It's also well below the 30 million litres of Coke Zero sold in its first few weeks in shops.

"Repeat purchases of Coke Life are probably short of expectations at this early stage," analysts wrote in a note to clients.

Sarah Prestwood, Coca Cola Australia public affairs manager, expressed surprise over the analysts' sales estimates.

"Coke Life has certainly exceeded our expectations," Ms Prestwood said. "While it's still early days, we've seen a very positive response from the Australian market." 

CCA's management has gone out of its way to temper expectations of a rapid take-up of the new product, saying that Coke Life is hoped to make up between 1 and 2 per cent of total Coke sales by volume in 2015, which equates to about 15 million litres annually.

"It's still relatively new and the launch has attracted a lot of interest," Coca-Cola Amatil boss Alison Watkins recently told Fairfax Media.

"Something like 3.5 per cent of all grocery shoppers have tried Coke Life in some shape or form, and that's a very high proportion given the product has been in the market for only a month."

Ms Watkins said that the success or otherwise of the new product is "all about repeat [purchases] and whether it becomes an ongoing part of the repertoire". She added that it would also be important to consider how it affects purchases of classic Coke.

"We will judge it by the halo effect it creates for the Coke trademark over all," Ms Watkins said.

"It will take quite a few months and even years before we understand all those dynamics."

Ms Watkins and her team have worked hard to reposition the company after a year of profit downgrades that upset investors and hurt the share price.

But management has since steadied the ship and stated in its May 12 annual general meeting that it expects no decline in earnings per share this year.

With Coke Life falling short of expectations, "investors need to be cautious about anticipating a positive earnings surprise from CCL for either the half- or full-year 2015 profit reports", Credit Suisse warned.

The broker expects "flattish" earnings per share growth in this financial year against the previous year.

The analysts have lifted their rating on the stock to "neutral" following recent share price weakness, with a 12-month price target of $10.60.

"Our target price can only be achieved as confidence builds around 2016 EPS growth of mid-single digits," they wrote, adding that they believe the stock "has dividend support at $9.50".

- With Sue Mitchell