Confectionery Production spoke to the Pennsylvania firm at this year’s event at Indianapolis between 14-16 May, (watch our exclusive video review of the event featuring the business here), in which it unveiled a number of new additions to its ranges including with KitKat, Ice Breakers, One Bars, Fulfil and Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels (see our separate full review in our magazine).
As the company explained, its AR system (pictured below) works on the basis of generating an image of what the product would like in a specific location. IR tracks the merchandise and its in-store location to gather insights on how placement impacts sales and the shopping experience.
Among the firm’s latest releases this year was its Reese’s Caramel Big Cup, KitKat Pink Lemonade, KitKat Vanilla, Hershey’s Crunchy Waffle Cone Bars, Ice Breakers Sparkling Mints Pineapple Mango Seltzer Flavour, Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels Parmesan Garlic Flavour, SkinnyPop Cheddar Jalapeño
Additionally, Reese’s, known for its combination of chocolate and peanut butter, is introducing the ultimate newcomer just in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024: Reese’s Medals. The first-ever seasonal shape for summer is available now for a limited time only and commemorates The Hershey Company’s ongoing partnership with Team USA.
Speaking to our title at Sweets & Snacks, Momin Bhatti, associate manager, corporate communications, said: “We’re very excited to be here in beautiful Indianapolis, showcasing our latest products and retail strategies, as well as merchandising strategies, and our capabilities with customers and partners.
“We have some incredible products here, and it’s there’s so much excitement here, which you can feel from walking the floor and see the positive energy, which has been incredible.
“For our augmented reality, we are using technology that will be a real gamechanger, and very transformative. Our retail team members can show retailers right then and there what a product merchandising unit will look like, using augmented reality. With image recognition, which pairs very well with augmented reality, our team members can take pictures, and with those data driven insights, we can see how the units there are performing.”
This article was originally published by Neill Barston for Confectionary Production. Read the original article here.
