2022 Category Captain for Candy: The Hershey Co.

Hershey continues to lead the candy category by leveraging internal partnerships between shopper insights and retail experience. During the pandemic, it developed the Hershey Insights Network (HIN), a newsroom-style setup that uses Microsoft Teams to bring customers into its Global Customer Insight Center (GCIC) virtually.

Through HIN, Hershey subject matter experts can lead virtual tours through the GCIC in a dynamic and engaging way. Guests find channel-specific content, complete with a full, 12-foot-long candy aisle that illustrates Hershey's "strike zone" optimization and merchandising strategies. 

Its winning entry cited: 

• Delivering a 10-12 percent lift for the confection category when implementing Hershey shopper insights principles. To date, 32 retailers have met with Hershey's shopper insights, retail experience and category management teams.
• Bundling high-margin and high-impulse items with foodservice to counter low foot traffic due to COVID-19. Testing at two retailers saw an average increase of $580 per store for the bundled SKU, or a 23-percent increase. 
• In 2021, Hershey delivered 25 food bundling solutions across 21 different retailers. In more than 15,000 stores, the food bundling increased baskets by an average of 20 percent and increased dollars per store by $550 in measured stores.