This Singapore candy seller livestreams 6 hours a day—and packs as many as 300 orders daily
Candy Cottage turned imported sweets into a growing business through livestreams Chelsea Chan, 31, was working in marketing when she noticed something missing in Singapore: a pick-and-mix candy shop that could satisfy…
Source: Vulcan Post Malaysia · August 28, 2026 at 9:01 PM · AI-assisted report
Single-source
SINGAPORE, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, 29 AUGUST 2026 —
Singapore’s Candy Cottage rides livestream boom, shipping 300 orders daily with global treats
Market Impact
SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 28 (Reuters) — When Chelsea Chan noticed Singapore lacked a vibrant pick-and-mix candy shop in 2020, she saw more than a gap in the market—she saw a business opportunity. The closure of Mini Toons, the last major local brand offering bulk candy selections, left supermarket shelves dominated by pre-packed, limited selections.
By 2022, Chan had turned that gap into Candy Cottage, a family-run venture that now livestreams six hours daily, processes up to 300 orders, and has shipped over 100,000 bottles of imported gummies.
Chan, 31, launched Candy Cottage in May 2022 from her family home with just 30 types of candy sourced from the UK, US, Germany, and Turkey. Her model—letting customers mix their own candy by weight—quickly resonated. Early livestreams on Shopee averaged 10 orders over two to three hours. Within a week, orders jumped to 30–40, aided by Shopee’s new livestream feature and generous vouchers for new streamers.
“We were already very happy, very satisfied back then,” Chan said. Demand surged further when she introduced unconventional flavors like savoury cheese gummies, which sold out twice despite her personal dislike for the taste.
By 2024, Candy Cottage had grown to require a full-time team of eight, primarily Chan’s sisters, parents, and relatives. The product range expanded to around 500 varieties, now including imports from the Netherlands and Czech Republic. Popular flavors—mango cubes, sour lychee, and sour guava—reflect a shift toward tropical and less common tastes in Singapore’s candy market, where apple and strawberry dominate.
The brand also produces its own Stoppers line, developed by directly commissioning suppliers to create exclusive flavors.
Candy Cottage’s reach now extends beyond Singapore. In September 2024, it joined Shopee’s International Platform (SIP) pilot, a program run with Enterprise Singapore that allows local sellers to list on Shopee’s Malaysia and Thailand storefronts without managing cross-border logistics. The move boosted Candy Cottage’s monthly sales by about 5% overall, with cross-border orders and sales value growing roughly eightfold.
“Initially, I was doubtful that shoppers in Malaysia and Thailand would go for Singapore-sold candy,” Chan said. “But the demand proved otherwise.”
The business has also diversified into corporate gifting, supplying Google, YouTube, and high-profile events including weddings for content creators Shawn Thia and Xenia Tan. However, livestreaming’s punishing schedule remains a challenge. Sessions run six days a week, excluding Fridays, for six to seven hours each, split between Chan and a full-time staff member across TikTok, Shopee, Lazada, and the brand’s own website.
On a typical day, Candy Cottage processes 150–200 orders, rising to 200–300 on sale days, with average order values between S$15 and S$20.
Operations resemble a small production line: hosts pick and pack candy live on camera, tubs are passed down the row for bagging, sealing, and boxing. Yet growth has not been seamless. In late 2023, a complaint to Singapore’s food regulator forced Candy Cottage to halt operations overnight after it was found operating without a required license. “Ignorance is not an excuse,” Chan said.
“You can’t tell the government, ‘I didn’t know.’” Within days, she secured a 300 sq ft commercial unit barely large enough to hold inventory. A consultant clarified licensing rules: home-based sellers face fewer restrictions, but once a business engages in corporate supply, catering, or events—as Candy Cottage did—an SFA license becomes mandatory.
A year later, Candy Cottage took a major step by purchasing its current 1,800 sq ft unit for a six-figure sum and spending an additional S$40,000 on renovations. Buying the space secured a 19-year lease and shielded the business from potential rent hikes, a common issue for successful tenants in Singapore’s competitive retail market.
Logistics and shipping remain persistent hurdles. Candy Cottage uses third-party couriers, leading to recurring issues with melted candy and cracked bottles due to mishandling or heat exposure. To mitigate this, the company upgraded to heavier, heat-insulated bottles. Import costs are steep: airfreighting one kilogram of candy from the UK costs roughly S$8, and freight expenses have risen alongside global fuel prices.
“When you’re bringing in candies from all over the world, that shipping cost compounds on top of the cost price,” Chan said.
Public-facing challenges include refund disputes, competitors infiltrating livestreams to poach customers, and anonymous “keyboard warriors” posting bad-faith complaints. Chan’s response is consistent: maintain a positive tone. “We don’t throw vulgarities, we don’t spread negativity on our stream,” she said. “Candies are something people eat to be happy. I don’t want them to buy the candy, be happy, but think the sellers were unfriendly.”
Looking ahead, Candy Cottage plans to expand its custom product lines and deepen regional reach through platforms like Shopee’s International Platform. While the business remains labor-intensive and sensitive to regulatory and logistical pressures, its rapid rise from a side project to a multi-platform, cross-border brand underscores the power of livestream commerce in transforming niche retail sectors across Southeast Asia.
Related: Chelsea Chan