Hershey is using AI to strategize for s’mores season

The Hershey Company has started using new AI tools to maximize sales of s’mores ingredients in stores — including its own chocolates, as well as marshmallows and graham crackers.

This year, the company started using a new proprietary AI tool developed in-house that uses computer vision and augmented reality to identify where to place s’mores displays in stores and determine how they perform based on consumer data, according to Stephanie Berman, vp of retail at The Hershey Company. Hershey also started using AI this year in its marketing-mix model to better understand real-time consumer data.

“The big thing for us as we look at AI: It’s been about real-time data, it’s been about getting closer to the consumer in more real time, and it’s about partnering with our retailers on how we see the consumer behaving, so that we can iterate faster and more meaningfully with the consumer,” Berman said. “It’s all about real-time data, faster decisions and then optimization, both in-store and online.”

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