the power of search - thehersheycompany.com · different story. suddenly there’s those gold bar...

IN A SHOPPER’S WORLDThe Power of Search

OFFLINE

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SHOPPERS SPEND

6XMORE WHEN THEY SHOP

ALL OF A RETAILER’S COMMERCE PLATFORMS

Let’s take a total commerce approachThere will always be a marketplace that brings buyers and sellers together. But how will the marketplace function? At Hershey, we’re convinced that a comprehensive “total” approach to retail is our future.

Today’s most successful CPG-retailer partnerships lead the way in solutions that lend themselves to both commerce and experience. The Power of Search in a Shopper’s World highlights ideas in which iconic brands, category knowledge and a deep understanding of a changing retail landscape have combined to deliver not only better experiences, but better results.

The fact is, digital and physical retail are no longer the binary choices they once were; they’re now complementary components of a total ecosystem — one in which the shopper is SIX TIMES more valuable overall.

Hershey is committed to using brands, category knowledge and total commerce expertise to capture and “wow” shoppers, when and how they choose to engage with us and our category. We invite you to take a look through these pages, and then call us to see how, together, we can explore and grow.

TODD TILLEMANS President, U.S., The Hershey Company

*Source: Publicly available retail data THE POWER OF SEARCH IN A SHOPPER’S WORLD | THE HERSHEY COMPANY 2

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expertise at your fingertipsWe’re proud to say our subject matter experts are the driving force behind Hershey’s breakthroughs in retail.

In the following pages, you’ll discover their work creating inspiring shopper scenarios at Medley, a fictitious store-of-the-future concept. Though you’ll find a wide variety of individual scenarios, each has a common purpose: to help retailers envision their place and possibilities in the shopper’s world.

Feel free to reach out to our experts for more insights, or your Hershey relationship manager to arrange a visit to our Global Customer Innovation Center (GCIC), where the ideas presented in this paper jump off the page in a museum-quality space. Douglas C. Straton

Chief Digital Commerce Officer• Corporate Provocateur• Digital Progressive• Guitarist

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Dan FreneySenior Manager Retail Evolution Special Projects• Retail Advocate• Activator of Purposeful Disruption• Endless Curiosity

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Suzanne JonesVice President, The Hershey Experience• Experiential Expert• Lead Intrapreneur• Globetrotter

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Joey HendrixTeam Lead Insights Driven Performance (IDP) Everyday Strategy• Strategy Trailblazer• Analytical Savant• Motorhead

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Todd TillemansPresident, U.S., The Hershey Company• Innovator• Motivator• World Traveler

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Jen WingSenior Manager Insights Driven Performance (IDP)• Experience Architect• In-Store Activist• Nomadic Hippie

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Phil StanleyVice President, Customer & Category Development• Confection Category Expert• Chocolate Lover• Boston Strong

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Tony MardegainDirector of Shopper Insights• Voice of Shopper• Path to Purchase Expert• Mountain Biker

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Brian KavanaghSenior Director, Retail Evolution• Retail Futurist• Insights-Driven Storyteller• Georgia Bulldog

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THE POWER OF SEARCH IN A SHOPPER’S WORLD | THE HERSHEY COMPANY 3

In today’s retail environment, the battle for shoppers starts before the first click. Building a search and engagement strategy with these four components is critical to creating an experience ecosystem that puts consumers front and center, and wins in a total commerce world.

it Starts

with search

*Source: Forrester Research

50% OF ALL U.S. RETAIL SALES ARE DIGITALLY INFLUENCED*


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“Digital is the first shelf and search is the new strike zone.”

DOUGLAS C. STRATON

Chief Digital Commerce Officer, The Hershey Company

“Our goal is to wow shoppers at every touchpoint, through our brands and the experiences we build.” PHIL STANLEY

Vice President, Customer & Category Development, The Hershey Company

CONNECTIONS Pull them in

CONTENT Draw them closer

CONVERSION Close the deal

COMMUNITY Bond with them

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Founded in 1960, Medley is a fictitious Midwestern retailer. Medley was one of the first retailers to spot the need for a new kind of shopping, in which customer loyalty is driven by engaging experiences and convenience rather than pricing. Today’s Medley is an ideal blend of physical, digital and social interactions, reflecting the varied demands of the changing shopper.

The Medley Story


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“Medley is an example of what the future might look like if there were no rules, if there was nothing holding us back. It reveals just how inspiring shopping can be, given the technology of today and what’s on the horizon.” BRIAN KAVANAGH

Senior Director, Retail Evolution, The Hershey Company

app appealWith Shane cramming for a huge exam, there’s no time to head out for snacks, even though he’s hungry.

His chat-pal Connor decides to have some fun with that, and sends him a GIF of a dancing Reese’s cup he found online. But here’s the cool part: all Shane has to do is tap the image, which opens his Medley app and sends a two-pack of Reese’s to his apartment, no break in the cram session needed.

At the same time, the app lets him know there’s a bundle on Reese’s cups and fountain soda at the Medley store down the road. No additional search needed. Good to know for next time.

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“Consumers don’t differentiate between buying online or off. Put simply, they’re either buying at your store or they’re not. It’s all the same to them.” DOUGLAS C. STRATON


Total RecallCruising through Medley, Addison spies a display for new Hershey’s Gold bars from the corner of her eye — complete with video ads of Olympic athletes celebrating their “golden moments.” Looks yummy — but no time to explore now. So off she goes.

Watching the Olympics at home later on, it’s a different story. Suddenly there’s those Gold bar commercials on TV — and it’s an “instant recall moment.” Now’s the time! With the voice search feature on her Medley mobile app, she quickly adds a bar to her existing shopping list.

Soon, she’ll be enjoying her own “golden moment,” courtesy of Hershey and Medley.

80% OF ALL ONLINE ORDERS ARE SOURCED FROM ‘FAVORITES’ LISTS*

*Source: UBS Global Research, April 2018

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“Effectively engaging consumers across their entire journey requires us to think and act holistically using the deep understanding we have of our brands and the context in which people reach for snacks.” BRIAN KAVANAGH

Senior Director, Retail Evolution, The Hershey Company

The Main IngredientAt her daughter’s softball game, Tammy suddenly remembers her promise to bake treats for the class Halloween party. After a quick scroll through her Facebook feed, she finds a video recipe for Reese’s Spiders linked to her Medley shopping app.

By clicking the “add all ingredients to my Medley cart” button, the Medley app offers up several helpful options — including alerting her to switch the pretzels called for in the recipe to gluten-free for her son’s needs, followed by a reminder to schedule her choice of delivery or click-n-collect. For Tammy, this was exceptional content powered by an understanding of her family’s needs.

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“Content is king and data is its queen. Using data efficiently means you’re not sending promotional content about beef to a vegan.” DOUGLAS C. STRATON


On the Plus SideOn his way to pick up his click-n-collect (c-n-c) order, Gary decides he wants a few last-minute snacks. Fortunately, the pick-up area is merchandised like a convenience store, offering a wide range of snacking options that make it easy for Gary to quickly find and add extra instant consumable items to his original order.

Today it’s going to be Ice Breakers gum, a bag of Hershey’s Snack Mix and a bottled water. He quickly adds them to his main order, checks-out snacks in hand, and hits the door running, ready to get on with his day.

*Source: Hershey Click-and-Collect Study 2018

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“Shopper trips — and essentially all their missions —revolve around convenience. Delivering easy snack access, be it through online subscriptions or in-store services like click-and-collect, is critical for retailers.” TONY MARDEGAIN

Director of Shopper Insights, The Hershey Company

7%-9% OF THE POPULATION USES C-N-C, MAKING IT NEARLY THE SIZE OF THE DRUG CHANNEL*

60% OF C-N-C SHOPPERS GO INTO THE STORE WHEN PICKING UP*

25% OF SHOPPERS HAVE CUT BACK ON SNACK PURCHASES SINCE USING C-N-C, DUE TO NOT SEEING THEM AT CHECKOUT*

Moments Shared There’s not much the Park family values more than a little quality time together — especially with their crazy schedules. So when they came across the Hershey’s S’Mores Experience while shopping at Medley, naturally they had to give it a go.

Here they are, making S’Mores in the middle of Medley and enjoying the gooey-goodness within an authentic “Northwoods campsite.”

But they’re making something else too, something bigger. Memories. They’re sharing the fun with family, friends and each other via social media. They’re inspiring other shoppers passing by or seeing them over the closed-circuit monitors scattered throughout the store. And, they’re making the memory last well after they’ve left by picking up a take-home S’Mores Adventure Kit.

Yes, the Parks got everything they needed from their trip to Medley — including a great family moment. And that’s invaluable.

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“Community results when the stage is set for shoppers to create shareable moments that support their narratives. In these moments, the shoppers — not the stores or the products — become the heroes.” SUZANNE JONES

Vice President, The Hershey Experience

Moving Forward As with every Hershey retail initiative, innovation strategies are built around clear goals and measurable results.

In last year’s report, we shared a few concepts we were ready to test in the year ahead. With a year under our belt, we have updates on the outcomes and progress we’ve made in:

1. QUEUEING

2. IN-AISLE REINVENTION

3. SNACK ZONE

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QueueingQueueing is the most effective merchandising system to meet shoppers’ needs for a last-minute treat and a feeling of social justice. Queue lines allow people to continue to shop even as they make progress to the check out. This fair and orderly path to checkout eliminates anxiety around selecting a lane and knowing when it’s your turn. Even something as small as a 2-ft queue line makes a big difference in shopper perception of social justice. Research shows that an active queue design (where the shopper cannot bypass) versus a passive one (a shopper can bypass) is the most effective for driving conversion.

*Source: Multiple Small Format Retailers 2017

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“Without the ‘gentle push’ of an active queue, shoppers bypass the queue altogether resulting in a free-for-all that frustrates them and lowers retail sales potential.” JOEY HENDRIX

Team Lead Insights Driven Performance Everyday Strategy, The Hershey Company

GROW SALES

+6 PTS WITH AN ACTIVE QUEUE LINE*

INCREASE CONVERSION

+46% AT PAYPOINT WHEN A QUEUE LINE IS INSTALLED*

AND DECREASES PRODUCT SEARCH TIME BY*

50%

NEW DESIGN INCREASES AISLE TRAFFIC AND DRIVES CONVERSION*

+4 PTS

In-AislereinventionOver the past year, we’ve continued on our mission of increasing shopper engagement by recrafting the very essence of the candy aisle experience.

Currently, reinvention concepts are in testing at approximately 20 stores across three national retailers. Each concept is scalable, introducing more digital features and making the visit more convenient and interesting.

What’s been most encouraging thus far has been shopper response. We’re routinely hearing things like, “To someone who comes here weekly for my grocery shopping, this is exciting,” and, “It’s fun to see different things,” and “I thought, wow, this looks really good,” and “This is a welcome change.”

We’re confident our reinvention efforts will improve prospects for candy aisles and center store.

*Source: Hershey Project Promenade Testing Results 2018

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“Consumers are still shopping physical retailers, but they are gravitating to retailers that offer an experience. Our aisle reinvention brings fun to an aisle that has too long been difficult to navigate and uninspiring.” DAN FRENEY

Senior Manager of Retail Evolution Special Projects, The Hershey Company

20% SALES LIFT BY MOVING SNACKS TO FRONT OF STORE*

81% OF SHOPPERS SAY THE SNACK ZONE CREATED A POSITIVE IMPRESSION OF THE RETAILER*

Snack zoneWe designed the Snack Zone store set to meet two goals. Out of the gate, we wanted to provide a convenient solution at front-of-store. In our research, 91% of shoppers told us they’d value having one single-serve snacking section. It was also our immediate aim to help retailers capitalize on the growing incidence of grab-n-go snacking trips.

*Source: Hartman Group Snacking Trend Study; Internal FF Data

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“Further down the road, we expect Snack Zone to become firmly established as an easily accessed, centralized zone that gives shoppers frustration-free access to instant consumables, as traditional checkout footprints continue to evolve.” JEN WING

Senior Manager of Insights Driven Performance, The Hershey Company

Let’s Continue the Conversation We know the “next big thing” starts when people are talking and sharing ideas. Inside our Global Customer Innovation Center (GCIC) in Hershey, we have a unique ability to bring our teams and retail customers together, in the spirit of greater collaboration.

We invite you to connect and partner with us, to help solve the challenges you face today, so you’re better positioned to capture the opportunities of tomorrow.


the power of search - thehersheycompany.com · different story. suddenly there’s those gold bar...

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