Hershey showcases its latest anniversary year showcases in US
As part of its 125th anniversary celebrations, The Hershey Company is showcasing insights and investments to increase sales of instant consumables to more than 23,500 convenience store retailers at the 2019 National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show Expo taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
Visitors to Hershey’s booth (#1931), at the show, which continues today and tomorrow (October 3-4), will discover how Hershey is driving trips and conversion for instant consumables through emerging media channels, cross-merchandising solutions, new product offerings and actionable shopper insights.
“As consumers change the way they shop, they also change the way they consume media and we must respond accordingly,” said Charlie Chappell, Head of Media and Communications Planning, The Hershey Company. “We’re developing an agile approach to media across platforms so we can target not only regular convenience-store customers, but also take a geo-based approach to target consumers on mobile devices when they are near a store location.”
In U.S. ‘c-stores’, five billion foodservice snacks and meals are sold annually and bundling these items together presents c-store retailers with another opportunity to increase basket size and drive trips among shoppers1. The natural affinity presents an opportunity for Hershey and c-store retailers to create new sales.
“Given Hershey’s proven success with cross-merchandising hot and cold beverages with confectionery items like KitKat and Reese’s in the past, we’re investing in insights around cross-merchandising solutions to boost foodservice sales for our retail partners and create a seamless experience for shoppers,” said Ben Stoffel, Senior Director of U.S. Convenience Sales, The Hershey Company.
Packaged carbonated beverages, prepared food and snacks are three of the top ten cross-purchased categories.2 Offering convenience store “meal deal” bundles for these items using in-aisle merchandising displays and fixtures has been proven to increase trip frequency.3 Prompting shoppers to include a confection item with their bundle at checkout can increase basket size by 22 percent. At NACS, visitors to Hershey’s booth will sample the latest new product innovations from the Hershey’s, Reese’s, KitKat and Jolly Rancher brand franchises.
This December, Hershey will roll out Hershey’s White with Whole Almonds bar, which features a smooth white creme packed with whole roasted California almonds. This latest innovation from Hershey will give consumers the perfect sweet and crunchy treat.
For the first time in almost a decade, a new year-round KitKat flavour will be coming to the U.S. and available nationwide in December 2019. The new KitKat Duos Mint + Dark Chocolate bar, will feature a mashup of two iconic flavours – mint crème on the top and dark chocolate on the bottom, all surrounding light and crispy wafers.
Since its launch in 2004, Reese’s peanut butter has always been one of five items included inside a Take5 bar. This summer, the Reese’s brand decided to reclaim what was rightfully theirs and reintroduce the five-layered candy bar under the Reese’s brand name. Aside from its new orange packaging, Reese’s Take5 bar will still pack the ideal combination of salty, sweet, crunchy and chewy all in one candy bar.
Also launching this December is the Jolly Rancher Gummies Original Flavours item. The franchise includes all of the flavours you know and love, but now in gummy form. These were re-created to deliver those fruit Jolly Rancher flavors in new fruit character shapes. The new gummies are pop-able, shareable and chewy. Additionally, to impress sour lovers everywhere, the Jolly Rancher brand will debut the new Jolly Rancher Gummies Sours product. They bring the same shapes of the fruit characters as the original gummies but with a sour pop.
