Case · Web shop · Original Buddhas
A web shop for antique Buddha statues, in three languages.
Original Buddhas is a gallery in Deventer, the Netherlands, that sells antique and vintage Buddha statues to buyers all over the world. Since 2022 I have built and maintained their custom web shop, in English, Dutch and German. Every statue is one of a kind, so the shop is about good photos, being found, and a sale that is processed everywhere at once.
Visit originalbuddhas.com
- Client
- Original Buddhas, Deventer
- Sector
- E-commerce, art and antiques
- Languages
- English, Dutch, German
- Since
- 2022
01 — The question
Every statue exists only once.
A standard web shop assumes stock: one product, a hundred units. At Original Buddhas, every statue exists only once. It has to be findable by material, origin, posture and hand gesture, and once it is sold it has to go offline everywhere at the same time: on the site, and on the marketplaces where it is also listed.
That is why I built the shop to measure, so the technology follows the way the gallery works.
02 — Search & catalogue
Find by origin, material and style.
The catalogue has filters for price, category, material, posture, mudra, style and country of origin. Search runs on Meilisearch, so results appear as you type, even in a large collection.
03 — Ordering
From product page to payment.
The product page shows the details, the price in euros and dollars, and the shipping cost to the buyer's own country. Payment runs through Mollie. After the sale, the invoice follows automatically, and later a request for a review.
04 — Integrations
One sale, processed everywhere.
- New statues are listed on eBay and Etsy automatically. Once a statue is sold, it goes offline there too.
- Product feeds for Google Shopping, Meta, Pinterest and Channable.
- ActiveCampaign receives viewed statues, orders and a personal feed of new statues, for targeted mailings.
- Invoices, shipping costs per country and VAT rules are applied automatically.
05 — AI in the admin
AI that helps write, with the gallery in charge.
In the admin, AI helps with product descriptions and photo alt texts in three languages. Through a dedicated MCP connection, the owner can also have pages and products updated by an AI assistant. Every change is shown as a proposal first, applied only after approval, and can be rolled back afterwards.
06 — New version
Rebuilt for speed, mobile and SEO.
I am now rebuilding the shop in Laravel 13, Filament and Tailwind. The main requirements: faster loading, a better experience on phones, and no loss in Google. Every URL, title and piece of structured data stays the same, and that is compared with the old site automatically, page by page.
The new admin has a page builder with a live preview on mobile and desktop, dashboards for revenue and sales channels, and all integrations in one place.
07 — Stack
Built with.
- Laravel
- Filament
- Tailwind CSS
- Meilisearch
- Mollie
- Redis
- eBay & Etsy API
- ActiveCampaign
- OpenAI
- MCP
08 — Contact
Got an idea or a project? Let's talk.
Tell me briefly what you want to build. I usually reply within one working day.
Robin Speerstra
Software developer