The Hershey Company will showcase its latest product innovations and category management and human insights at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show Expo in Atlanta through October 6. Visitors to the Hershey booth (#B2932) at the Georgia World Congress Center will see various new products, including a preview of Reese’s Caramel Big Cup, and hear from experts in the convenience store space. 

The Reese’s brand is the number one selling candy in the convenience store channel, the top franchise in the category, and continues to perform well across packtypes. Combining the two most preferred flavors in chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel, Reese’s Caramel Big Cup will launch in standard and king sizes in November. Kit Kat Chocolate Frosted Donut and Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Creme Popcorn also launch next month along with Hershey’s Milklicious in a standard bar packtype and Reese’s Fast Break in super king.

The snacking powerhouse will feature additional offerings from its sweet, salty, and better-for-you portfolio, including Hershey’s, Twizzlers, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels, SkinnyPop Popcorn, ONE, and Lily’s brands.

“We’re ramping up innovation to offer new twists on consumers’ most beloved brands and give retailers more options to drive category excitement with the channel’s top-performing snacks,” said Marlene Creighton, chief sales officer, The Hershey Company. “Retailers can maximize this innovation by leveraging Hershey’s human insights and category management expertise across many focus areas, including planogram strategy, merchandising, distribution, transaction zone optimization and foodservice.” 

The new confectionery products being showcased at the expo include:

• Reese’s Caramel Big Cup – Preview this big innovation from the C-store channel’s top-selling brand. Combining the top preferred ingredients with chocolate, peanut butter and caramel, Reese’s Caramel Big Cup launches in standard and king sizes in November.
• Reese’s Fast Break Super King – The super king size platform will expand with the launch of Reese’s Fast Break Super King in November. The shareable item includes two bars (5.25-oz.) and follows the success of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Super King in 2021.
• Kit Kat Chocolate Frosted Donut – Introducing the newest Kit Kat flavor, Chocolate Frosted Donut. This bakery-inspired item features crisp wafers in doughnut-flavored creme and milk chocolate. Available in king and standard sizes beginning in November, it’s the perfect trending flavor to pair with C-store coffee stations.
• Hershey’s Milklicious Bars – Made with a creamy chocolate milk filling in fun cow shapes, Hershey’s Milklicious is launching in standard bar packtype in November to give consumers more on-the-go snacking options.
• Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars Featuring Harry Potter – Wizarding World enthusiasts can collect all 12 limited-edition Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars featuring packaging designs highlighting fan-favorite moments and characters from the film series, including the Hogwarts Express, Hedwig the Owl, Ron Weasley’s flying car and more. The bars also include magically inspired images, like wands, brooms, and eyeglasses imprinted onto the milk chocolate.
• Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists and Twizzlers Tropical Blast Filled Twists – Twizzlers Sweet & Sour Filled Twists combine sweet cherry and sour citrus filling for a burst of mouth-watering flavor. Twizzlers Tropical Blast Filled Twists are filled with a creamy pink guava and paradise punch center. The two filled licorice ropes will be available in a 7-oz. peg bag for C-Stores in November.
• Ice Breakers Raspberry Lemon Seltzer Sparkling Mints – This is the first platform innovation for Ice Breakers Mints since 2015. Ice Breakers Sparkling Mints are the first of its kind, providing a tingling seltzer experience to the breath freshener category. Available now in a 1.5-oz. puck.
• Ice Breakers Ice Cubes Fruit Punch Gum – Ice Breakers is bringing back a top-performing fan-favorite with a fresh new look, but the same fruity flavors consumers love. Fruit punch was the fastest-growing Ice Cubes item in 2021. Available now in a 40-piece bottle pack.
• Payday Salutes Everyday Heroes – Payday is celebrating America’s everyday heroes through limited-edition wrappers that salute service members, healthcare workers, and teachers. The king and standard-size bars are rolling out nationwide this fall.
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut Bar – Cadbury will launch a king size fruit and nut bar version in December. This bar features chewy raisins and crunchy chopped almonds, all wrapped in creamy Cadbury Milk Chocolate.

Convenience channel insights

Foodservice

Foodservice in C-store continues to grow, with more stores offering higher-quality food options on par with traditional restaurants. As stores remodel, Hershey recommends planograms that feature foodservice offerings at the front-of-store to enhance customer engagement. 

Foodservice meal bundles that include an entrée, beverage, and a snack or dessert item, including candy, doughnuts, cookies, and ice cream, offer consumers convenience, quality and value. Hershey insights demonstrate that standard candy bar bundles are proven basket-builders and can deliver 15% to 35% in incremental growth.

C-store consumers also think it’s important for C-store operators to offer name-brand ingredients in baked goods and are willing to pay more for brands they love. For example, Hershey insights found that purchase intent reaches 90% when a cookie includes Reese’s candy versus 33% purchase intent without the Reese’s brand. 

Snacking trends

With supply in a more stable state, innovation, limited-time offerings and seasonal shapes are increasingly popular methods to drive excitement and engagement across the category. Non-chocolate brands also continue to accelerate, fueled by core growth and innovation. Hershey research concludes that the Jolly Rancher brand is up 13.6% YOY, and the Twizzlers brand growth is up 39%, fueled by take-home 16-oz displays and food bundles. Refreshment trends are strengthening as mobility increases and workers return to the office, with the Ice Breakers brand up 39% vs. category growth of 23%. 

Hershey’s Salty Snacks business continues to gain momentum in C-Store, fueled by consumer brand loyalty, with dollar sales growth up YOY for each brand: Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels +26% (vs. pretzel category +16%), SkinnyPop Popcorn +27% (vs. ready-to-eat popcorn category +13%), and Pirate’s Booty +17% (vs. cheese snacks and puffs category +13%). Consumers also continue to enjoy sweet & salty “snackfection” combinations through new products like Reese’s Popcorn.

Merchandising 

Retailers can maximize category performance by striking a balance across category segments and optimizing the shelf assortment across core and innovation.  

Candy is the most impulsive snacking category in the store and the most responsive to secondary placement. Outside of a full candy set, the most important locations to drive incremental purchases are the counter (on top and below), the end-cap display leading into the candy aisle, and alongside complementary items, including the beverage cooler, coffee and fountain stations and foodservice. 

Hershey’s flexible AMP (Achieve Maximum Points) program can help retailers maximize their performance and rebates with product selection, secondary and co-merchandising displays and promotions that best fit their needs and store volume.

For more information about The Hershey Company and its growing portfolio of brands, visit thehersheycompany.com or stop by booth #B2932 at the NACS Show Expo.

The Hershey Company is on the current Candy Industry “Global Top 100 Candy Companies” list. Click here to view the current “Global Top 100” rankings.