Making an eCommerce platform work successfully can be complicated. The best eCommerce designs in the world are looked up upon for their scalability, constantly generating information, delivering it to display users, and maintaining its integrity. To achieve such abilities, you will need to provide strong support. This is where Node.js comes to the rescue.
Building a node.js eCommerce app will help you to maintain a balance between the user and your application, giving out the best results without any damage, loss, or glitches.
In this article, we will learn all about Node.js, right from its introduction, to its popularity and advantages—while helping you to develop a Node.js eCommerce platform.
What is Node.js?
Node.js is a Javascript runtime environment that helps you to develop high-performing, responsive, and scalable applications. It is considered a perfect match for applications consisting of real-time collaborations of various tools, streaming apps, chats, or any other applications dealing with several I/O operations.
But, certainly, Node.js does not work well enough with CPU-heavy software which consists of long-running calculations; blocking the incoming requests, can at times decrease the level of performance of the application.
Advantages of Node.js
Node.js is a runtime environment for JavaScript. As JavaScript has unlocked various new web development capabilities, using Node.js has several aspects that certainly measure benefits. Below are some of the advantages of the Node.js experience -
- Developers can create a real-time web application with ease.
- Coding in Node.js is very easy as the developers can use JavaScript to code the server components of the client. JavaScript is quite popular and has a huge community of web developers who already know the coding process. This makes the coding of Node.js easier to understand, especially because of the similarities between them both.
- Node.js is said to work faster than JavaScript in terms of its machine code.
- Node.js is open-source; independent developers have confirmed that there are a large number of modules and tools in it that can be used to construct detailed measurements in an application with ease. The ‘Node package manager repository’ alone contains over a million modules (and still growing) supported by a live high-spirited community of Node.js developers.
- Data streaming is easier in Node.js.
- Database queries are answered quickly and easily with Node.js. Although Modern NoSQL databases like MongoDB already use JavaScript, Node.js developers need not worry about the syntax differences in good database queries.
Popularity of Node.js
Node.js was created by Ryan Dahl and was first released in July 2011. It gained significant popularity within a decade as Twitter, BBC, Aliexpress, etc. started using Node.js. According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey results in 2019, Node.js was identified as the most popularly used web framework, and about 49.9% of the respondents stated that they used Node.js at work.
Also, with the introduction to React and Angular, Node.js grabbed an important place among the well-known developers. Node.js is, therefore, a technology that is being studied and learned by thousands of developers across the globe.
Why Build a Node.js eCommerce Platform?
Building a Node.js eCommerce platform can be beneficial to both developers and application users. Some of them are:
- The cross-platform development process is convenient for the developers.
- The performance recorded in an eCommerce platform is considered critical, and Node.js offers the strongest performance.
- Node.js e-commerce introduces scalability and adaptability with its programming-driven asynchronous events. This gives Node.js a clear edge.
- The enthusiastic community of Node.js is considered to be a huge help, specifically to the developers, as eCommerce platforms can be very complex.
- There are various plugins available for Node.js eCommerce development. These plugins specifically take care of several functionalities and features.
- Data streaming is very important for eCommerce websites, and Node.js happens to be quite useful at it.
- Node.js supports both frontend and backend development, which helps in building a real-time communication channel. Thus covering the foremost and most important need of eCommerce websites.
- ECommerce websites built with Node.js are lightweight and load faster than the others.
Is Node.js Good for eCommerce?
Several aspects certainly measure choosing the Node.js eCommerce website. Let’s take a look at them and understand them from the viewpoint of a successful eCommerce site.
Performance
Node.js eCommerce applications are known for multitasking; providing the best outcomes at a low cost. When compared with PHP, Node.js is more convenient and easy to use.
From the buyer’s point of view, purchasing on an eCommerce website involves multiple steps. The steps include adding the products they want to purchase to the cart, making product modifications as per their interest, selecting the mode of payment, and more. The smooth sailing of these steps depends on the performance viewpoint of the website and the technology it uses. Node.js, with its ability to handle various operations at the same time, is considered an effective choice for building e-commerce.
Huge active community
The community of Node.js is considered to have many high-spirited and active developers who fully assist and contribute to improving the quality and functions of Node.js. Their cooperation and well-documented framework, with constant on-time support at beck-and-call, make the development faster and easier. The community also creates a sense of trust and loyalty.
The developers of Node.js produce tons of readymade solutions for each problem, ready-to-use plugins, modules, codes in Github, and many more possibilities that can be used in the future for different circumstances. Also, StackOverflow has solutions to almost all potential problems.
One Language Used on the Back and Front End
Node.js is considered a JavaScript-based environment with several front-end frameworks such as React, Angular, Ember, etc—all using a similar language. Thus, it allows you to create apps that are written in only one language. It efficiently moves the development process and communicates between the front-and-back-end teams efficiently and easily; encouraging smaller groups that are easier to coordinate.
The Sufficient Number of Plugins and Packages in NPM
Node.js usually comes with a huge deal of packages that can be easily executed in your applications. In this manner, the developers will not need to write everything from the scratch, and also will be able to grasp more reliable open-source solutions. This ultimately increases the speed of the development process, which is great availability for Node.js eCommerce applications.
Scalability
Node.js allows you for quick scalability. Scalability determines the characteristics of an organization or system. The rapid increase in the scalability of the e-commerce website will motivate growth. Ultimately your choice of technology will define your characteristics and choosing Node.js builds characteristics that result in Scalability. Node.js has an inbuilt mechanism that helps to manage the scalability level and adjust to every individual customer’s needs.
Therefore, in most cases, Node.js assures you, by providing you with a performance level higher than any other technology. Over the years, it also has proven to be a stable and rapid solution in building eCommerce stores: and with its ready-to-use frameworks for every situation—a promoter of a quick and easy development process. Although, for various factors going for the Stack option can be rare, ultimately Node.js is a trustworthy choice for you.
How to develop a Node.js eCommerce platform?
Various platforms are available to help eCommerce websites to reach or connect with their customers, but they do not build a website for you. It requires software development planning. In the following section, we will guide you through detailed steps to build a Node.js eCommerce open-source platform. The steps are as follows:
Step 1: Accept Agile software development
E-commerce entrepreneurs are always increasing their applications, thus iterative developments are deemed very important, and agile is the exact methodology for this development project.
Step 2: Hire a skilled team
- For getting sustainably successful results, your development team should inculcate detailed skills and knowledge.
- Try to scout these roles for your development teams: Business Analyst, UI/UX Designers, Node.js Developers, Testers, Project Manager.
Step 3: Use the Heroku PaaS
- Heroku PaaS is considered to be one of the most advantageous and reputed PaaS providers. Heroku allows your development teams to focus on coding. It handles the cloud infrastructure, networking, middleware, operating system, runtime environment, scaling, servers, etc.
- Heroku has a razor-sharp focus on maintaining a great web app development platform. For years it has been ensuring satisfying developing experience for many.
- Heroku also allows developers to manage, deploy, and scale Node.js applications where you will be able to access comprehensive documentations.
Step 4: Downloading and installing Node.js
- To download Node.js, you will first visit the Node.js web page where you will find the platform-specific installers.
- Now, install Node.js using the "Node Package Manager." The Node Package Manager is a popular package manager with a large collection of reusable code.
Step 5: Use a reputed Node.js eCommerce framework
- There are ample options available for a suitable Node.js eCommerce framework—all options equally popular for their qualities and functions.
- You can choose from:
- Simple e-commerce node.js framework
- Schema.io e-commerce node.js framework
- Total.js framework
- Koa.js framework
- Reaction commerce platform
Step 6: Use Heroku DevOps for continuous integration
- This is an ongoing app development software project in which your team needs to develop, test, and deploy in specific multiple repetitions.
- You will need accurate tools for building the management and testing automation. You will also need tools for deployment management.
- Heroku is completely managed to cloud PaaS and is very easy to operate. It offers you a robust CI process using different DevOps processes, tools, and methods.
- Also, you can describe their ‘Pipelines’, CI review process, GitHub integration, release, etc. terming it in a certain amount with the availability of details.
Final Thoughts
The number of functions, features for an application, and the complexity of development should be looked upon according to the business needs. Therefore, once you have decided, you can move forward with the decision of opting for your suitable technological development platform.
This broadens when it comes to the aspect of eCommerce platforms—because the complexities are of a higher degree, yet the level of smoothness should be at its best. Node.js is, therefore, the best option to carry out the process. In an organization development process where highly skilled workers are at your beck and call, you will consistently get the best results to satisfy your customers.
Reach out to us to help you build a Node.js eCommerce platform for your business.
- Anubhav
