KandyLover — Swedish Candy E-commerce Rebuilt on Next.js 15
Migrated a plugin-heavy WooCommerce candy shop to a custom Next.js 15 storefront with a live build-your-own-box builder, 7-market multi-currency checkout, and a 32+ module admin dashboard. Faster pages, full control, no plugin tax.
Project Overview
KandyLover is a Swedish candy e-commerce brand that outgrew WooCommerce. I rebuilt it from the ground up on Next.js 15 — a custom storefront with a real-time build-your-own candy box builder, native checkout across 7 markets (JPY, AUD, USD, CAD, AED, QAR, SAR), a 4-language storefront (English, Japanese, Arabic, Swedish with RTL), and a 32+ module admin dashboard that runs the whole business. The migration cut page load roughly 25-30% and replaced a stack of paid plugins with code the team actually owns. It's live today.
The Challenge
KandyLover was running on WordPress/WooCommerce and the plugin stack was eating the business alive. Every feature — multi-currency, the candy-box idea, loyalty, the live spin-wheel — meant another plugin, another subscription, another thing that could break on update. Pages were slow, the admin was a patchwork, and nobody truly owned the code. They needed a real store that could do pick-and-mix the way customers actually shop, sell across multiple markets, and let staff run everything from one place — without paying a plugin tax to do it.
What I Built
- Migrated the full store off WooCommerce onto a custom Next.js 15 App Router storefront with TypeScript and Drizzle ORM on MySQL 8
- Real-time build-your-own candy-box builder with live weight tracking as customers add and remove items
- Native multi-currency engine across 7 markets — JPY, AUD, USD, CAD, AED, QAR, SAR — with locale-aware tax and shipping logic, no third-party plugin
- 4-language storefront via next-intl — English, Japanese, Arabic, Swedish — with full RTL support
- Custom admin dashboard with 32+ management modules covering orders, products, inventory, customers, coupons, gift cards, box tiers, blog CMS, SEO manager, staff roles, audit log, and analytics
- Stripe and PayPal payments wired in directly with idempotent webhooks
- Gamification and loyalty system — spins, points, referrals, and membership tiers — to drive repeat purchases
- Live-stream commerce with an on-stream spin wheel for selling during broadcasts
- Abandoned-cart recovery with transactional email via Resend and Nodemailer
- Staff RBAC with an audit log, plus automated S3 backups for store data and assets
Key Features
Results
“Replaced a fragile 15-plugin WooCommerce setup with a single Next.js app. No more plugin conflicts, no more $200/mo in plugin licenses, no more slow checkout.”
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