Marketplace · Next.js
Kova — personalized "Know Your Customer" marketplace
A D2C marketplace where customers define what they need — by chat, quiz, or filter — and a deterministic scoring engine returns every product with a 0–100% fit score and transparent "why this fits you" reasons.
The challenge
Products matched to the person, not the algorithm
Most recommendation engines are black boxes. Kova flips that: every match score is explainable, every reason is specific to the customer's stated needs. Customers engage via a structured quiz, a free-text chat, or traditional filters — all feeding the same scoring engine. Merchants get a vendor portal for catalog management and payout visibility.
What we delivered
- Every recommendation score is explainable and cited
- Multi-vendor marketplace with vendor self-service portal
- Three input modes (quiz, chat, filters) → one scoring engine
- Reduced returns through higher pre-purchase confidence
- Live score refresh with optimistic UI
- LangGraph-powered conversational discovery
Features
What we built
Six core capabilities that make the product what it is.
Deterministic Match Scoring
A rules-based engine that scores every product 0–100% against customer preferences. Every point is traceable — no black box, no guessing.
"Why this fits you" Reasons
Each result shows the top 3 reasons for its score: "Fragrance-free (matches: sensitive skin)" — building trust, not just ranking.
Multi-modal Input
Customers reach the same scoring engine via structured quiz, free-text chat (LLM-parsed), or traditional filter UI. All channels, one engine.
Multi-vendor Catalog
Merchants manage listings, variants, and pricing through a dedicated vendor portal with approval workflows and payout tracking.
Conversational Discovery
A LangGraph-powered chat interface interprets natural-language preferences and translates them into scoring parameters in real time.
Real-time Recommendation Refresh
Scores update live as customers refine their stated needs, with optimistic UI so the experience feels instant — no reload required.
Stack
Built with the right tools
No dogma about tools. We assessed what the product needed, then chose the stack that delivers fastest and stays maintainable long-term.
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