The Hershey Company (HSY): ANSOFF MATRIX [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at how The Hershey Company is planning its next few years, and honestly, it's a classic balancing act between defense and offense. After reviewing their near-term moves, it's clear they are pouring about $425-450 million into boosting efficiency to protect their massive North American core, while simultaneously pushing hard internationally-seeing 12.1% net sales growth in Q3 2025-and making big bets outside candy, like the $750 million LesserEvil acquisition in April 2025. This matrix breaks down exactly where the money and focus are going, from defending that 47% snack-size share to launching low-sugar options. Dive in below to see the precise actions driving these four growth pillars.

The Hershey Company (HSY) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Penetration

Market Penetration focuses on increasing market share within existing markets using existing products. For The Hershey Company, this means driving more volume and frequency of purchase for its core confectionery lines in North America.

The primary challenge in driving volume is managing the impact of pricing actions taken to offset commodity cost inflation, such as cocoa price volatility. The company expects realized pricing in 2025 to be similar to 2024, with high single-digit pricing implemented on approximately half of its North America confectionery pounds. The Hershey Company expects the price changes to have a "1-to-1" price elasticity ratio on consumer demand, meaning for every percentage point increase in price, demand is expected to tick down by an equal percentage. This expectation is key to modeling volume outcomes.

In the third quarter of 2025, the North America Confectionery segment volume declined approximately 1% year-over-year. This volume decline reflects the impact of price elasticity across markets, even as innovation and everyday business showed strong performance. To counter this, The Hershey Company is focused on maintaining strong brand momentum.

Here's a quick look at the Q3 2025 North America Confectionery segment performance:

Driving seasonal sales remains a critical component of market penetration, leveraging established dominance in key formats. The Hershey Company is the leader in snack size confections, holding a 47% market share as of May 2025. The strategy includes a comprehensive packaging shift to stand-up bags, which consumer testing projected would yield a 41% improvement in product findability compared to traditional laydown bags. This optimization aims to increase impulse buys and overall volume.

Targeted execution is evident in the performance of core franchises, which suggests successful conversion or increased purchase frequency among existing users. In the third quarter of 2025, consumption trends for key brands were strong:

• Reese's consumption increased 7%.
• Hershey's brand consumption increased 11%.
• Jolly Rancher consumption increased nearly 30%.

The U.S. candy, mint, and gum retail takeaway for the 12-week period ended September 28, 2025, rose 5.4% year over year, indicating overall category strength that The Hershey Company is capturing. The flagship Reese's peanut butter cup series released a number of new iterations year to date in 2025, supporting this penetration drive.

To support the necessary operational scale for increased volume and efficiency, The Hershey Company is investing capital back into the business. Full-year 2025 capital investments are expected to be in the range of $425 million to $450 million. This investment supports ongoing projects, including the Agility & Automation Initiative, which is targeting savings of approximately $150 million.

The Hershey Company (HSY) - Ansoff Matrix: Market Development

You're looking at how The Hershey Company is pushing its established products into new international territories-that's Market Development in the Ansoff Matrix. The focus here is on geographic expansion and adapting the existing portfolio for new consumers.

The International segment is definitely showing momentum, which is what you want to see when executing this strategy. For the third quarter of 2025, The Hershey Company reported that the International segment's net sales increased by a strong 12.1% compared to the same period last year. This growth was supported by price realization of approximately 7 points. The total net sales for this segment in Q3 2025 reached $244.8 million.

To accelerate this, The Hershey Company is zeroing in on specific emerging markets. You saw volume growth in Q3 2025 driven by double-digit growth specifically in Brazil. Furthermore, management noted gaining share in Mexico chocolate, even while executing plans to reinvigorate the spicy candy portfolio there. The International segment itself is a combination of operations in regions like Mexico, Brazil, India, and Malaysia, plus distribution across export markets in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Back in Q2 2025, the segment's organic, constant currency net sales growth was 10.0%.

Cultural fit is crucial for success abroad, so product localization is a key action. For instance, The Hershey Company has introduced green tea-flavored chocolates in Japan to align with local tastes. This kind of tailoring helps bypass consumer resistance in new markets.

To navigate the complexities of entering new countries, The Hershey Company relies on established routes to market. Historically, this has involved establishing strategic partnerships with local distributors and manufacturers in regions like Asia and Europe to leverage existing supply chains.

The shift in how consumers shop also demands a Market Development approach through new sales channels. While specific 2025 revenue figures for direct-to-consumer (DTC) aren't broken out here, we know the company is tracking these areas, as evidenced by mentions of e-commerce customers previously classified as unmeasured in the Q1 2025 results. This signals an ongoing effort to capture sales through global digital platforms.

Here's a quick look at the segment performance context for Q3 2025:

If onboarding takes 14+ days in a new market, churn risk rises, so speed in establishing local distribution is defintely key.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

The Hershey Company (HSY) - Ansoff Matrix: Product Development

You're looking at how The Hershey Company is pushing new products into its existing market space to drive immediate sales lift, which is the core of Product Development in the Ansoff Matrix. This isn't just about new candy bars; it's about leveraging sensory trends and consumer demand for indulgence alongside wellness.

The strategy heavily leans on creating urgency and excitement through limited-time offers (LTOs). For instance, the Reese's Jumbo Cup, launched in Summer 2024, was a mega-sized treat equivalent to four King Size Cups, designed as a 'treat yourself' option. We saw data suggesting 79% of consumers found this Jumbo Cup more filling than the Regular or Big Cups, which speaks directly to driving impulse purchases through sheer size and indulgence.

Innovation in texture is a major focus for 2025. The Hershey Company jumped on the viral texture craze by launching Jolly Rancher Freeze Dried candy on March 12, 2025. This leverages the fact that the freeze-dried candy market is projected to soar from $1.36 billion to nearly $2.4 billion by 2030. The launch capitalizes on social media buzz, evidenced by the #freezedriedcandy hashtag already hitting over 4.7 billion views on TikTok. This new SKU, available in a 3.1-oz pack, transforms core flavors like Green Apple into an airy, melt-in-your-mouth crunch, aiming for that multisensory experience consumers crave.

The Hershey Company is also using cross-brand collaboration to tap into nostalgia and new flavor profiles. Following an April Fool's Day prank, they launched Reese's PB&J Big Cups in strawberry and grape flavors nationwide in April 2025, available in standard, king, and snack size multipacks. Honestly, this makes sense when you consider Reese's produces 160 million pounds of peanut butter annually-that's enough for over a billion PB&Js, so leveraging that ingredient base is smart.

The push into better-for-you (BFY) options is a significant product development pillar. In 2025, revenue from BFY snacks rose by 12% year-over-year, now representing 22% of total sales. This growth is supported by expanding brands like Lily's and Fulfil, and the recent acquisition of LesserEvil in April 2025. Core brand innovation in this space is also showing results; the relaunch of the Zero Sugar line, including expanded pack types for Hershey's and Reese's, saw sales double by $30 million in the past year. Plus, they launched the ONE Hershey's Double Chocolate bar, which packs 18 grams of protein with just 1 gram of sugar.

Now, let's talk about the commodity pressure, which forces product formulation changes. Due to historically high cocoa prices, The Hershey Company expects its adjusted gross profit margin for 2025 to contract by approximately 650 to 700 basis points. This is a major headwind, leading to a projected adjusted earnings per share decline in the mid-30% range for the full year 2025. In response, the company announced a price action on roughly 80% of its U.S. confection portfolio, aiming for an estimated 16 points of pricing contribution. While the search didn't detail the exact incorporation of caramel and wafers, the company is actively exploring recipe reformulation and adjusting its supply chain to mitigate cost volatility, which includes identifying alternative cocoa suppliers and shifting sourcing routes.

Here's a quick look at how some of these innovations and pricing actions are showing up in the latest reported financials:

The growth in the sweets portfolio, excluding seasonal items, was 14.8% in Q2 2025, contributing approximately 110 basis points of share gains, showing that these product developments are definitely moving the needle against the tough cost environment.

The Hershey Company (HSY) - Ansoff Matrix: Diversification

You're looking at how The Hershey Company is moving beyond its core chocolate business, which, as of the third quarter of 2025, still saw its North America Confectionery segment grow net year-over-year sales by 5.6%. Diversification here means new products and new markets, especially in snacking.

The integration of the LesserEvil acquisition, agreed upon in April 2025 for a deal value reported around $750 million, directly bolsters the salty snack segment alongside SkinnyPop and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels. This move targets the better-for-you snack space, a segment projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.5% through 2030. Currently, the salty snacks division represents 10% of The Hershey Company's total revenue.

The performance of the existing salty portfolio shows momentum; for the year-to-date as of October 2025, The Hershey Company's salty brands saw a 9.5% sales increase in C-stores, outpacing the total category. In the third quarter of 2025, the North America Salty Snacks unit posted an 11% volume increase. The global salty/savory snack market size was valued at approximately $250.5 billion in 2021.

Leveraging social media traction from the November 2024 Sour Strips acquisition is key for the sour candy niche. Sour Strips has over 219,000 followers on Instagram and 217,000 on TikTok. This acquisition is expected to contribute modestly to sales growth in 2025.

The push into functional foods is supported by market trends; a February 2025 survey showed 57% of 2,000 U.S. consumers actively seek healthier snack options. The global functional confectionery market size was USD 68.35 billion in 2024. The Hershey Company is expanding its Fulfil protein bar brand, introducing The BIGGEST Bar with 20g of protein and 2g of sugar, and the ONE Hershey's Double Chocolate bar with 18g of protein.

Operational efficiency supports these new lines. The Hershey Company opened its first fully integrated digital manufacturing plant for Reese's in Pennsylvania, a $250 million investment. This specific facility is projected to reduce production costs by 15%. Overall, The Hershey Company's Advancing Automation and Agility (Triple A) transformation program targets $400 million in net savings over three years, with an expected $150 million in net savings for 2025. The adjusted gross margin for the second quarter of 2025 was 38.1%.

Key financial and operational metrics related to Diversification:

The salty snack portfolio expansion into international markets relies on scaling existing brands like SkinnyPop and Dot's, which are already contributing to the 11% volume increase in the North America Salty Snacks unit in Q3 2025.

• LesserEvil integration into salty snack segment.
• Dot's and SkinnyPop expansion into new international markets.
• Sour Strips acquisition leverages social media niche (over 217,000 TikTok followers).
• Functional food lines like Fulfil protein bars (18g to 20g protein) target the BFY market, valued at $68.35 billion in 2024.
• New digital manufacturing investment of $250 million targets a 15% production cost reduction.