American non-alcoholic beverage firm The Coca-Cola Company will launch ‘Lemon-Do’ alcoholic soft drink in Japan in October, marking the company’s entry into the alcoholic beverage segment.

The company will launch the alcoholic drink across Japan as part of the global soft drink giant’s attempts to diversify out of the soda pop market.

In May last year, the company’s Japanese unit began test-marketing Lemon-Do in Kyushu, the country’s southernmost island considered the home of chuhai. Kyushu is a pre-mixed cocktail containing shochu liquor infused with a distilled alcohol called shochu, carbonated water and flavouring.

The lemon-flavoured drink was introduced in three varieties and ranges from 3% to 7% in alcohol content.

The Japanese subsidiary will ship the canned alcoholic beverage to supermarkets and convenience stores across the nation.

The soft drink company is keen on diversifying, as energy drink makers and other beverage firms enter the soft drink market.

Soda pop accounts for 70% of the group’s global beverage sales by volume.

According to Coca-Cola Japan business unit president Jorge Garduño, Lemon-Do is the company’s first hard seltzer that has been created for a specific portion of Coca-Cola’s market.

Compared to Coca-Cola group companies in other markets, the Japanese unit has achieved more success in areas such as selling teas, coffees and other non-carbonated drinks.

However, the saturated beverage market in Japan has prompted Coca-Cola to diversify into the ‘alcopop’ sector.

The company will also launch a new coffee product, Coca-Cola With Coffee, in 25 international markets by the end of 2019.

The coffee product will contain Coke and a generous dose of caffeine. The coffee product is likely to be launched in the US in 2020.

Coca-Cola has planned an elaborate advertising campaign similar to those launched for the company’s mainstay brands, including Coca-Cola and Georgia, a coffee beverage.

The company is also diversifying in other markets and this year bought Britain’s largest chain of cafes for around $5bn.