How one of the world’s leading confectionary and snack companies gained productivity and efficiency in trade spend

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is an industry-leading snacks company known for creating more moments of goodness through its iconic brands, remarkable people, and enduring commitment to doing right by its people, planet, and communities. The company boasts more than 100 brand names that are available in approximately 80 countries worldwide. These brands collectively generate more than $10.4 billion in annual revenues and include household names like Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat®, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers, as well as fast-growing salty snacks such as Skinny Pop, Pirate's Booty, and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels.

The challenge

Internationally, Hershey was managing its trade promotions through a patchwork of disparate spreadsheets. This approach was particularly problematic in India, where the high volume of promotions made spreadsheet management an inconvenient and labor intensive task, lacking the required visibility into spending.

The challenge was exacerbated by fragmented data, with critical data components scattered across various spreadsheets and systems.

“In order to gain visibility for the business, we first needed to automate the process to get the data properly in a system, properly structured, and properly consolidated for analysis. That was the main driver in our search for a solution.”

Why CPGvision, from PSignite

Hershey International reviewed many TPM options and determined that implementing CPGvision by PSignite on the Salesforce platform best met their needs from both a business and technological standpoint. The CPGvision solution equipped Hershey with the ability to automate and streamline manual processes, reduce errors, gain visibility into trade spend, and launch a platform for global expansion.

“The user experience is pretty straight-forward and easy to manage,” Mr. Flores adds. “It was the first time we implemented Salesforce, the first time for a TPM, and also the first time we had integrations into our ERP system. Doing all of this at once alongside the PSignite team was a great experience.”

The team

The combined team of Hershey, PSignite and PwC had a clear mission: to transform trade promotion management for Hershey International by replacing antiquated, fragmented systems and practices with an integrated solution to navigate the complex challenges posed by the international global market.

On working with Hershey, Pat Zalewski, Vice President, Global Enterprise Delivery, explains:

“The collective commitment to excellence from the Hershey International project team has played a pivotal role in driving success. Each team member brought their unique strengths and insights to the table and worked cohesively with our team to bring their goals to life. Their collaborative spirit and pursuit of excellence were instrumental in bringing about transformative change."

The result

Working with the PSignite team to implement CPGvision proved to be the right choice for Hershey. According to Mr. Flores, the team was “collaborative, supportive, and really worked to understand our requirements and accommodate them. Coming from a manual process, we didn’t even know what we needed; they helped us work through that.”

The combined teams are currently focusing on deepening user adoption and have begun to glean insights as they accumulate more historical data within the solution. Expansion into new markets and the initiation of TPO efforts are on the short-term horizon.