[00:00:00] Welcome to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, where we explore brand manufacturing in the digital age. Hey everyone, Peter Crosby here from the Digital Shelf Institute. How can we get more product content to the PDP faster? That question is top of mind every day for Carolan Di Fiore, Digital Content Deployment Manager at Hershey.
[00:00:30] Drawing from her prior experience in e-commerce and digital roles at other global companies like Bimbo Bakeries, Carolan hit the ground running at Hershey a year and a half ago, and joins Lauren Levack-Gilbert and me to describe the strategies that she and a cross-functional group of marketing, sales, data, and technology leaders are implementing to deliver answers to that core question. And in doing so, speed time to market, accelerate performance, and delight the consumer.
[00:00:57] Welcome to the podcast, Carolan. We are so excited to have you share all of your e-commerce knowledge with us. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm super excited and humbled that I was asked. Oh, we are humbled that you said yes. You know, you've had the opportunity to be part of digital transformation at multiple companies, and you know what it's like to be the cheerleader, the teacher, the instigator of the importance of the digital shelf
[00:01:26] and how it works into an overall omni-channel strategy. I mean, you've been at the epicenter of a lot of that. So we'd love to start off just by hearing what you're thinking about the digital shelf today. Like, what is it like to be, you know, to be trying to win on it every day? Yeah, I think that's a great first question. I think, you know, how I think about the digital shelf, I'll kind of begin by thinking about, you know, when people outside the industry ask me, you know,
[00:01:55] hey, Carolyn, like, what do you do for work? How's work going? And I think kind of stripping it back to how I view the digital shelf in that sense, you know, how you explain it to folks outside the industry. I mean, we're all consumers at the end of the day. You know, we all, most of us shop online, whether it's chocolate or bread or anything. I think if you can answer that question to, you know, adequately describe that to people outside of our industry,
[00:02:24] I think, you know, and have it resonate with them, I think it makes it even more impactful because, you know, whether we realize it or not, everyone does kind of know what the digital shelf is because nearly everyone's an online consumer. So if you think about it in that way, you know, what I do and what my team does on the digital shelf is we try and replicate that in-store shopping experience in a digital way.
[00:02:52] So think about, you know, your in-store shopping experience. You're going into the store, you're browsing the aisles, you're glancing at all the products on the shelf, you're picking it up, you're, you know, in the food space, you're reading the nutrition label and all the claims, you're feeling the product in your hands, you're smelling it. And we, it's our job to replicate that experience online, which is no small feat. So if you think about it that way, it's very basic level.
[00:03:22] The digital shelf is really an integral part of the online shopping journey. And we try and replicate that as, as much as possible on my team at Hershey. And then, you know, switching gears, if you think about it from a more business point of view, I see the digital shelf as becoming an increasingly larger part of the conversations, you know, with external customers,
[00:03:49] as well as, you know, just my day-to-day stakeholders internally and externally. So I know I, myself, I work with all of our Omni customer teams, you know, to report out on how is our content performing at each retailer? What does the digital shelf look like on, you know, your Walmart, your targets, your H-E-B is DoorDash versus what is it supposed to look like based on what my team is publishing?
[00:04:17] How long does it take our digital content publishers to go live? How easy or difficult is the deployment process? And I think arming my cross-functional partners with these actionable insights to bring back to their retailers, they really drive some productive conversations. We're breaking down barriers and ultimately enabling growth in the overall business, most especially for retailers that are prioritizing digital
[00:04:47] and are really hungry for more information on driving digital growth. And I think that really goes a long way. I love that. I love that part about you using the data that you have to drive more productive conversations. I'd love to just dig into that a little bit because it seems like a superpower that is just now really starting to be used more aggressively. And it seems like also particularly in these days of retail media,
[00:05:16] you have a little bit more perhaps influence or negotiating power with your retailers. And the ability to bring data to the table, I imagine, is pretty powerful. Yeah. Yeah, Peter. I mean, if we're, you know, and not just Hershey, there are companies that are spending so much time and investments on retail media. But if you're driving to a page that has not great content, it's kind of a waste of time and waste of dollars.
[00:05:44] And not only that, it just kind of dilutes the overall consumer experience. So I think, yeah, content is a huge piece of the overall digital puzzle that I think, you know, the really the players and the brands that are doing a really good job at the whole picture are really prioritizing content. And really, I think it the last, I guess like part of like the last piece of the question is how I view the digital shelf
[00:06:14] is that it really can kind of make or break your digital success. People, you know, especially leaders ask me all the time, you know, Carolyn, how do we quantify the or attribute content or the digital shelf's impact on sales, share, conversion rates? And it's such a I've been in the content space for for almost five years. And content has always been sort of a black box in terms of like, OK, we're spending all this money on on, you know,
[00:06:43] creating all of these beautiful images to making sure that the copy is SEO optimized, that, you know, we're getting you know, we have the resources to get all the content to the shelf. What is the what is the return on all of that time and investment and content? You know, it's very I've at least found it very challenging to isolate content as a variable that, OK, you know, this consumer bought this Hershey bar because the content was so great.
[00:07:13] And if anyone knows how to do that, please call me because I've been trying to answer that question for five years. But really what I've started telling people is is kind of a different kind of spin on that is, you know, I can't tell you how content drives the convert. I mean, I know organically it helps, but I think I can tell you the impact of the digital shelf on the business if it's done wrong or it's incorrectly or it's done incorrectly.
[00:07:40] So, you know, increasingly in my experience, both at, you know, at Hershey and other places, you know, customers are asking that the digital shelf be set up and ready to go before they'll even authorize a product to be ordered. So if you don't have the images, if you don't have a marketing message, you know, they'll they'll pull it right off the shelf. So, you know, I can't you know, maybe I don't have a, you know, a hard number to say, you know, it there's a you know,
[00:08:09] there are general numbers out there, but I can tell you like the risk of if content is not there on the business. And does that resonate with the cross-functional partners you were talking about? Because let's say someone on the sales side who traditionally would have sold brick and mortar and needs to understand the digital shelf and needs to understand this story. Is that the storyline that you can share with them that really resonates? Or is there something else that they're like, oh, that's an aha moment and I really need to care about this? Oh, yeah.
[00:08:37] Yeah. The minute that, you know, they hear their customer saying, well, we'll pull this off the shelf if the content's not there. That's when they'll care either that or we'll find you if it's not, if it's incorrect. Or I think that's really kind of the harsh reality in like the importance of content, not just with in the overall consumer experience, but also just on the customer relationship side, making sure that, you know, the content is really at the forefront of digital success.
[00:09:06] Yes. And the retailers are asking for it. That makes it really important. And the consumers demand it. I mean, yes. You know, I think I totally understand looking at the amount of resources that are being put into something like digital shelf operations and saying, you know, is that paying off? How can we calculate? That makes total sense to do that. But as you said, it is very difficult to do.
[00:09:36] But there's just the I mean, anybody, you know, I was thinking about how you started out saying I start out with sort of how I describe it to my friends and family. And anytime I do that and I say, you know, when you go shopping on your phone and you're hoping that that that the answers are there so that you feel confident buying somebody and you can just consumers know the difference between a delightful experience and a crappy one.
[00:10:03] And the difference is content. It's the answers are there on the page and I can find them. And particularly as we get more and more to where the answers are coming from an AI agent instead of from a product page, having that content out there available is just going to be so much even more important in the coming year. Yeah, we do a lot of work, you know, back with our brand teams and it takes a lot to,
[00:10:33] you know, we want the story to our consumers to be told by us. We know our products best. We know, you know, especially in the food and beverage space, we know that shoppers are increasingly looking for a certain type of like dietary, you know, we sell a lot of sugar-free products, you know, organic, different allergens. So we, you know, we get that data internally
[00:11:01] and then just making sure that either through an attribute that we send to a customer or in an image or in a bullet point that we're kind of telling that story and we're making sure that our consumers are making, you know, an informed decision you know, not just, you know, we want to, you know, surprise and delight them with our products but also just kind of give them the facts about what they're getting. And Carolyn, you said you've been on this content journey
[00:11:30] for a couple of years now and where are you today in your digital shelf journey? Have you come a long way? Are you changing? Are you moving towards Omnichannel? Like where are you right now in that journey? Yeah, I'll say, you know, I've been at Hershey for about a year and a half. When I started at Hershey back in 2023, I was so, you know, I was so delighted at just the incredible people, processes and technology
[00:11:59] that they already had, you know, that I can't take any credit for because, you know, I was very kind of grateful to kind of come into a team that had a great foundation underneath them in terms of, you know, the digital shelf. You know, they invest a lot of time and resources in, you know, into their digital content team and just really proud to be a part of it. But I mean, last year, you know, we kind of found ourselves at a bit of a crossroads.
[00:12:27] So while we did have that great foundation and that really, you know, it's, I've heard it described as a, you know, a complex, delicate dance of delivering to the digital shelf. There were definitely still clearly opportunities for optimization. One of the goals that I have for my team is really, you know, how do we get more product content to the PDP faster? And in, you know, just the last six months, we've been working to get ourselves on a path
[00:12:57] where we can achieve that goal. And, you know, I'll borrow with pride something that, you know, one of our Hershey leaders has recently said in a, you know, in a digital content meeting that really stuck with me and something that I kind of, you know, go, you know, harken back to in discussions is what got us here won't get us there. And I think that directly ties back to what we're trying to do with our digital shelf program. You know, if we become complacent with what we've built
[00:13:26] in a rapidly evolving space like e-commerce and omnichannel, it's inevitable that we'll eventually get left behind. We all know how often the space changes, especially in the content world. So we have to regularly be looking towards the future and identifying how we might iterate on our current processes and just constantly improve and build upon our current program. And that's what we're doing at Hershey, which is super exciting.
[00:13:57] Thank you, Carolyn. I love the, what got us here won't get us there. I absolutely love that because I think the, with AI and with the rapid changes of the retailer needing more personalized content, that's going to change the amount of content you need to create, the resources that you need in order to be able to support that. But to that point, how are you kind of building out your plan moving forward around people, process, and technology? Are you thinking about expanding your team
[00:14:25] to be able to support that? Or are you thinking about supplementing with AI because you'll need to change some of those things in order to be able to compete? So how are you kind of thinking through that? Yeah, I would say we do have a pretty strong team in terms of like team size. We work with an onshore managed services team for a lot of our day-to-day syndication work. I think really what I'm trying to do with my team
[00:14:55] is trying to identify like where can we shave off time in our current processes to become more efficient and how can we be improving data flow? How can we be automating using workflows in Solspy or something how do we get more agile with our planning and how do we open up more capacity to take on supporting more retailers to adding more products
[00:15:24] in the always growing Hershey portfolio? In terms of AI I would say we work with our PXM partners Solspy they're really doing a great job of investing in how can they use AI to make syndication faster. We're definitely open to exploring a lot of the AI capabilities to make syndication more efficient. I'll say from an AI generative
[00:15:55] content perspective creating copy creating images it's something that we're looking into I think it's not as easy as just saying hey we're going to use AI to create an image in a company like Hershey we do have a lot of regulatory things that we can't just put anything out there there are a lot of processes and regulatory guardrails in place to make sure that
[00:16:24] if AI is creating it is it compliant to all of the things that we don't want to put something out there that's not correct or misleading to the consumer so while we are definitely looking into AI I think we're waiting for the right opportunity to hopefully be able to help us shave off more time and open up capacity to grow our support model
[00:16:53] I love the way you're thinking about that it's absolutely rational especially in a place where people are eating ingredients that they're allergic to there's real danger in that let alone compliance issues and fines and all of that you're in the food business so that's super important thinking about it from the perspective that you have which is
[00:17:24] looking at it making sure that everybody involved in the process has a voice in it and how do you keep humans in the loop and what are the safeguards and that becomes clearly outlined and then you try a little pilot I think AI in that way is really like anything else you have to figure out a plan for how do you move forward and how do you evaluate progress and how do you set up the right guardrails and it's just one that happens to be happening at a really fast pace
[00:17:54] which can be overwhelming and a crawl walk run on that type of stuff but yeah it's definitely you know like there's so much out there and you know there are so many different companies that are doing AI and there's kind of like new ones pop up every day so we definitely are monitoring it and we've got eyes on what capabilities are out there and it's just you know doing a like strategically doing tests and learns and testing and learning
[00:18:24] and scaling up and out from there depending on what works for us it's so funny when sometimes when I've used the phrase you know what got you here won't get you because they're like oh my gosh I'm already overwhelmed and you're telling me that everything needs to change and the fact that you folks are leaning into that and are actively making it your job
[00:18:53] to figure it out what that looks like next I think is super exciting and speaks really well to the team that you have at Hershey and to use of course yeah and I think you know digital I've heard it said before you know digital there's no clear finish line you're just like constantly you know you clear the hurdle and then it's like on to the next one which I think is a blessing and a curse you
[00:19:38] I kind of like it that's great and so when you think about what are some of the initiatives or programs or processes that you're using that have made you successful that you think might be interesting to our listeners what are
[00:20:07] I'll say I can narrow it down to three words and that's cross functional partnership that's something you know it's an initiative that has been successful in my short time at Hershey and also in other organizations that I've worked at it really does take a village to execute with excellence on the digital shelf I have a great content deployment team a larger digital content team but we can't get it done with us
[00:20:37] I'll go through the different cross functional partners that I've been able to develop really strong productive working relationships with just to help us grow and optimize our digital shelf program so the first is obviously our sales team so we've established a really great working relationship with our Omni sales our customer sales team at Hershey so you know we've talked about we've alluded to the
[00:21:07] ever evolving retailer requirements sometimes they want six images sometimes they want five images different types of images different types of bullet points having really close relationships with our internal sales team they're the ones they're talking to their customers every day they're the ones who are learning about these changing requirements in real time so the closer relationship that we have with them they're able to
[00:21:37] communicate those things with us and the sooner they communicate them with us the sooner we can update what we need to we can get ahead of it and I think that really helps mitigate risks down the line having a close relationship with our internal sales teams also helps us if we need extra support in troubleshooting syndication issues so our sales partners are really our best advocate for us if and
[00:22:07] when we hit a wall or a dead end the content isn't going live content reverting it's taking longer than Taylor SLA the closer we are to sales the better our overall process works and then another piece of the sales working relationship is that our digital content creation and syndication process starts when an item is entered into our customer authorization list so that's an internal tool that we use
[00:22:37] our team doesn't know what type of regularly being maintained by our sales team so I have an analyst on my team who has done an incredible job fostering relationships with the authorization list owners to make sure
[00:23:14] the it's ready to go on the digital shelf with all that content ready to influence the shopper to buy getting ahead of that process and like you say early notification it goes to that point about you shaving off time not only shaving off time in your process to get there but making sure that you're not wasting days of sales because that notification didn't happen as early as it could have
[00:23:44] so that's an impressive process I think thanks and on the other side if an item is discontinued we need it removed as well you know there's always one or two times when we're creating content for an item that's no longer sold anywhere and I think like we've done a really good job on our team of maintaining those really good relationships so that this list is top of mind for our sales team because they know that
[00:24:14] we create really great content and they want it you have to you educate why that list is so was there that kind of education when you first
[00:24:44] got connected with that sales team to be like hey this is why this is so important yeah that's a great call out I think we meet with our sales team at least once a year to go over our syndication calendar for the year and then we say hey by
[00:25:17] sales person on board is that they're meeting with this person they're seeing how it works you know and I think you know it kind of segues well in into my next kind of cross functional partnership because we're also kind
[00:25:47] step and how can we make a three minute exercise a two minute exercise or something like that and that is really like we can't do it without our IS and tech partners so as we you know whether it's day to day things like maintaining this list or more broad digital shelf optimization big picture transformation it's so important that we're not only covering our
[00:26:17] business goals and objectives but that they're lining up to the goals of those who own our broader internal tech stack which is our IS partners so we're working as a team to reduce our overall technical debt and streamline as many systems as possible to make our processes faster and more efficient and I'm so lucky to have a group of incredible IS resources at Hershey who over the last six months as we embarked on this journey
[00:26:47] they're becoming experts in what we do on our team and are doing a fantastic job just helping us overall level up our PXM data model so we go to people when we need a UI enhancement in our internal catalog or we're looking at ourselves by data model how this is they're really jumped in open minded to understand how we do what we do on our team and help us get
[00:27:17] from here to there so it started as more informal learnings around things like Sol Spy and other digital content fundamentals has turned into brought on a life of its own we met last week to formalize digital shelf optimization work streams that are going to include things like regular scrum ceremonies and cross functional touch bases to accelerate this transformation and I
[00:27:46] think that's one of the things that having close relationships with those stakeholders are going to play a key role in leveling up our tech stack and things like that and when you're partnering with IT is that a relationship that you foster on a quarterly basis for planning on a yearly basis for planning because I know when it comes to working with IT you need to make sure
[00:28:16] they're supporting the
[00:29:26] more I definitely had to learn as I started at Hershey but I think it's just keeping everyone kind of abreast of what's going on is really helpful and last but not least I think we had one other function around data and governance right that was part of your cross functional collaboration yeah so that's kind of the last one and I think it's like last but not least so you know
[00:29:56] my team on the content deployment side were sort of the last stop on the train before it goes out the door to the PDP we're a receiver of data and integrity so we have all of this different data things from images to copy to nutritional data to basic product information it's coming from all of these different
[00:30:25] systems upstream in the Hershey data systems and there are many different cross functional owners of that data so this is something that I think was kind of highlighted as an opportunity for me since I started the role is I really have to be an advocate for the data by going out and building relationships with
[00:30:55] our PLM team with our IS team with our category management team all of these owners of the data throughout the organization and help explain to the data so I think it's an opportunity at Hershey but it's also an opportunity every people I talk to in other categories where places where I've been in the past I think we're
[00:31:25] headed in the right direction and it's really about that relationship building and being an advocate of the importance of this data because it is eventually going to go in front of the consumer to help them make that informed buying decision and Carolyn when you're thinking about the future and what the future holds for digital which none of us can predict and we have absolutely no idea but
[00:31:56] is for 2025 and even 2026 yeah great question first I'll say I'm so excited about what's to come around digital shelf optimization and transformation at Hershey going into 2025 I'm definitely really motivated and I see what can be for the digital shelf team at Hershey and we were able to align on our goals
[00:32:26] to achieving this vision at the end of last year so I really believe that we have the right people in the room and the cross functional engagement to get there going back to something I mentioned earlier in the talk was one of the things I'm focused on is how do we get more content to the shelf faster so we do support a lot of retailers already on our team we support 20 plus but we would love to have that list
[00:32:56] grow especially as digital becomes more and more mainstream we have more retailers want to support digital shelf so I'm trying to figure out how do we get retailers that were operating as a self service model where the customer teams were downloading images and uploading them into a system how do we elevate them from self service to
[00:33:26] fully supported on our team where they're getting that white glove how do we shave off time from our current processes to open up capacity to take on more retailers more products and I think the work that we're doing to streamline our data flow to reduce our technical debt is going to help us achieve that so that's sort of like a big it's one of the big rocks that I
[00:34:00] we're focusing on is just continuing that education piece for stakeholders that we work with the sales team the IS team the MDM data governance team around the importance of digital shelf excellence one of the things that I started last year that I'm excited to continue doing this year is I meet with
[00:34:30] a number of our supportive retailers quarterly with I call them state of the shelf decks which it's you know at your Walmart at your Kroger here is the state of the digital shelf at Kroger here it showcases everything from you know Profitero contact appliance scores here what should be on the shelf here is what actually on the shelf at Kroger here some deployment statistics here is how long it's taking content on average to get to the
[00:35:00] digital shelf versus the retailer SLA here are some of the big wins we were able to increase speed to market by X percent our first time accuracy improved from 50 percent to 75 percent just making this up but you know communicating wins and then also communicating the biggest opportunities from a content perspective I think these are types of conversations that help keep content
[00:35:30] top of mind for our internal customer teams and also arms our teams with data and insights to bring back to their customers either their digital buyers or even better their category buyers I would love to put this in front of a customer to say here's all the things we've done to help improve the business Walmart using our content
[00:35:59] and help drive conversations break down barriers and grow the digital business continuing to educate the business around the importance of digital shelf excellence and then finally continuing to improve our core capabilities decreasing technical debt smoother data flow from upstream to downstream systems talked a little bit about retailer attribution it's
[00:36:29] interesting over the last couple years we're finding that retailers don't just want images and copy on the you think about digital content
[00:37:08] sending to retailers. And what I'm trying to do, and one of the things I'm focused on is just like, how do we grab that information from upstream systems? Because we obviously have the information and just automate that data flow down to our PXM system to get that to the retailer. A lot of this attribution is becoming prerequisites of sending content. So sometimes we can't even get the
[00:37:36] imagery that my team's creating to the shelf without first knowing what the flavor is or the claims or something like that. So really trying to help kind of enable that publication speed to market. And I think just to kind of put a bow on all of this, going back to what I said at the beginning about how I view the digital shelf, it's really about kind of replicating that in-store
[00:38:01] experience online. So like, you know, the attribution piece of it is like, we're sending more information to ultimately the consumers so they can make an informed decision. They are inspired to buy our products. And that's kind of what, you know, we're doing on the digital shelf is just, we're trying to replicate that, not only replicate that experience that shoppers are seeing in-store, but also enhance that experience and just bringing it to the next level.
[00:38:31] You know, I think it's been so great to listen to you talk us through this because to me, and you can tell me if this is true or not. So, you know, you've been at Hershey's a little over a year and a half and a year and a half is, can be feel really long or it can be really short. And it's what it feels like is that in that year and a half, you've created such strong relationships and with your
[00:38:59] teams identified where you really want to have an impact. And now it feels like this job that you've taken on, you understand it. You have the backing of your cross-functional team members. A lot of that, I'm sure, has to do with how you've put yourself out there. So for me, for our listeners, this is
[00:39:22] such a great roadmap for how you reimagine or think of how to extend digital shelf capabilities and then set about putting in a plan to make it happen. It's super inspiring to hear you, one, to talk about it and how Hershey works on it, but also just your clear enthusiasm for the job that you've taken on, which is awesome. Thanks. And I'll just add to that, Peter, that like I want to, I've been
[00:39:50] at Hershey, like you said, a relatively short amount of time. I wanted to have been able to make those connections without really kind of like leader advocates. So, you know, I report into kind of like the lead of the digital content. Emo has been at Hershey for a long time. She knows a lot of people. So knowing who to talk to, to get you kind of like make those introductions. So I think, you know,
[00:40:17] finding leaders in the organization and kind of getting buy-in from them, I think will really go a long way. They're the ones, you know, I didn't know half the people I know when I started, but I knew people who knew people and like really kind of getting buy-in at the leadership level and getting that sort of like, you know, the advocate or the project sponsor. I think that's something that also
[00:40:47] has helped in prior organizations, getting that like executive level sponsorship. If you're thinking about, you know, if, you know, someone is listening to this from, from a, another company and they're thinking, where do I even start? I think it's kind of getting like finding that kind of like leadership eye in and getting them to kind of help you network through the organization to kind of get the, get the message out there. The digital shelf is still all about people and relationships and how you
[00:41:17] work internally. So I absolutely love that. And I love how you broke down all the cross-functional partnerships, such a critical element to, to being successful. Thank you for sharing your journey. Of course. AI can't, well, not yet. They can't crack that code yet. So, and I'm a communications major at heart. So definitely, you know, me, you know, not maybe not be, may, may not be doing what I went to school for, but like the communication piece is so important.
[00:41:47] It's critical. It's critical. And the, the array in which you can see that coming to life and, and how you're building all this work at Hershey is really, really impressive and, and grateful that you're, you came here to, to share with our listeners. We really, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Yeah, this was so fun. I could talk about this all day, but I won't. Thank you for, yeah. Thank you for having me. This was so fun. Of course, we look forward to the day long podcast coming soon.
[00:42:18] Thank you, Carolyn. Thanks to Carolyn for sharing her work at Hershey with us. And as always, thank you for being part of our community.