How to build a laravel eCommerce website using Next.js?

In this article, we’ll see how to build a laravel eCommerce website using Next.js?

Ideally, for eCommerce, you can use Next.js as it is a React-based web framework that allows you to statically generate pages, but it can still let you use server-side rendering.

It can be hosted on servers like Vercel or Netlify, which shows lower latency.

Writing the code makes your productivity increase and it visualizes instantly in your browser but with it, risk also knocks on your door as increasing the productivity makes you neglect its maintainability.

And with time, the JavaScript nature being untyped can make your codebase degrade. The number of bugs and productivity become inversely proportional to each other.

Even the performance and other core web vitals can decrease with the smallest changes in your code. Using server-side rendering can result in unexpected service costs.

Next.js – Kicks the traditional eCommerce Platforms

Your website/app would be SEO-friendly as the features of Next.js like server-side rendering and static exporting guarantee it. And this is the most important thing to any eCommerce business.

Next.js supports two forms of pre-rendering: Static Generation and Server-side Rendering. The main difference in both of them generates when comes to HTML.

Server-Side Rendering:

In SSR, when a client requests a random webpage then the server prepares an HTML page by taking the user’s data and sending it back to the user’s system over the internet.

After it, the browser then understands the content and displays it on the page.

This whole process of fetching the data from the database, developing the HTML page, and sending it back to the user happens in milliseconds.

The entire process will be repeated by the server if the user clicks on any random link on the page now Imagine that a user clicks a link on the page. It will not only increase the load on the server but also uses internet bandwidth.

Client-Side Rendering:

A new approach for rendering websites was introduced known as Client-side rendering, and it wasn’t popular till JavaScript libraries started working with it.

The content gets rendered in the browser using JavaScript. Instead of having the content from an HTML document, it can be with a JavaScript file in initial loading through which all the sites can render the rest of the site using the browser.

But in CSR, the initial page loads a bit slow but after that every other page load is fast. There is no need to call the entire UI after every contact with the server.

By just re-rendering that particular DOM element, It manages to update the UI with changed data.

React.js is the best example of libraries used in client-side rendering.  

Here are some of the pros and cons of both the SSR and CSR-

Server Side Pros-

1. Better SEO.
2. Initial Page loading is faster.
3. Good for Static sites.

 Cons:

1. Due to SSR, there are frequent server requests.
2. Gives slow page rendering.
3. Non-rich site interactions.

Client-side pros:

1. It has Rich site interactions
2. After the initial load fast website rendering.
3. Web applications are great with it.
4. Robust selection of JavaScript libraries.

Cons:

1. If it is not implemented in the right way then Low SEO will occur.
2. In the initial loading, it requires more time.
3. An external library is required in most the cases

Steps to build eCommerce with Next.js

Let’s move to the steps to build an eCommerce website using Next.js.

1. Setting up the development environment

For starting we first need to set up our environment also after that we can start building the website-

Write the command in the Terminal:

A pop-up will also come to let you enter your project’s name. After it, all the project dependencies and files and folders will be installed and created for you.

Now check at  localhost:3000, and you can see your app.

2. Defining a Layout

After creating the environment, now let’s move to the layout for the store which will include a Header and also a Footer with links to the cart and contact information.

The layout can be added to the app’s main entry point. The entry point is located at

in the Next.js.

You can clearly witness that the MyApp function is returning the pageProps.

The function can also be used to create the app’s layout.

Now it’s time to create components. We can also create a components directory at the project’s root.

• Creating components

Let’s start creating the components we need. Going into the components directory, create a

We can easily convert the HTML elements into in-website links through the Link component from Next.js. Now, in the same manner, create a

• Integrating components

The components which we have created till now, we have to add to our app. Now we’ll create a Layout component with a Header and Footer in it.

After the creation of layout components, the next step is to add them to the

Now run the app’s dev mode and see the localhost page, you can view your app’s layout created.

• Customizing your homepage

We will create a few more components to keep things maintained as we also need to display both information about our store and also the products we will sell.

3. Creating required components

Now after defining layouts, you need to create the required components for your eCommerce store.

• The product component

As we’re building an eCommerce website we will need a Product component to show on the homepage.

Whatever information you need to display on the product, the component will output. You have to add this particular component, underneath the interface.

• A note on the Image Component

Instead of using the former img tag, we can also use Next.js’s Image Component which results in many positive things like automatic image optimization, by default lazy loading.

And showing images in WebP format when the browser allows it, which optimizes images to the client device.

4. Pre-rendering data and importing components

Every page is pre-rendered in Next.js. This means in simple words that Next.js generates HTML for all the pages in advance instead of doing it also on client-side JavaScript. This feature can also result in better performance and SEO.

Two forms of pre-rendering for Next.js.

• Static Generation (Recommended): By exporting getStaticProps, at build time only the HTML will be generated and will be reused on each request. It can also be used with Client-side Rendering to bring in additional data.
• Server-side Rendering: Here the HTML will be generated on each request. By exporting getServerSideProps, a page can also use Server-side Rendering.

5. Product validation

Now after all the product listing, rendering, and creating components, the last step comes the product validation. 

• HTML validation

The very first method to perform it is by changing the URL in your product list to / for every product to the homepage for HTML validation. It will also read the / on the homepage and crawl it in order to validate the products if you want.

• JSON validation using Next.js serverless API

In the more complicated scenarios, it is good to use an API returning the products information in JSON format. For doing it also, we need to have a unique URL for each product which will return its information in a JSON file.

We can have this validation also in two ways-

Configuring static API routes

Configuring dynamic API routes

6. Styling your Next.js

Mostly all the components also have their classnames in this article now we will look at 2 different ways to apply them:

•  Setting up a global stylesheet

Create a global.scss style sheet in the style folder. Afterward,

Global stylesheets can only be imported into the _app.tsx file.

•  Setting up CSS modules for your components

If your CSS file gets larger, it can also become quite handy.

The syntax for using it is-

As a style object in the component’s file, you can import it and access the styles with it.

And now!!! You’re ready to go with your Next.js website!

Conclusion

Back-end-oriented architecture to next.js is something beyond expectations for all the techies. In it, there is also so much to learn that the team members also feel outside of their comfort zone.

Also, the development with Next.js gives an amazing experience and productivity boost.

So, that was much about “How to build a laravel eCommerce website using Next.js?” for any queries or doubts reach out to us at [email protected]. You can also raise a ticket at our HelpDesk System.