How to Build an E-Commerce Site with Laravel 8: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re planning to build an e-commerce site, you need a thorough and easy-to-use platform that makes managing your online store a breeze. Laravel 8 is a popular PHP framework that offers everything you need to get your e-commerce site up and running. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through the process of building an e-commerce site with Laravel 8.

Step 1: Installing Laravel 8

Before you can start building your e-commerce site, you need to have Laravel 8 installed on your system. The easiest way to install Laravel 8 is by using the Composer package manager. If you are new to Laravel, you can download and install Composer from the official website.

Once you have Composer installed, open your command prompt or terminal and run the following command:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel ecommerce-site

This command will download and install Laravel 8 in a folder named “ecommerce-site” in the current directory.

Step 2: Setting up the Database

The next step is to create a new database for your e-commerce site. From your preferred database management tool, create a new database and name it “ecommerce_db”. Next, update the “.env” file in your Laravel project folder with your database credentials.

DB_DATABASE=ecommerce_db
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

Step 3: Creating Models and Migrations

With the database set up, it’s time to create models and migrations. In Laravel, models represent database tables, and migrations are used to update the database schema. Run the following command to create a new product model and migration:

php artisan make:model Product -m

The “-m” option in the command creates a migration file for the product model. Edit the migration file to include the required product fields:

Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
    $table->id();
    $table->string('name');
    $table->text('description');
    $table->decimal('price', 10, 2);
    $table->timestamps();
});

With the migration fields set up, run the following command to update the database:

php artisan migrate

Step 4: Creating Controllers and Routes

Now that we have our models and migrations set up, we can create controllers and routes to handle requests and responses. Run the following command to create a new product controller:

php artisan make:controller ProductController --resource

The “–resource” option tells Laravel to create a resource controller, which is ideal for handling e-commerce requests.

With the controller created, update the “web.php” file with the necessary routes:

Route::get('/', [ProductController::class, 'index'])->name('products.index');
Route::get('/products/create', [ProductController::class, 'create'])->name('products.create');
Route::post('/products', [ProductController::class, 'store'])->name('products.store');

Step 5: Creating Views and Forms

The final step is to create views and forms to display and handle e-commerce data. Run the following command to create a new product view:

php artisan make:view products.index

Next, edit the view file to include the necessary HTML tags and Blade syntax to display the product data. Here’s an example of displaying the product name and price:

@foreach($products as $product)
    
        {{ $product->name }}
        {{ $product->price }}
    
@endforeach

Similarly, create a view for the product form:

php artisan make:view products.create

Edit the view file to include the necessary HTML tags and Blade syntax to handle form submissions. Here’s an example of an input field for the product name:


    Product Name:

Conclusion

With these steps, you’re now equipped to build your e-commerce site with Laravel 8. Remember to keep your code organized and well-documented, as this will make your development process much more manageable. With Laravel 8, you have a robust framework that can handle all your e-commerce needs. Good luck, and happy coding!