Pepsi launches 5 limited-edition soda flavors

1 hour ago 3

Daniel Kline

Sat, May 16, 2026 astatine 11:30 AM CDT 4 min read

While Coca-Cola and PepsiCo stay the titans of the beverage industry, they present look importantly accrued competion for consumers.

Energy drinks and functional beverages present combat for support abstraction alongside accepted sodas. In addition, Keurig Dr. Pepper's Dr. Pepper has go the second-best selling soda marque successful the United States, portion Pepsi's signature marque has dropped to fig four.

Coca‑Cola Classic: About 19.2 % of the U.S. carbonated soft-drink marketplace (2024 data).
Dr Pepper: Roughly 8.7 %market stock successful 2025.
Sprite: About 8.03 % of U.S. soda volume
Pepsi-Cola: Around 7.97% marketplace stock successful the astir caller data.
Diet Coke: About 6-6.5 % share, rounding retired the top-5 database successful U.S. soft-drink rankings.
Sources: Accio, Beverage Digest, Visual Capitalist

Those products, nevertheless look caller challenges.

Convenience store vigor portion sales, for example, climbed 10% for the twelvemonth ending Dec. 31, 2025, to much than $16 cardinal portion portion income grew 8%, per Circana data.
Energy drinks person reached an all-time precocious successful marketplace share, increasing steadily from 1.3% of c-store income successful 2019 to 2.4% by the 3rd 4th of 2025, according to Datassential.
Source: C-Store Dive

To combat disconnected these challengers, Coca--Cola and PepsiCo. person entered the wellness and vigor spaces. They person besides utilized limited-time flavors, and peculiar packaging to triumph implicit customers.

“Limited clip offers make this conception of scarcity and truly incentivize the user to acquisition instantly oregon hazard the accidental of ne'er experiencing the products,” David Schneidman, the Director of Alvarez & Marsal Consumer Retail Group told Modern Retail. “A finite offering, some successful clip and measurement makes consumers overmuch much proactive,”

Now, PepsiCo has partnered with Pokemon to motorboat 5 caller exclusive flavors, but "catching them all," truthful to speak, won't beryllium casual for Americans.

Pepsi partners with Pokemon

PepsiCo and Pokemon person partnered arsenic portion of the collectible paper brand's 30th day celebration. It's an elaborate concern that volition see artwork of 18 antithetic Pokémon implicit respective antithetic portion flavors from Pepsico, Sporked reported.

The bottles volition beryllium disposable crossed six soda flavors, with each 1 getting 3 exclusive Pokémon bottles featuring 3 antithetic “evolutions” of 1 Pokémon. The brands are:

C.C. Lemon: A carbonated citrus soda that features the Vitamin C of 28 lemons successful each can.
Pokémon:Pichu, Pikachu, and Raichu.
Pepsi Big Zero: A Japanese-exclusive, sugar-free mentation of Pepsi with zero calories.
Pokémon: Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard.
Pepsi Big Zero Lemon: Pepsi Big Zero with a beardown citrus kick.
Pokémon: Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise.
POP Melon: A sweet, muskmelon-flavored soda based connected the soda fountain drinks of classical Japanese java shops, known arsenic “kissatens.”
Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur.
Natchan Apple: A sweetened pome juice.
Pokémon: Applin (of course), Dipplin & Hydrapple.
Natchan Orange: A sweetened orangish juice.
Pokémon: Pawmi, Pawmo, and Pawmot