Why Node.Js is the best way to create an online store?

create an online store using node js

JavaScript is massively popular these days. Almost 69.8% of developers worldwide trust JavaScript for software development. The script has gone more prevalent and dramatically different from what it used to be a few years ago. Today, we are not limited to Flash or Java Applets to incorporate front-end scripts to the server-side programs. What used to be a front-end web script is now a prominent element for server-side programming too.

Node.js is one such form of JavaScript, which is particularly becoming a standard among the eCommerce developers. Considering its abilities to write server-side programs, Node.js for eCommerce development is being seen as a shift from stateless web-based request-response paradigm to real-time two-way communication architecture.

This article aims at explaining why this tech is so popular and why a Node.js eCommerce site is always a reliable software solution for entrepreneurs of any scale. So let’s start from the basic.

What is Node.js?

We can explain Node.js in various words. Typically it’s a script, but not limited to it.

  • js is an open-source server environment.
  • It is also an open-source JavaScript run-time environment.
  • It was built on Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine.
  • It is a cross-platform script capable of running on various platforms (Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac OS X, etc.)
  • Because of event-driven non-blocking I/O model it can write on both server-side and client-side applications.

What Node.js can do?

  • js can create a dynamic page content
  • It can create, open, read, write, delete, and close files on the server-side.
  • It can also collect data from webpage forms.
  • It can add, delete, and modify the information in DB.

Node.js Vs PHP: Most popular in eCommerce development

If you have done research on the best eCommerce platforms in the market, I can tell you, 99% of them are on PHP. Began as an HTML embedding script, PHP is now a full-fledged programming language capable of handling both server-side and client-side programming. In fact, the most popular eCommerce platforms in the market are based on PHP- Magento, Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart, and Woo Commerce, etc.

So why am I advocating Node js for eCommerce development? Here is the catch-

  • Being popular in the market and being popular among the developers are two different aspects.
  • Being a popular language and being an efficient solution language are also two different aspects.
  • Being easy to learn and being easy to code complex applications easily are two different aspects.

No doubt PHP is exceptionally popular; it was introduced almost 23 years ago. It has handled the eCommerce solutions for a long time. It is compatible with almost every contemporary web service, webpage, and operating system. However, Node.js is not just new, but also owns an improvement in lots of aspects where PHP lags. 

I mean no harm to the tech, but can you tell me a big name in eCommerce, which was developed on PHP?

DIY: Search the following two phrases on Google and compare the results:

Biggest eCommerce site developed on PHP’ | ‘Biggest eCommerce site developed on Node.js

While the search for PHP returns all about eCommerce platforms only, the same for Node.Js gives you a precise answer. From YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay to Netflix, the list is very long.

PHP has the most popular eCommerce platforms but Node.js has given the most popular eCommerce sites known to humanity. I know this is not a solid comparison to make an informed choice yet. Let’s conduct a more technical and informative comparison below.

Why Node.js for eCommerce instead of PHP or others?

They released Node.js for the public in 2009. From that time, it has been competing with an array of scripts and programming languages – PHP, Python, Java and many more. However, when we talk about Node js eCommerce sites, a Node.js shopping cart is simpler, versatile, faster and scalable than in any of the popular platforms.

Gradually, with the success of big Node.js projects, eCommerce developers are now shifting to this tech for building eCommerce sites from scratch. There are many Node.js eCommerce platforms as well in the market. Here is a comparison to explain the superiority of Node.js over others in eCommerce development-

Ease of writing content within the Codes

PHP gives boundless access to write content in the codes. There are PHP tags that can include content from another site. Open the tags and compose your content. This disposes of the requirement for pre-defined layouts to write general content on the site. Not all users who work on an eCommerce site are well informed or comprehend the code. Stirring up the codes with general content can wreck the syntax and make the source-code a mesh.

This is the place where Node.js comes to rescue. It enables you to isolate the codes from the general and legitimate layers like content writing on a webpage and make the interface understandable for the non-coders. They easily comprehend the back-end of a Node.js site. It plainly isolates the architecture with independent modules in an MVC (Model View Controller) design.

Introduction to a new code base

PHP has been around for a long while now, and you can discover PHP codes everywhere on the web. Truth be told, codes in the majority of the websites and CMSs, including their modules are PHP. PHP is all over. However, do these solutions have a new code base?

PHP uses the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP). Linux as the operating system, Apache as HTTP server, MySQL as the database, and as the programming language for the application. Though we have been able to develop new methods like Single Page Applications (SPAs), which can refresh a page without reloading, we could not achieve the ease that MEAN or MERN stack provides.

With Node.js, we don’t go old school and use MEAN (MongoDB, Express, Angular 2, and Node) and MERN stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js). These MVC structures are new and the codes are cutting-edge. With updated tools, security measures, and a huge library, you can expect a Node.js eCommerce site to keep up with the modern day requirements.

Efficiency over simplicity

This is where I find PHP and others scripts simpler. These languages have been around for quite some time. We have become well-off with their architecture, frameworks, and code syntax. However, would you want your eCommerce site to be simple but inefficient?

Simplicity is not what you should wish for the development of large-scale projects. Node.js is new, comparatively has fewer developers, that’s why it seems complex. However, when it comes to the simplicity of the developed website, a Node.js eCommerce site is way user-friendly than any other.

The language is tough to learn but does not fail you in developing the simplest websites with complex logics running at the back-end. Additionally, Node.js’s MEAN stack is perfect for working with JavaScript and JQuery, where most of the PHP-based sites slow down. With Node.js, JavaScript which used to be a reason for degraded page loading speed is now the motivation for developing cutting-edge UX for the eCommerce customers.

No SQL over SQL databases

PHP and others use a relational database like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB to store the information. SQL relies on rows, columns, and relational architecture to store or retrieve the data. It makes the process a little slower and limits the scalability of SQL-based databases.

To tackle this, the concept of NoSQL was introduced. Originally called non-SQL or non-relational, it is formally referred to as “Not-Only-SQL”. It means it can utilize both relational and non-relation queries to store or retrieve the data.

NoSQL does not rely on relations to store or retrieve the data. Instead of rows and columns, it stores the information in various structures (key-value pairs, wide columns, graphs, and documents). It makes a NoSQL DB simpler in design, flexible, and massively scalable for huge websites.

The NoSQL approach is not popular in PHP but in Node.Js’s MEAN stack. Node.js works easily with both SQL and NoSQL (Not Only SQL) databases such as MongoDB and Couch DB. It is similarly compatible with the diagram database frameworks like Neo4j. It is as good with JSON (JavaScript Object Notation), empowering the script to work even without SQL.

With JSON, coding winds up more straightforward as you don’t have to switch between different syntaxes for front-end and back-end coding. You can use the same syntax for both server side, database and client-side coding.

Synchronous VS Asynchronous nature

Aside from some selectable APIs, which act as asynchronous sometimes, PHP is synchronous in most of the cases. As a result, the codes run in sequence and wait for the previous lines to execute first before running the subsequent lines. This makes the entire program to run slower and even crash if the whole code owns an error or deadlock condition.

However, Node.js follows an asynchronous approach to executing the codes. The JavaScript engine runs the whole program in one go-

  • Runs a line of the code.
  • Updates status ‘Ready’ to handle the next line.
  • Moves to the next line.
  • When a system returns the previous line’s result, it returns the result to the client.
  • Same goes to the next line in the code.

Node.js eliminates the waiting state and simply keeps the status ‘Ready’ for the next request. It also means the output of code below the current line will definitely run simultaneously irrespective of the previous code is working or not. Hence, this asynchronous architecture makes a Node.js eCommerce site faster and stable.

Here is an example of how you can use the asynchronous architecture of Node.js-

You can utilize the promise proxy value to call asynchronous processes such as resolve and reject. You can call then function through promise code and take two async functions as parameters. Now, you can set the first function to execute if the condition is fulfilled otherwise, you can call the second function reject if not fulfilled. By doing so, you can prevent a crash event or deadlock situation. A promise code would look something like this-

var myPromise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject){
request.get(options, function(err, resp, body) {
            if (err) {
                reject(err);
            } else {
                resolve(JSON.parse(body));
            }
        })
    })
}

Top node js eCommerce sites and solutions  

There are more than 81,405 sites live with Node.js. Out of which 60,748 are unique domain names. 18% of them are business websites and about 6% are eCommerce websites. Here are a few more well-known sites and eCommerce solutions running on Node.js shopping cart technology-

  • Microsoft store
  • E-Bay
  • PayPal
  • GoDaddy
  • Uber
  • eBay
  • GroupOn
  • Netflix
  • Walmart

To conclude

My experience with Node.js shopping cart has been a charm. I have been writing Node.js eCommerce programs for a long time now. Till now, with whatever I know, I can conclude that it is a very versatile language and eCommerce development with it is much smoother and fun.

I too like PHP and its frameworks. I prefer it for small-sized websites though. However, I love JavaScript and cannot afford to minimize the usage only because PHP makes JavaScript run very slow on web browsers. MEAN stack with Node.Js enables me to use JavaScript at its full without slowing down the code. All thanks go to the asynchronous non-blocking I/O architecture and NoSQL database that keeps the code trap-free.

You are welcome to discuss your tricks in the comment section. Node.js for eCommerce is huge. One cannot just talk about it in one article. Optimistically, we can enrich this content with more contributions from experts who might want to share their experience in the comments section.