Overview

An exclusive holiday candy collection was being developed for a major national retail launch with Target™. The project required tight coordination across product development, operations, packaging, creative, and manufacturing teams to ensure the collection was launch-ready within strict retail timelines.

The Challenge

The placement opportunity was secured late into the planning calendar, resulting in a need to move from concept to distribution within one quarter.

The collection also needed to balance:

• Consumer appeal

• Retail exclusivity expectations

• New Display Ready Case (DRC) Packaging Development

• Margin goals

• Manufacturing feasibility

• Launch timing

My Role

I partnered cross-functionally across product development, operations, design, and manufacturing teams to lead and support end-to-end launch.

Responsibilities included:

• Coordinating product launch timelines and milestones with internal & external teams

• Developing, reviewing, & approving candy assortment, packaging, and sampling deliverables

• Communicating with external manufacturing partners

• Driving commercialization readiness across teams

• Identifying and resolving launch bottlenecks proactively

• Ensuring business goals were met while maintaining a customer-centric approach

Outcome

The collection launched successfully at retail and achieved:

• 98% sell-through performance

• Successful on-time launch execution

• Strong retail partnership support

• High consumer engagement during the holiday season