Monthly Archives: December 2021

by | Wednesday, December 15, 2021 · 7:41 am

Chocolate and Pretzels Make a Perfect Match for Hershey

It’s always snack time around our work place. And of course the best snack flavor profile favors chocolate and salt! Sweet and savory. All of which makes Hershey’s acquisition of snack companies Dot’s Pretzels and Pretzels, Inc. a great match. The two deals will amount to roughly $1.2 billion for the chocolate company and expand its product portfolio farther into the snack area.

North Dakota-based Dot’s Pretzels is a key prize for Hershey as Dot’s accounted for about 55% of the pretzel category growth last year. The snack category overall has done well under the pandemic as people everywhere reach for comfort foods and treats. And it’s easy to grab snacks when studying or working from home!

Pretzels aren’t the only product that Hershey is buying. In 2018 it bought SkinnyPop popcorn maker Amplify Snack Brands for $1.6 billion. Hershey also has entered into the nutrition bar category, diversifying from chocolate as consumers buy healthier snacks.  Hershey has also acquired Krave jerky and expanded Reese’s pretzel-nut-chocolate snacks. Other new treats from the company include:

  • KIT KAT Thins
  • Reese’s Snack Cakes for a mid-morning snack
  • Organic Hershey’s Bars
  • Organic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  • Zero sugar chocolates

Shoppers seek more options than ever before. Hershey’s stated goal: Become a snacking behemoth. That’s a tall order when competing with companies the size of Nestle, PepsiCo, Mondelez, and Kraft.

Care for a snack?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. NOTE: If available near you, buy a couple of bags of Dot’s Pretzels and bring them to class (along with Hershey bars). It’s always a nice idea to feed students.
  2. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification. When is each used?
  3. Which strategy is Hershey’s using with Dot’s Pretzels? Why is it in acquisition mode?
  4. Show the list of brands Hershey owns: https://www.hersheyland.com/brands
  5. Show Dot’s website: https://dotspretzels.com/
  6. Next, discuss setting SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) for marketing strategies.
  7. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop five SMART objectives for the new acquisition’s products.

Source: Hershey to buy two pretzel makers for $1.2 billion, Reuters News Service; Newman, J. (Nov 10, 2021), Hershey plans to spend $1.2 billion in deals for pretzel producers, Wall Street Journal.

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by | Thursday, December 9, 2021 · 7:36 am

Shapewear for Men!

Underwear for both males and females has a long and varied history through thousands of years. And while the style of the garments vary, and the materials are much softer and smoother, the shapewear of today owes much to the underwear of the past.

But what is shapewear? Briefly (no pun intended), shapewear is tight-fitting underwear that controls and shapes a figure. This is a significant industry segment that is estimated by Allied Market Research to reach nearly $7 billion by 2030.

The latest trend in the industry today? Well, the hottest trend in the shapewear industry are garments designed specifically for men. Just as for women, the men’s shapewear is all intended to help men look their best under clothes.

Men’s garments include t-shirts, briefs, vests, and tops made from stretchy and form-fitting synthetic blends that help flatten mid-section love handles and firm the glutes. Some men balk at calling it ‘shapewear ‘though – that sounds too much like women’s lingerie. So, ‘compression wear’ is more commonly used for men’s undergarments. Compression wear for athletics is still very closely related to shapewear though, as compression wear is meant to optimize athletic performance and help with recovery (as well as help us look good).

And of course we can blame the pandemic for the rise (another not-intended pun) in shapewear demand as we emerge from small circles and into gyms and fitness centers again.

What’s your favorite look?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the stages in the product life cycle. What are the marketing objectives in each stage?
  2. Where is shapewear on the PLC? Where is men’s shapewear?
  3. Show websites for men’s shapewear:
  4. Spanx: https://spanx.com/collections/mens
  5. Core Wear: https://getcorewear.com/
  6. HisRoom: https://www.hisroom.com/
  7. Students may also look for additional manufacturers. What are the main marketing messages?
  8. Divide students into teams. Have each team draw a PLC and plot various clothing and accessories on the chart.
  9. What does it take to reposition a product on the PLC?

Source: Waters, J. (Nov 9 2021), Yes, Men Do Wear Spanx. Here’s Why, Wall Street Journal.

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by | Tuesday, December 7, 2021 · 7:27 am

Singles Day 2021 Hits $75 Billion!

It’s fall and the start of the holiday shopping season. And once again, the world’s biggest shopping event has occurred. But no, it’s not Black Friday or Cyber Monday in the U.S. The biggest shopping day comes from the opposite side of the globe from the U.S. – China! Singles Day is held annually on November 11 in China.

Singles Day was originally started in 1993 by college students as a celebration for people who are single, chosen because of the connection between singles and the number ‘1’. Eventually, Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba forged an online shopping event in 2009 to take advantage of the interest, and the rest is retail history.

November 11 is now the globe’s largest shopping event. This year’s sales (stated as Gross Merchandise Value – GMV) reached $84.5 billion, an 8.4% increase over last year. (Note: GMV has no standardized way of calculating the metric.) The GMV reflects sales from November 1 – 11.

Singles’ Day has become an event on its own, including celebrities, fashion shows, TV galas, virtual reality, and augmented reality shopping, and it continues to expand to countries outside of China. However, this year’s event was slightly calmer as Alibaba faces the impact of Beijing’s scrutiny of technology companies and China’s “common prosperity” drive for the nation’s citizens.

Criticisms remain that Alibaba’s infrastructure outside of China is weak, particularly with respect to larger household appliances and items. It is developing international warehouses and improving its transportation efforts though as it seeks to compete with Amazon and other ecommerce companies in the west.

Highlights of this year’s event included:

  • Themes of green logistics, eco-friendly products, and consuming “with care.”
  • Gave out “green vouchers” for discounts on energy-efficient and low-impact goods.
  • Launched a dedicated eco channel that hosted 500,000 products from 2,000 merchants.
  • Offered to recycle packaging waste at 60,000 pickup stations across China.
  • Donated one yuan (16 cents) to charity every time someone interacted during the event with a social media post about charitable giving.

Why is it so important for global brands to enter this shopping day? Consider that there are roughly 300 million middle-class shoppers in China, rising to an estimated 500 million in the next 8-12 years. While Singles Day may have originally started for lonely Chinese consumers, the shopping day now is seen as critical to driving China’s – and the worlds – economy.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Most students will not have previously heard of China’s Single Day. Discuss the shopping holiday and its importance in China.
  2. This is likely the first time students have heard about Singles Day. There are a number of videos that can help explain the event:
  1. What is 11/11?  https://youtu.be/bRv9qG75x2c
  2. Evolution of Singles Day: https://youtu.be/CY_fE5EJZ-Q
  3. Discuss how this holiday compares to Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the U.S.
  4. Video report on 2020: https://youtu.be/iwHbvxd5Rqk
  5. WSJ video report: https://on.wsj.com/3olgSm8
  6. How should U.S.-based companies participate in Singles Day?

Source: CNBC; Forbes; New York Time; Wall Street Journal; other news sources

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