Product Innovation:
Charms

I led the development of an exclusive charm assortment for personalized jewelry-making at Michaels. This project included over 350 new charms. These were precious metal plated charms, the introduction of a new slider charm concept, and a curated collection of novelty styles, and value packs, all developed in-house to align with trend and customer demand.

Category
Jewelry

Client
Michaels

Year
2018-2021

My Role
Product Manager

The Challenge

Balancing novelty and volume within a finite planogram space | Analyzing SKU performance by style, icon, and attribute to eliminate underperformers | Creating newness while maintaining clear pricing architecture and retail strategy | Developing high-impact, margin-protected value packs that still felt special to the maker

The Goal

Deliver a Michaels-exclusive charm assortment that offered more trend-forward, meaningful, and customizable styles, refresh the space with new formats (like slider charms) and precious metal finishes while maintaining strong price/value perception, and use data and space planning to build a well-balanced assortment that enhanced the in-store experience.

My Solution

Created and presented a trend board to the buyer to align on design direction
Partnered with the Trend and Space Planning teams to build a schematic planogram
Conducted deep SKU analysis by style, theme, and performance and determined key areas for growth
Worked with vendors to develop 350+ unique charm styles from standard, slider, novelty, and value-pack
Designed the line with margin targets, space restrictions, and creative storytelling in mind

The Results

Delivered a completely refreshed, private brand charm set tailored to Michaels’ maker community
Increased flexibility and visual appeal through the new charm formats and packaging concepts
Strengthened Michaels’ position in personalized jewelry-making through exclusive product and smart space planning
Improved category margin, customer engagement, and relevance in a competitive DIY space

Trend-Right Product Development

I led the development of an exclusive charm assortment for personalized jewelry-making by identifying key trends and translating them into product. I presented a trend board to the buyer, partnered with the trend team to sketch out a schematic planogram, and analyzed SKU performance and space allocation to decide where new charm styles were needed.

Sample Direction

After presenting the trend ideas & Schematic, I partnered with our talented designers & factories to design exclusive charms that balanced novelty, price, and assortment needs — delivering a unique, private brand program tailored to Michaels' maker audience.