In September 2015 The Hershey Company announced a restructuring in which its Hershey World Travel Retail division was integrated within The Hershey Experience organisation. The decision to create a single entity underlined Hershey’s commitment to the travel retail channel, to be delivered by leveraging the experiential retail concepts and technology at Hershey’s Chocolate World attractions around the world.
Nearly two years on, with the brand set to open its revamped flagship store in New York’s Times Square, The Hershey Experience Vice President Suzanne Jones notes that travel retail has heavily influenced the store, and explains how Hershey World Travel Retail is learning from the company’s domestic business.
“Since the integration we’ve had the opportunity to peel back the layers of the business and understand where the synergies exist,” she says. “It’s been really exciting for us.”
“[It covers] everything from the type of products that we’re able to create and are offered exclusively by The Hershey Experience outlets through World Travel Retail or our own stores. That type of synergy has been really powerful for us, because consumers are in a different mindset and exhibit different behaviour when they’re travelling, or visiting one of our stores for entertainment, than they are on a regular shopping trip.”
Over the past few years Hershey has conducted a series of global studies (in partnership with Counter Intelligence Retail) that have enabled the brand to improve its product development and to engage more effectively with consumers. The integrated Hershey Experience division has played a part in achieving that, says Jones.
“Opportunities for consumers to interact with our brand and to have fun and experiment forms a platform that would be difficult to produce if we were all working separately. Pulling the two units together has created a focused business unit.”
Changing Times
As noted above, Hershey’s new flagship store in Times Square is scheduled to open in Q4, ready for the Christmas period. At around 6,000sq ft, Hershey’s Chocolate World – which will be three times bigger than the current New York location – will have entrances on 7th Avenue and 47th Street. Jones outlines the vital role that Sense of Place will play in the Times Square store, and how it will be replicated in travel retail.
“We went to great lengths to make sure that when you walk into the store you know you’re immersed in the Hershey’s brand,” she says. “It has an incredible story, a very rich history, and all of those elements are in the store; but you’ll never forget for a minute that you’re in New York.
“We’ve been able to work with some world-class designers to bring together a beautifully merged palette of indicators, both from our history and heritage and from key iconic reminders of New York. I am very proud of the store because we’ve made sure that those visual assets are blended together very nicely. Then we’re able to take that same work process and experience and drive it into making sure we’re able to create that Sense of Place in travel retail.”
The new store layout, explains Jones, enables Hershey to tell two ‘distinct’ stories. “One will be very experiential retail, and the other will be focused on our Hershey’s Kitchens portfolio. We’re going to have some delicious ready-to-eat store-based goods featuring our Hershey’s portfolio of products, topped up by our confectionery items.
“Towards the back of the store we’re going to have the first-ever experiential S’mores location. Consumers will be able to have a freshly made over-the-top chocolate S’more. It will be a double chocolate S’more with an entire Hershey bar.”
Travel retail synergies
Jones notes that Hershey’s domestic business, led by this new global flagship store, has taken “quite a few” lessons from travel retail, including how to deliver a meaningful impact in a scaled-down footprint. “It’s important to express the true essence of our brands, and to do that in a space with many other distractions.
“A specific example would be the bulk customisation that we debuted during the 2016 TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes. We will be including aspects of that branded interactive approach in our new Times Square store.”
Some 12.7 million international tourists came to New York in 2016, making it the fifth most-visited city in the world. So, how does Hershey plan to engage tourists with its store and, more importantly, convert them into shoppers in both the domestic and travel retail markets? “Social media is going to be a huge part of our grand opening strategy, as well as the experiential engagement within the store,” says Jones.
“The tools that will be used can be extended into travel retail, but are obviously dependent on our access to Wi-Fi within those locations. We understand that this is not so much about us controlling the brand but about the brand living in the hearts of our consumers.
“We want to make sure we’re providing consumers with story content, because social media is the perfect platform to tell our own story. We’re looking to be very engaging and to provide experiential content that people will share with friends. Thus the star is not so much our brands but rather the relationships that consumers are building with family members.”
Jones emphasises the power of travel retail and the channel’s potential to reach new consumers through highly branded and experientially rich environments. “When you’re able to start that story with travellers and consumers, they’re able to take it with them. And the next time they see it, they already have a relationship with the brand.
“If consumers are engaging with our brand initially in the travel retail channel and then experiencing it in one of our domestic stores, we find a wonderful way to provide a holistic experience with them.”
As a new chapter in the brand’s story begins at Hershey’s Chocolate World, I ask Jones what we can expect to see from Hershey World Travel Retail in 2017 and beyond. “[We will be] less about standard items and more about items that are exclusive to the travel industry,” she replies.
“Not everybody is open to spirits or luxury items, but there is always something for everyone with confectionery.”
“We see a lot of opportunities to create immersive environments where consumers are able to walk away with a story to tell. You are going to see a lot of disruptive activity, so that consumers will be able to see something intriguing from across the terminal and be pulled towards the store.
[Click to view a video of what the Times Square store will look like]
“The great thing about confectionery is that it is such an acceptable category – everyone has the opportunity to participate in it. When we look at traveller demographics, they are really evolving and a lot of the growth is coming from the emerging global middle class. Confectionery is such a great category to use as a traffic building strategy for all of our retail partners and that’s where we’re putting a lot of our efforts.”
“If consumers are engaging with our brand initially in the travel retail channel and then experiencing it in one of our domestic stores, we find a wonderful way to provide a holistic experience with them.”
As an example of this focus on the channel, earlier this year Hershey World Travel Retail launched its travel retail–exclusive World Traveler Collection, which comprises three gift boxes. This joins the company’s 15 other current channel-exclusive products.
“The importance of travel-exclusive items to Hershey’s business is to do with their ability to build that initial relationship with consumers,” explains Jones. “We think that it is extraordinarily important to give them an opportunity to not only taste our products but to understand the brand story. That’s the incredibly important role that World Travel Retail plays for us.”
The challenge of shelf space in airports is a regular talking point in our annual Confectionery & Food Category Insight. I ask Jones if she thinks that confectionery has a sufficiently strong share of voice among travel retailers.
“Confectionery could possibly be given a greater share of voice among travel retailers, but I think the right answer is possibly a different share.
“It is highly entertaining and super engaging at an economic level, and with virtually every demographic in terms of age and interest. One of the biggest challenges is to break people away from their phones and get them to enter the stores, and confectionery is a great way to do that. Not everybody is open to spirits or luxury items, but there is always something for everyone with confectionery.”
