Coca-Cola began distributing bottles in what home-purchase format?

Coca-Cola began distributing bottles for home purchase in six-packs, using a cardboard carrier introduced in 1923.

The six-pack was designed to make bottled Coca-Cola easier to carry home in quantity. As household refrigeration became more common, the company and its bottlers saw an opportunity to shift some consumption away from soda fountains and into the home.

The original carrier was promoted as a “home package with a handle of invitation.” Its purpose was practical as well as promotional: customers could transport six glass bottles, return the empties and buy Coca-Cola more conveniently. The carrier was patented in 1924, after its 1923 introduction.

This development came after Coca-Cola had already become available in bottles. Bottling rights were granted in 1899, and distinctive contour bottles were developed in the 1910s to discourage imitation. The six-pack was therefore not the beginning of bottling itself; it was a later packaging innovation that helped turn bottled Coca-Cola into a routine household purchase.