the check-out line, a floor display near the front, special units at the end of aisles and rows of shelves in the soda section.

But in addition to the main soda aisle, Jones has responsibility for about a dozen other sections, and in every section, Coca-Cola and Pepsi both have products.

On the recent Friday, Jones spotted opportunity. In the energy drink aisle, a space allocated to a Coca-Cola competitor had been left unstocked.

"I have something that can go in this spot," Jones said, eyeing CCE-distributed Rockstar and Full Throttle energy drinks on some nearby shelves. He'll move a few packs to the open space.

Along the back aisle, Jones noticed a new basket of low-calorie G2, giving Pepsi an additional point-of-sale for its Gatorade line. Jones might ask the store manager if he has room for a basket of Coca-Cola's Powerade.

Whenever possible, CCE wants to move its products into eye-level positions. The bottom shelf is the kiss of death.

Jones pointed to the enhanced water section where he's been able to push Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater to the eye-level position, knocking down Pepsi's Propel.

"If it doesn't sell, we can switch it back," Jones said. "But we know it's going to sell."

The work is tedious, but each move has the chance to pay off with more sales.

As he walked out the Publix grocery store door and headed to another outlet, Jones passed an incoming customer with an armful off Smartwater bottles. She grabbed them from an entry-way display he had just filled.

"She came in the door... Bam, there it was," Jones said. "It always make you feel good to see that."