Image of Hershey candy at a retail location in Palmyra, Lebanon County, taken on October 29, 2026 (WHP)
DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. (WHP) —Halloween is quickly approaching, and the candy aisle is getting a high-tech assist as shoppers stock up for trick-or-treaters.
The Hershey Company says it is using artificial intelligence to help make sure its products are placed where customers are most likely to buy them.
According to the company, field representatives can take pictures of candy displays throughout stores, and AI helps identify where items are located and how placement lines up with sales data.
“AI is able to locate where it is in the store. With the match of that, as well as sales data, it’s now used into built insights of how they’re going to be able to utilize their different products, where their product placement is best fit throughout those different seasons,” said Sydney Tierney, a category leadership analyst for seasons at The Hershey Company.
“We have three of the top five chocolate brands for Halloween, so being able to have those in a prominent place online and in stores is important, so AI does help with that,” Tierney said.
While public reaction to AI has been mixed, The Hershey Company said it is using the technology to support — not replace — workers.
“AI is a tool to help that human judgment, where those field sales reps are, at the end of the day, being the ones that have the conversations with store managers,” Tierney said.
The company said its use of AI is expected to expand. Eventually, the technology is expected to use shelf images to determine what items are missing and whether inventory is available in the back room.
“Ultimately, it’s going to be a time saving tool,” Tierney said. “We’re looking at this being able to save 10 to 15% of our reps’ time and administrative work.”
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