Dive Brief:
- Hershey Co. has compiled and analyzed years of market research, which it began doing in 2008 after Mars Inc. overtook the No. 1 candy spot in the U.S.
- Utah consumes candy at a rate of twice the national average. This is in part attributed to a large under-18 population and large Mormon population, for whom candy is one of the few permissible vices.
- In Minnesota, sales for six-packs of Hershey bars were higher than anywhere else in the U.S., which researchers believe is due to a high rate of s'mores consumption.
Dive Insight:
Hershey Co. felt having this data would be invaluable to retailers, whom the company wanted to continue influencing despite losing its No. 1 spot to Mars. According to Bloomberg, the company compiled this data with the help of the CIA-backed analytics software firm Palantir Technologies Inc. and was the the first consumer packaged goods company to do so.
"We knew if we wanted to maintain our status we had to earn it, and we’ve chosen to earn it by doing a better job with insights," Bob Goodpaster, chief global knowledge officer at Hershey, told Bloomberg. "I’m trying to run a consulting company for retailers."
The insight it has already uncovered could certainly help retailers more effectively beef up and tone down marketing and distribution in certain areas of the country.