Demand for s'mores spiked in areas with most COVID-19 cases, the CEO of Hershey says - and the company tracked infection rates to decide its ad spend
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As COVID-19 spread around the US, so did demand for s'mores, according to The Hershey Company.
"This past year, we noticed that wherever COVID case counts were elevated, we were seeing increasing sales of s'mores ingredients," Hershey CEO Michele Buck told CNBC on Thursday.
The company saidHershey's North American
Erin Lash, senior director at Morningstar, wrote in a research note on Thursday that "Hershey's fourth-quarter performance is evidence that the resiliency it showed in the all-important Halloween season wasn't a fluke."
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a research note on Friday that the company started shipping Valentine's Day and Easter candy earlier this year. The company had done the same with Halloween candy in 2020, sending it to stores about a month ahead of its normal schedule.
Analysts at Credit Suisse early in 2020 had predicted a spike in sales for Hershey, recalling a similar sales boost from the recession between 2008 and 2010.On a conference call with analysts on Thursday, Buck said some of the company's other products have benefited from COVID-19, too.
Twizzlers had sold well because people are having more movie nights at home, she said.
"Products like Twizzlers ... turned out to be incredibly important for consumers during this very difficult time, where they wanted to cling to as much normalcy as possible," Buck said.Copyright © 2021. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.
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