June 6, 2025
Many people know The Hershey Company as a leading snacking powerhouse. And, while we’re proud of our strong legacy of sweet and salty products, a significant part of what drives our business is insights. We continuously evolve our insights strategy in alignment with opportunities identified by our retail partners and trends we uncover through emerging consumer and shopper behaviors, ensuring our solutions evolve with the changing marketplace to drive growth.
We share these insights with our retail partners when they visit our customer engagement center, called the Global Customer Insights Center, or the GCIC. The GCIC dates back to 2006, when we knew we wanted to create space to showcase some of our merchandising fixtures. Over nearly 20 years, the GCIC has grown into a 20,000 square-foot experiential showroom that replicates in-store and omni shopping experiences, and spotlights the voice of the shopper at every touchpoint. Through robust insights and strategic learning plans, we drive data-informed category growth solutions that fuel collaboration and elevate the entire category.
A visit to the GCIC
Before customers even arrive in Hershey, my team has already worked closely with our sales, category management, and other cross-functional partners to develop a tailored agenda. It’s built around specific opportunities and designed to deliver actionable plans and solutions that help retailers and their teams, including buyers, operators, marketers, and others win in the marketplace and with their shoppers. At the GCIC, they’ll walk through immersive stations that focus on all different aspects of the retail and consumer journey. The GCIC is continually updated to reflect the latest trends and insights, and some of the areas of focus could include:
Bringing the Consumer to Life
For us, the consumer is always top of mind in our decision-making. That’s why it’s so important that we share our rich consumer and shopper insights with our customers. It starts with a deep understanding of who the consumer is, what they value, their current and evolving snacking needs, and external factors like the economy that may be influencing them. We also study shopping behaviors and preferences to develop solutions that are intuitive for shoppers and effective for retailers.
To help bring the consumer to life at the GCIC, we’ve created detailed consumer personas that showcase these insights. We’ve even developed a store associate persona to highlight ways retailers can enhance the employee experience, because we know that ultimately improves the shopper’s experience as well. For example, our shopper persona for households with kids features Anna; a busy mom of three who uses candy both as a reward for her children and as a treat for herself. She sees confection as a simple way to create joyful moments and lasting family memories, especially around holidays and special occasions. Anna looks for trusted brands, good value, and fun, family-friendly options that make everyday moments feel special.
Learning About Consumer Connection Points & Sharing Seasonal Inspiration
At the GCIC, we showcase how retailers can emotionally connect with consumers through seasons, occasions, and key shopping moments. One dedicated area complete with a cozy firepit for s’mores brings seasonal inspiration to life. Here, retailers gain insights into how shoppers feel about major seasons like Halloween, Easter, the winter holidays, and Valentine’s Day, as well as micro-seasons such as movie nights and s’mores occasions. They leave inspired with display ideas that can spark similar emotional connections in their own seasonal destination zones.
Designing for Smoother Transactions
As the nature of transactions evolves, so must the experience. We offer solutions across all paypoints that prioritize shopper satisfaction, operational efficiency, and productivity always aligned with a retailer’s specific front-end strategy. With more transactions shifting toward self-checkout and click-and-collect, queuing remains a critical area of focus. Our teams have conducted extensive research on queue design rooted in shopper behavior and share insights on products that perform well in this space to maximize basket exposure. We even have a dedicated retail design expert who consults with retailers on creating the optimal layout for their unique store environments.
Dishing on Salty Snacks
While our customers have long relied on us for deep insights into the candy, mint, and gum (CMG) categories, our expertise in salty snacks is rapidly catching up. From shelf flow strategies to seasonal spikes, salty is now fully integrated into the GCIC reflecting our growing leadership in this fast-expanding space. The insights we offer in salty rival the depth and precision we're known for in CMG.
Tasting the Confections of the Future
A visit to the GCIC wouldn’t be complete without a stop at our Chocolate Bar, where retailers get an exclusive look at future innovations. They meet with our food scientists and sample cutting-edge products that may not hit shelves for another two or three years. As they taste, we actively gather feedback. Our retail partners know their consumers best, so their feedback is invaluable. We’re always tracking trends and shifts across the snacking landscape, and we love engaging in conversations about innovation and the role it plays. What we learn from our visitors often finds its way into our next big ideas.
A two-way conversation
We know that not every retail partner will travel to Hershey to spend a couple of days with us. That’s why we offer other more accessible options, including virtual meetings and visits from the Mobile Customer Insights Center (MCIC), which is the GCIC’s traveling sibling. This 53-foot expandable tractor-trailer brings insights directly to our customers’ front doors, delivering category expertise and tailored strategies to retailers of all sizes, from convenience stores to large-format chains.
Whether we’re meeting with our customers on the road or in Hershey, our goal is the same: to listen and to learn so that we can collaborate and implement solutions together. As much as we love sharing our own insights with our retail partners, we also gain a lot from hearing about the challenges they’re facing in the current environment. We know we’re all stronger when we’re working together, and these collaborative sessions are designed to solve problems and build closer connections that unlock growth. That’s a win, all around.
Want to Learn More?
For more information about the Hershey Insights Centers or to find out how you can participate in a future visit please reach out to your Hershey sales or category management partner today.