Hershey Outlines Sensible Plan for Growth
HERSHEY AIMS TO DRIVE sales growth by giving consumers better tasting products with a focus on value and health and wellness.
“We are staying on top of shopper behaviors, making sure we have the right insights and evolving as the retail landscape evolves,” said Michele Buck, Chairman, President and CEO of the Hershey Company.
At the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference recently, Buck outlined four key areas that the confection giant will focus on to spur growth. The four areas are value, product category and taste, health and wellness, and new shopping behaviors.
Value: “We define value to consumers in a very multifaceted way,” said Buck. “Of course, there’s price and making sure that we have the right entry level price points for people coming into the category. There’s an overall affordability. Greater than 80% of our everyday chocolate items are less than $4.”
Over the next few years, she said, there will be an evolution and changes in the take-home aisle. “We are increasing product visibility and optimizing the flow of the aisle with some changes that we’re making to our packaging. We are more and more going to be using the aisle to communicate to consumers’ occasions to create that top-of-mind perspective on when and where they can use our products, and organize the aisle in that way. And all of this will culminate in an increased value impression to the consumer.”
Product Category: Hershey’s product category is about taste, Buck said, who added that understanding the next evolution of how we delight consumers from a taste perspective is important.
“Consumers’ palates are continuing to evolve and we want to continue to create excitement for them,” Buck said. “Innovation continues to be some of the lifeblood of the category. We've continued to focus on sweets, in particular, where there’s a lot of innovation opportunity, whether it is forms, texture, flavor relative to sour versus milder. All of those things are opportunities and places where the consumer is exploring and trying more.”
She added that Hershey is focused on moving into “spaces in between the scenes.” “Areas like sweet and salty where consumers have started to like the mixing of those ingredients together.”
Healthier Snacking: “We are responding to the fact that health and wellness has distinct consumer needs,” said Buck. “We also are investing in R&D and new technology to enhance macros and the consumer experience, including our focus on sugar free and on protein snacking.
“We also are investing in R&D and new technology to enhance macros and the consumer experience, including our focus on sugar free and on protein snacking.”
Buck announced a partnership with VitaKey, “leveraging their technology to create a suite of health and wellness products.”
[Editor’s Note: Hershey is partnering with Vitakey to enhance the nutritional value of food and beverages through precision nutrient delivery technology. The company is focusing on sugar-free and high-protein products and is investing in new technology to improve overall consumer experience.]
New Shopping Behaviors: Buck said Hershey is partnering with retailers and working with consumers to understand what they’re looking for in each of their different shopping experiences and shopping outlet “so that we can penetrate under-shared channels. It creates further opportunity for expansion. We’re also very focused on occasion-based shopping. Think about things like value on-the-go or movie and family gaming nights or the Big Game Day with a sweet and salty flavor to it. And we're embracing social shopping to fuel omnichannel growth.”
