Development of an online store and other e-commerce sites on Laravel
Choosing the right platform for an e-commerce site, especially an online store, is one of the key success factors. As the e-commerce market grows, so do the demands of modern users. Speed, convenience, attractiveness and functionality all affect not only the user experience, but also a site’s promotion in Google. While many merchants opt for off-the-shelf CMS, large services and ambitious projects are increasingly choosing Laravel.
In this article we will find out the peculiarities of commercial websites on Laravel, compare the framework with popular CMS, share real-life development experiences with examples, and consider cases where Laravel will be a competent investment in online business development.
What is Laravel?
Laravel is a powerful PHP framework for developing complex commercial projects. It is ideal for custom websites, high-load services and online stores that are planning to scale.
Laravel has a reliable and well-structured architecture based on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern. It divides the program into 3 modules, each of which solves a specific task: one block manages the site’s data (Model), the second determines its appearance (View), and the third combines the previous two and processes user requests (Controller).
This approach helps to avoid situations where fixing some bugs leads to the creation of others, as is often the case with off-the-shelf CMS. Complex projects with many connections require reliable technological solutions. For example, a Laravel platform for an outstaffing company, where we structured a huge database with various types of connections between specialists, specializations, technologies, and qualifications. Everything was done so that the site manager could easily manage the data of specialists directly from the admin panel, and potential clients could quickly find the right performer through a convenient search filter.
At first glance, the MVC programming pattern may seem like a technical nuance of interest only to developers, but this is not the case. Optimising the time and effort required to create a quality website not only affects the speed of its launch, but also the effective management of your online business.
Laravel features for business
Full customization
Unlike out-of-the-box CMSs that are limited by system logic and standard functionality, Laravel allows you to fully customise your website to meet your specific business needs. Do you want to be able to add new features, update page design or even completely rebuild your site at any time? Laravel allows you to write such modular websites that can be completely rebuilt without code directly in the admin area, which can also be customised. We implemented such a page builder in the admin panel of an IT company’s website. For the administrator, this means the ability to easily create and change the interface within the corporate identity of the site. Or even go further and completely redesign the site.
Read also:
IT Company Website on LaravelEasy to manage
The Laravel admin panel is simple and easy to use. Even without deep technical knowledge, business owners can manage content, monitor statistics, and process orders on their own. This saves time and money, as there is no need to hire additional specialists.
The Laravel team has created a ready-made Nova admin panel that can be easily installed, configured, and modified using code or additional packages, as we did for the Lviv smart hotel website. Or you can fully customise the admin panel interface to meet the owner’s requirements, just like a SPA hotel website. The panel we have developed allows you to manage many functions, including adding content in three languages, fine-tuning hotel ‘rooms’ and creating new website blocks with any set of fields.
Read also:
SPA Hotel Website with Room BookingUnlimited functionality
Laravel’s high level of customisation extends not only to the flexible design and interface of the admin area, but also to the non-standard functionality of the site. You can create unique options from scratch, add them later, or make adjustments on the fly according to market trends and user behaviour. A personal account with secure authorisation, a bonus loyalty system, personalised offers and recommendations – the framework is able to cover any specific e-commerce need that is not available in an out-of-the-box CMS. For example, we added a feature to an estate agent’s website that allowed them to create a personalised selection of villas in a matter of minutes. Managers can ‘build’ individual web pages for clients in the corporate style of the site directly in the admin area.
A similar product selection function can be implemented in the shopping cart of an online store, such as a clothing brand’s website. This powerful tool can be used by managers when chatting with customers off-site. For example, if a potential customer is interested in several items on Instagram, it is much more convenient to ‘collect’ the orders in one basket, generate a link and send them in one message. This feature is also useful when promoting a brand on social media. For example, an SMM manager can post stylish images or a discounted selection, along with a link to a shopping cart with the relevant products.
This is an example of a multichannel promotion strategy, where active communication with the audience through different channels helps to increase traffic and boost website conversion. However, marketing is not only about advertising, but also about planning. Therefore, when developing an online store, it is important to consider the future strategy in advance and provide functionality that will contribute to effective promotion: advanced search, blocks of related and similar products, etc.
We create online stores ready for active promotion
We install upsell marketing tools, optimise your website for SEO and set up contextual advertising. With the Webnauts team, your online store will not only be loved by visitors, but also by search engines.
Scalability and Reliability
Thanks to the MVC architecture and built-in performance optimisation tools, Laravel websites are easy to scale. The framework provides solutions for caching, database optimisation and efficient deployment, ensuring that websites can respond effectively to growth in data and traffic.
In addition, Laravel can run on multiple servers, making it easy for websites to adapt to new challenges and additional loads on the system. For example, we developed a scalable website architecture for crypto-payment platform CoinPay, which was looking to expand through franchising. This allows the company to easily deploy copies of its website on new servers for CoinPay franchise owners.
Read also:
Website Development of the Crypto BankPerformance and fast loading
The efficiency and speed of e-commerce sites is critical not only for customers, but also for search engines. Users will not wait more than 2-3 seconds for a website to load, and as a result Google will lower your position in search results.
Website performance is affected by large volumes of content, traffic and transactions, so if your business is planning to expand its scope and geography, actively promote itself and run large-scale promotions, Laravel will withstand these loads and ensure high performance. This is made possible by a number of optimisations such as autoloading and caching of configuration, routes, translations and html templates.
Cache management is a key feature of Laravel. Not only does the framework have a well-established cache setup at the file system level, it also allows you to store data in the server’s RAM using cookies, file storage, a database, a temporary PHP array, as well as popular cache servers such as Memcached and Redis. A wide range of data storage technologies gives developers more freedom to optimise caching on any server infrastructure, whether it is regular or shared PVS hosting.
In addition to the caching mechanism, Laravel provides high performance thanks to the process queue mechanism, which reduces the response time to HTTP requests and allows tasks to be performed in the background (asynchronously).
Highly loaded Laravel projects can be further accelerated by the unique Octane package. It uses compiled code in RAM rather than parsing code for each request from the browser. Other PHP frameworks or CMS systems do not have this functionality out of the box.
Website data security
Any website needs to ensure data security, especially if it accepts payments. Laravel is considered one of the most reliable frameworks in the e-commerce industry, thanks to built-in security measures against SQL Injections, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) and other threats. Such a security system guarantees the safety of customer information and increases trust in commercial websites based on Laravel.
In addition, the PHP framework has a built-in authorisation and authentication mechanism that protects access to different functional parts of the site through roles and permissions.
Easy integration with payment and delivery services
Integration of payment services
A simple, instant, and secure payment process makes it easier to make a purchase decision, which in turn helps to increase sales.. A wide range of payment methods will also prevent customers from refusing to pay on a Laravel website, as the framework allows you to connect any payment system using clean APIs. Whether it is credit cards or e-wallets, everything is done for instant purchases and customer convenience. Such popular services as LiqPay, Portmone, PayPal, WebMoney, WayForPay, EasyPay, ApplePay, and Google Pay allow you to attract an additional target audience and increase your customer base.
Crypto payments are becoming increasingly popular in Ukraine. Currently, e-commerce giants such as Foxtrot, Varus, Techno Izhak and Apteka Nyzkykh Tsyn offer cryptocurrency payments. However, it is not only online stores that are adding to this list. For example, the website of the large petrol station chain WOG, developed on Laravel, accepts payments via the crypto payment service Binance Pay.
In the field of crypto payments, we have an interesting case study – a Laravel-based payment service that works on the principle of crypto trading. It allows customers to pay for goods and services in hryvnia, and online store owners to accept payments in cryptocurrency.
Delivery service integration
An extremely convenient feature when placing an order on the website is the choice of delivery method and the calculation of delivery costs. For example, integrating an online store with the Nova Poshta API allows you to retrieve branch addresses from the carrier’s server, calculate delivery times and parcel costs.
Laravel is ideal for online stores that are planning to enter a foreign market and need more delivery options. By integrating the site with popular international services such as FedEx, USPS or DHL, you can calculate the cost of delivery to any corner of the world.
As you can see, Laravel can easily automate the work of online stores with the help of complex system integrations. As a result, the customer not only gets all the necessary information about the order on one page, but also the opportunity to choose a convenient payment and delivery method.
The checkout page on a website can be even more complex. For example, the checkout page of an American online store includes an automatic calculation of sales tax, which is necessary due to the peculiarities of the US tax system. We implemented such a payment page with triple integration for an online art store using Laravel:
Automate accounting and routine tasks
Laravel provides many effective tools for automating your online business. Messaging system, product inventory, reporting – with Laravel, you get not just a technological tool, but also a powerful partner in managing and optimising your business.
Integrating of the site with CRM and ERP systems allows you to automate not only customer service, but also product accounting, order processing, and many other routine tasks. Integrated e-commerce systems speed up order fulfilment for customers and minimise resource consumption for businesses. For example, by synchronising an online store with an accounting programme, goods are automatically uploaded and updated, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual content.
Laravel’s automation capabilities are not limited to simply managing a large number of products. If your business requires truly unique solutions, the framework can easily implement them. Our team had the opportunity to see this while developing an American online store on Laravel. In addition to accounting for the sale of goods, we automated marketing activities such as personalised email newsletters, the generation of discount promo codes and the payment process for advertising integrations with bloggers.
Personal Account
Laravel websites can offer their customers an easy and secure login to their personal account. Easy, because thanks to support for OAuth technology, the framework makes it easy for users to register with a Google or Facebook account. Secure, because Laravel has a built-in authentication system, CSRF protection against unauthorised access, and automatic password hashing.
A personal account gives users full access to the functionality of a commercial website. Depending on the specifics of your business, it may have different functions. The personal account of an online store can contain personal information, order history, a bonus system, a list of favourite products, etc. The personal account of other commercial projects has its own features and functions. For example, a payment system with a conversion function that we developed in Laravel as a P2P platform for cryptocurrency trading has a personal account for merchants and traders. Each is unique in its own way, but both allow you to carry out or control trading operations, manage wallets or cash desks, monitor transaction history and the current exchange rate, receive real-time notifications, and use many other features of the service.
Multiple languages
Laravel’s powerful routing and localisation capabilities allow you to create and maintain multilingual sites with multiple versions.
How does it work? Thanks to its built-in features, Laravel is able to create routes for each language, and when a user wants to change the language on the site, they click on a link that leads to the corresponding ‘language’ route. At the same time, the current language is displayed in the URL of the page, which has a positive effect on the SEO optimisation of the site in different regions of the world.
The open-source Laravel framework has an active community of developers, which means that there are many ready-made Nova Packages extensions. These are tools that simplify development and provide websites with additional features, including multilingualism. Here is an example of implementing multilingualism using Nova Translatable on the City Inn Lviv website. This solution includes the Translatable class, which allows you to save and retrieve translations for a pre-configured website model, as well as apply rules to fields in different languages.
We have implemented a self-written multilingual module without third-party libraries on the CoinPay cryptobank website:
This is what the product page of a multilingual B2B turbocharger spare parts store looks like from the inside:
Multicurrency
Multilingual websites — multicurrency prices! This is our way of saying that multilingualism is not enough for commercial websites that want to sell goods and services abroad. In addition to integrating your website with international payment and postal services, it is important to consider currency conversion. If Laravel can handle a large number of languages and integrations, it will easily cope with multicurrency.
The framework allows you not only to create complex databases, but also to edit and update their structure. In particular, you can create fields to add prices in any currency. In turn, the localisation functionality allows you to display prices in currencies on the interface depending on the user’s language. You can implement multicurrency in Laravel with the help of a package that allows you to instantly convert prices on the website at the current exchange rate.
Laravel tools allow you not only to implement multi-currency, but also to manage it easily from the admin panel. Let’s demonstrate this using a real example of an admin panel developed for the closed online store E&E Turbos, which sells turbocharger spare parts to companies in Ukraine and Poland:
Multi-regionality
Laravel’s localisation tools allow you to create not only a multilingual website with multi-currency pricing, but also a multidomain website with as many domain names as the number of countries it serves. Registering international domains allows Google to track traffic separately for each region, which has a good effect on the local SEO promotion of the site.
Furthermore, with Laravel you can set up multidomain functionality for different cities in the country and even for specific stores. This solution is relevant for chains that develop through the sale of franchises, allowing each franchisee to manage and promote their own store. After all, branches of an online store in different countries and cities may have different products and services, delivery and payment terms, stock levels, prices, promotions and even time. For example, if a manager in Poland takes an order from a customer in the United States, the time it takes to process the order will be different for each of them, e.g. 15:44 and 09:44. This is possible due to the time saving settings and the localisation of the website for different time zones.
As you can see, Laravel has powerful functionality for developing multi-regional websites, adapted not only to specific languages and currencies, but also to other regional peculiarities: time zones, differences in language rules and number formatting, etc. The framework allows you to effectively manage different domains and set up a separate working environment for each of them to meet the needs of your business in general and its divisions in particular.
Laravel’s flexibility opens up many possibilities for implementing complex and large-scale online stores and services. It can be one server part (backend) for two different user interfaces (frontend), for example, for users in Ukraine and Poland. This is the option we offered to Park Plus, the largest online beekeeping store in Ukraine, which is entering the Polish market. The need for this step was dictated not only by the huge number of products, but also by the client’s ambition to reach 10% of the target audience in the global honey market, which is more than 400 thousand beekeepers.
Multi-regionality with two backends and two frontends (the USA and Ukraine) was implemented on the website of Cooper&Hunter, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of climate control equipment. We can say this with certainty because our team worked on the Ukrainian version of the site.
The possibilities of Laravel are limited only by your imagination, your budget and the time you have to realise your plans.
Contact us and we will offer you a Laravel multiregional website development option that will fully meet the needs and specifics of your business.
Advantages and disadvantages of Laravel
The Laravel framework is one of the best solutions for web development. However, like any other technology, it has its pros and cons, which can influence the choice of platform for implementing an online shop.
| Advantages | Built-in security features help prevent common website hacking threats: SQL Injections, CSRF and XSS attacks. | Easy integration with payment, postal, warehouse, accounting and marketing services. | Automation of tax and shipping calculations, report generation, email newsletters, etc. | Unlimited scalability as your data, traffic and sales grow. | Convenient technical support thanks to a standardised code that simplifies the maintenance of the website, even in case of a change of supplier. | Continuous development and updating of the platform thanks to an active community of developers. |
| Disadvantages | The cost of website development is higher than on ready-made CMS. Laravel is suitable for experienced or ambitious entrepreneurs who have a clear strategy for scaling their online business and are ready to budget at least $2,000 for website development. | Developing a website from scratch takes more time than setting up an online store on a CMS. You don't need a big team for this — you can do it with just one Laravel developer. But, again, this affects the timeframe. | For small websites or blogs, Laravel's capabilities may be redundant, and development costs may be unreasonable. There are simpler solutions for them. |
Who is an online store in Laravel suitable for?
For owners of large online stores
Laravel is a great solution for websites with a large number of products and traffic, as well as those online stores that plan to expand their assortment and promote themselves using SEO, contextual advertising, or SMM.
For large e-commerce projects with a range of more than 1,000 items, it is important to automate product and stock management. Laravel easily integrates with warehouse systems, allowing you to automatically update stock levels, monitor out-of-stocks and avoid checkout errors (and customer frustration).
Large online stores often resort to marketing gimmicks to motivate customers to make repeat purchases. With Laravel, you can implement various loyalty programmes: private club subscriptions with exclusive offers, cumulative bonus and discount systems, promotional codes, coupons, certificates and cashback.
For entrepreneurs looking to scale
Laravel is an ideal solution for online stores that have a long-term development perspective and are not afraid of regular updates. The framework effectively copes with business growth: expansion of product range and functionality, high traffic and increasing volume of online transactions.
Thanks to a number of optimisations such as Сomposer autoloading, greedy data loading and caching of configuration, routes and query results, Laravel reduces server load and ensures fast operation of any commercial website. The framework allows administrators to easily manage large amounts of content and customers to quickly find products and successfully place orders, even during peak periods such as sales.
The flexible MVC architecture allows you to adapt to e-commerce trends, make adjustments and implement new features literally on the fly, without the consequences of bugs that CMSs are so prone to. And Laravel’s customisation capabilities give customers a uniquely personalised experience: dynamic search, adaptive content display, a recommendation system – every visitor to an online store gets exactly what they are looking for (and more).
For those focused on business automation
Business owners looking for effective ways to automate everything from marketing campaigns to logistics operations will find a powerful partner in Laravel. The framework provides tools that allow you to automate complex workflows and routine tasks. For example, order processing, stock accounting and even customer interaction based on their behaviour on the website.
Laravel has a flexible architecture that allows you to integrate with various automated systems and tools, be it CRM, ERP or analytics tools. The framework not only provides automation, but also ensures its consistency and synergy with your business processes.
For projects with non-standard requirements
Laravel is perfect for non-standard commercial projects with unique features and functionality. It has ample opportunities to integrate out-of-the-box solutions, allowing your business to grow and adapt without the slightest technical hurdle. If you try to modify off-the-shelf CMSs, you will definitely face severe limitations of the system. Laravel, on the other hand, provides a blank canvas for creating a store that fully meets your business needs. This is not just about the ability to implement unique functionality, but also about modelling business processes, integration scenarios and an engaging customer experience.
Budget for an online store based on Laravel
Developing an online store on Laravel involves certain costs that depend on the amount of work and the qualifications of the development and design team.
The cost of developing an online store with Laravel
If you choose Laravel for your project, you should keep in mind that the startup costs may be higher. Laravel allows you to fully customize and adapt your online store to your needs, but it may take more time and resources. Thanks to Laravel’s flexibility, you will be able to create a unique product that fully meets your business needs and use a number of additional tools and packages created specifically for this framework.
| Laravel online store budget | ||
| from $1,000 — UX/UI design depending on the scope and features of the online store | from $2,000 — layout and programming depending on the depth of customization, interactive and functional features | from $5,000 — the average total cost of developing an online store in Ukraine |
- Design. Unlike off-the-shelf CMSs, Laravel does not provide standard templates. Your online store will be created from scratch, fully customized to your business needs and your brand’s corporate identity.
- Functionality. Laravel is perfect for creating unique functionality. Since it gives you complete freedom in development, you can customize almost every functional block of your online store: change the interface, add system integration, or modify the checkout process.
- The size of the product range. Laravel offers tools for efficient product management of large portals with thousands of products, registered users, and endless transactions. The developer can optimize the process of adding products, create detailed cards with many functions: advanced filter, tags, product comparison, favorite and similar products, video reviews, testimonials, etc.
- Technical support. After launching an online store based on Laravel, it is recommended to get the support of a developer who will monitor the site’s security, update modules, respond promptly to technical problems and make changes in accordance with the urgent needs of the business.
| UX/UI Designer |
| $10-$20 per hour, depending on the designer's skill level and experience |
| Frontend Developer |
| from $20 to $40 per hourdepending on skills and technology stack (Vue.js, React.js) |
| Laravel Developer |
| from $20 to $40 per hour, depending on skill level and stack of additional technologies |
| Project Manager |
| $10-$25 per hour, depending on the manager's qualifications and experience |
The cost of running an online store on Laravel
Domain name
An online store domain can cost from $7 per year (.ukr) and up, depending on its zone and popularity. For example, the most popular domains today are .com ($20), .best ($23), or .travel ($44).
| Domain price | ||
| Ukrainian zone: from $6 per month (.ua, .net.ua, .com.ua) | International zone:from $11 per month (.org, .com, .info) | Theme zone:from $14 per month (.restaurant, .fm) |
Hosting
The price for a website’s space on a server can range from $50 (regular shared hosting) to $145 (VPS hosting, or virtual private server) and higher (exclusive business hosting). For a simple online store with a small assortment, the minimum tariff plan is enough.
| Hosting price | ||
| from $50 / year (regular virtual) | from $145 / year (virtual dedicated server) | from $260 / year (business hosting) |
SSL Certificate
In addition to a domain, hosting providers often offer an SSL certificate as a related service — a document that confirms the rights to a domain, the security of online payments, and the personal data of website users. Prices range from $18 per year and up, depending on how the certificate is verified by the certification authority. Of course, there are free certificates available (e.g., Let’s Encrypt), but the catch is that they offer only one-level domain protection and no financial guarantee in case of a data breach.
Many payment services (e.g. Fondy or LiqPay) meet high security standards and provide responsive payment pages with multi-level payment data protection. In such cases, a regular free certificate may be sufficient. However, popular international systems such as PayPal or Stripe may require an SSL Certificate with a dedicated IP address, unlike Let’s Encrypt, which allows you to install multiple certificates on a single IP address.
| Price for an SSL certificate | ||
| from $18 per year (domain verification) | from $68 per year (organisation verification) | from $173 per year (extended verification) |
Stages of developing an online store in Laravel
- Create a technical task. You need to decide what your goals are for your online store, what features it should have, who your customers are and how you want to attract them. This stage helps to create a vision of the future website and its main features, which will determine its budget.
- Design and development. Once you have a clear plan, you can move on to market analysis and website design. At this stage the designer studies the niche and starts designing the website: forming the structure, thinking through the user scenario on the way to the business goal, creating page layouts, presenting the overall concept and adapting the design for mobile devices.
- User interface development, or website layout. This is the implementation of the design according to the layouts: building the structure with HTML, styling elements with CSS and implementing animations with JavaScript. In most cases, we use modern JavaScript frameworks Vue.js and React.js in conjunction with Laravel, which provide high performance and spectacular results.
- Set up the environment for creating a website. This preparation stage involves installing all the software and tools needed to work on the project. It includes setting up the server, database and other systems.
- Creation of the website functionality. This is the main part of the development, during which all the functions of the site are defined: a catalogue and product filtering, a shopping cart, a personal account, a loyalty system, etc. The shop is integrated with payment services, accounting and stock management systems.
- Testing. Before your website is published, it needs to be tested for errors. The built-in PHPUnit framework ensures the efficiency of testing a Laravel website. Using automated tests, developers can ensure that the store works without errors and is ready to welcome its first customers.
- Launch the website. At this stage, the database is optimised and uploaded to a pre-configured server. This means that the online store becomes available to all internet users.
- Support and updates. Technology, the market and user needs are constantly changing. To keep up with the times and stay competitive, your store needs to be regularly updated, missing features added, and bugs that directly affect sales fixed quickly .
- SEO optimisation. A modern website should not only be attractive to users, but also to search engines, including Google. To ensure that an online store has a good potential to receive targeted traffic from the start, we take into account the speed of work, micro-markup, meta tags, breadcrumbs and other nuances that are important for SEO promotion at the development stage. For a real example of how a freshly baked Laravel website can take off in Google searches, see our case study on SEO promotion of a blogging exchange. By the way, our team is also responsible for developing the service.
Laravel in comparison with CMS Conclusions
The key difference between almost any framework and a CMS lies in the foundation: a framework is built on a programming language — in Laravel’s case, PHP. As you’ve seen, a framework gives developers maximum flexibility in building complex websites, including fully customized admin interfaces.
Every CMS, in turn, is built on some kind of framework. A CMS prioritizes convenience for administrators but offers minimal freedom for developers. For basic e-commerce needs, a CMS is often sufficient for entrepreneurs with standard requirements. However, when built-in features don’t align with business processes — or when custom solutions are needed as the website scales — modifying the standard logic of a CMS can be difficult.
That’s where the Laravel framework steps in. It’s designed to build commercial projects from scratch and continuously improve them with ease — whether it’s booking systems, payment services, online stores, or large-scale marketplaces. Laravel represents a whole new level of web development. And while it’s not entirely fair to compare it directly to a CMS, we’ll do it anyway.
Laravel:
- Development flexibility. Customisation options are unlimited due to the flexible MVC architecture. It’s easy to implement or change the features you need at any time.
- Ready-made templates. There are not many of these, but Composer packages are available for developers to create their own templates.
- System Integrations. Laravel provides clean code for integrating external APIs based on its own libraries, as well as connecting to popular e-commerce tools for accepting online payments, goods accounting, calculating shipping and taxes, and automating other routine tasks.
- Admin Panel. There is an out-of-the-box Laravel Nova admin panel and the ability to write an interface for the unique needs of your business.
- Security. High, due to the built-in authentication mechanism and protection against web attacks.
- Website performance. High, due to clean code and built-in optimisation tools: caching, autoloading, and routing.
- Scalability. High, due to flexible architecture and custom development. Your business processes are fully aligned with the platform’s capabilities.
- SEO opportunities. High. The clean code contributes to the high speed of the site, and convenient routing helps to create SEO-friendly URLs.
- Hosting requirements. Low. It is much cheaper to maintain servers because the code on the site is not overloaded and is dedicated to specific business tasks.
- Speed of implementation. From one month, as it involves developing a project from scratch. It all depends on the functionality required and the skills of the programmer.
- The cost of developer services. From $30/hour.
CMS:
- Flexibility of development. Customisation is limited by the CMS logic and standard out-of-the-box functionality: ready-made components are tightly linked, and any interference can lead to errors.
- Ready-made templates. There are both paid and free versions. They are available for download and installation in official repositories.
- System integrations. A lot of integrations out of the box. When choosing a platform and theme, it is important to consider its functionality to avoid overpaying for unnecessary extensions that consume website resources. Complete removal of unused modules requires intervention at the file system or database level.
- Admin panel. Ready out of the box. It is intuitive and easy to manage content. Usually does not require technical skills and a lot of time to master.
- Security. Average, due to the vulnerability of third-party extensions.
- Website performance. Low, due to sub-optimal database architecture and out-of-the-box redundant functionality that puts pressure on the server.
- The prospect of scaling. Medium. CMSs like Magento and Shopify can scale with your business, but you will have to pay more for the monthly plan.
- SEO features. Basic (setting up titles, meta tags, and URLs). Additional extensions may be required for advanced optimisation.
- Hosting requirements. High, due to large amounts of data and additional security measures. A virtual server for 1,000 products can take up 10-15 GB of space.
- Speed of implementation. High, due to ready-made modules and extensions. Setting up an online store on the CMS takes days, depending on the functionality.
- The cost of developer services. From $20/hour.
Despite the wide range of technical possibilities offered by frameworks, many online shop owners remain loyal to standard out-of-the-box CMS. Let’s find out why and look at the features of popular content management systems.
Overview of popular CMS for online stores
We have analysed the major e-commerce platforms and found out which are best suited for startups with a limited budget and which are best suited for large online stores with hundreds of products and projects that require unique custom solutions. Our review will help you understand the benefits of each system and choose the best solution for your business.
A CMS is a content management system. It is used to create, add and edit materials on a website: from text articles to new blocks of content on the site. The simplest way to think of it is as an interactive tool that allows you to quickly update information, change the structure of your website or modify its design without any programming experience.
WooCommerce based on WordPress
WordPress is the most popular platform for creating websites and managing content. Originally developed for blogs, it has evolved into a full-fledged CMS with a wide range of features and functions. The platform’s main advantages are support for 57 languages and quick integration with other services. You can connect Mailchimp for email marketing, Yoast SEO for search engine optimization and WooCommerce to create a full online store.
What makes the platform the most popular on the market? For shop owners it is autonomy. There is no need to wait for the developer to change the terms of the promotion on the main page or to correct the prices of the goods. You or your manager can do it easily using the intuitive WordPress admin panel. Let’s say you own a hotel chain and your main booking platform is a WordPress website. Using the platform, you can instantly add new offers or promotions, embed a booking system or create a personal account for regular customers.
WordPress is not just about simplicity and style, it is also about security. Imagine you run a real estate agency. Every day, hundreds of customers share their confidential information on your website. Your job is to protect that data from being leaked and to preserve the company’s reputation. There are many potential threats: for example, SQL injections, where malicious code is injected through contact forms on the website to gain access to the database. Another popular way to hack a website is through cross-site scripting. This is a type of platform attack in which an attacker inserts special code into pages, resulting in the theft of your users’ data or account hacking.
WordPress helps to prevent such hacks and offers dozens of security plugins:
- Wordfence Security, which scans the website for malicious code in real time and records suspicious user activity;
- Sucuri Security — scans the website for threats and provides monitoring with instant notification of any intrusion attempts;
- iThemes Security, which helps protect against intruders and helps keep data secure.
But for all its benefits, WordPress is not a universal solution for businesses. Shops with tens of thousands of products or services with specific functionality will require more complex development solutions. But for small and medium-sized businesses, WordPress is a good choice, combining simplicity, efficiency and reliability. Learn more about developing an online store on WordPress in this article.
WordPress is suitable for:
- Websites with a blog about products or services. For example, an online clothing store can blog about the latest trends and give style tips. WordPress is a good choice for this and offers a simple editor for publishing articles.
- Landing pages. If you have several key products or services and need a showcase website to demonstrate them. There’s no need to spend money on expensive solutions — WordPress is a great choice because of its flexibility.
- Online catalogues with limited functionality. When your aim is to display the range without the ability to order online, for example in catalogues for wholesale customers.
- Affiliate websites. These are websites that earn money from affiliate programmes by recommending products and services. The ease of setting up WordPress allows you to quickly launch such a project without major investments.
WordPress is not suitable for:
- Large projects with thousands of products. As the number of products increases, the speed of a WordPress site decreases. For example, if you have an online store with 50,000+ products, search, filtering, and loading will slow down significantly.
- Complex transaction systems. If your online store offers complex transaction scenarios, such as different delivery options for different regions, automatic currency conversion or integration with multiple payment systems.
- Websites with auctions or product exchanges. When building platforms like eBay or Alibaba, which have a complex system of bids, notifications and user roles, WordPress is not the best solution due to architectural limitations.
- Subscription services. If your project involves regular subscriptions or membership levels with different privileges, such as access to exclusive content or discounts, you’ll need a platform that supports such features.
| Budget for an online store on WordPress | ||
| from $1,000 (basic functionality + template design) | from $2,500 (+ additional modules, widgets, service integrations) | from $4,500 (+ unique responsive design) |
OpenCart
OpenCart is a popular platform that is best suited for creating small projects in various e-commerce niches: from clothing boutiques to online bookstores. The platform supports a large catalogue of extensions and modules to improve the website’s performance.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of OpenCart using a real-life example: Imagine you have a business selling handmade gifts. Over time, it has stopped growing and you, as an entrepreneur, have decided to move your business online. But you need more than just a website, you need a tool to manage hundreds of products, promotions, discounts and customer reviews. This is exactly what OpenCart is for. The platform’s modular architecture allows you to tailor your store to your specific needs without cluttering the interface with unnecessary features.
OpenCart is a very specialised platform. While other CMSs try to cover as many business needs as possible, OpenCart is focused on e-commerce. This means that all the tools are designed for selling. For example, for an online electronics store where each product has a long description, specifications and reviews, OpenCart provides a convenient tool for categorising and filtering without the need for a developer.
Like any highly specialised tool, OpenCart is not for everyone. Large retailers who require complex integrations with ERP systems or custom order processing solutions may want to consider other platforms. But for small or large online stores, OpenCart is the best choice, combining ease of management with powerful sales tools.
OpenCart is suitable for:
- Small and medium-sized online stores. The CMS saves your budget from the start, with an intuitive interface and low hosting requirements. For example, it is easy to launch a store with 500-1000 product items on the platform and manage them independently.
- Stores with many product categories. A clear structure makes it easier for customers to find what they want, which increases conversion and loyalty. This leads to increased sales, especially in sites with a wide range of products, such as building materials or car parts stores.
- International ecommerce projects. OpenCart has built-in multilingual and multi-currency tools. This means you can translate your site into the languages you need and add new currencies such as euros and dollars.
OpenCart is not suitable for:
- Large online stores. For a website to withstand high loads, it needs to be modified and optimised. This involves additional costs for programmer work and the purchase of additional modules.
- Projects with complex integrations. If your online store depends on deep integration with external systems, such as ERP or CRM. Such integrations are often used by large retailers or B2B companies that want to automate ordering processes, customer accounting, or real-time synchronisation of goods between the online store and warehouses.
- Stores with advanced user interaction logic. Implementing complex features such as product configuration can require significant changes, increasing development costs and launch time.
- For websites with a custom design. OpenCart has a lot of ready-made and free themes, but if you want a store with a unique design, you will need to contact designers and programmers.
| Budget for an online store on OpenCart | ||
| from $1,000 (basic functionality + template design) | from $2 500 (+ additional modules, widgets, service integrations) | from $4,500 (+ unique responsive design) |
Horoshop
Horoshop is a Ukrainian cloud platform for creating e-commerce projects. It offers comprehensive solutions for launching and managing an online store. If you want to grow your business in the Ukrainian market without diving deep into technical aspects, Horoshop is a great choice.
The main advantage of Horoshop is its built-in integrations with popular services. It is easy to connect the platform to a major marketplace, implement payment systems on the website and keep records of customers and sales.
Let’s say you have a store that specialises in selling exclusive designer clothes. At the same time, the goods are sold only in local stores and are not represented online. You decide to launch an online store to expand your audience and increase sales. The main problem in this case is that you have many active partners: suppliers, online trading platforms, and payment systems. To connect them to your online business, you need to synchronise your offline store’s customer database with the new online store, taking into account previous purchases and offering individual discounts or offers.
This is exactly the kind of situation for which Horoshop is perfect. Thanks to built-in integrations with popular services, you can easily connect to Rozetka or Prom.ua marketplaces. The situation is similar with Portmone or LiqPay payment systems – the CMS provides convenient tools for their implementation on the website. Automated customer and sales accounting will allow you to monitor the status of stock, sales and customer feedback in real time. This will increase business efficiency and satisfy customer needs.
Horoshop is good for:
- Businesses focused on the Ukrainian market. Horoshop integrates perfectly with local payment systems, delivery services and other services, ensuring effective interaction with Ukrainian customers.
- Seasonal stores, such as summer or winter clothing. Horoshop allows you to quickly launch promotions, update catalogues, and adapt to customer needs depending on the season.
- Niche online stores, for example, selling original toys or exclusive accessories. Horoshop provides ready-made themes to choose from, allows you to optimise your pages for search engines and automatically share new products on social media
Horoshop is not suitable for:
- International trade. Horoshop is focused on the Ukrainian market, so transferring your business to the international level may cause difficulties. The CMS is not designed to integrate with foreign payment and logistics systems. This can lead to errors and malfunctions.
- Websites with complex integrations. Horoshop is a great choice for a quick start, but its architecture is not suitable for complex projects. For example, if your business grows and you want to integrate an automatic warehouse inventory system or implement a comprehensive loyalty system, you will have to hire programmers.
- Large e-commerce projects. Horoshop is not suitable for projects with thousands of products and many transactions per day — the site simply cannot cope with the load. This is because the basic architecture of the CMS is not focused on processing large amounts of data in real time.
| The budget of an online store on Horoshop | ||||
| 5 000 UAH — start-up payment (launch + design + import of goods) | 160 UAH / month — subscription fee for the Basic tariff (1,000 products) | 520 UAH / month — subscription fee for the Standard tariff (20,000 products) | 1 200 UAH / month — subscription fee for the Pro tariff (50 000 products) | 2 400 UAH / month — subscription fee for B2B tariff (50 thousand products + additional functions for dealers) |
Shopify
Shopify is an easy-to-launch and manage platform for e-commerce projects. The platform offers intuitive tools for design, inventory and payment processing. It can be compared to WordPress in terms of convenience and functionality, but only for e-commerce projects.
Key benefits of Shopify:
- Integration with other platforms and applications. Want to extend the functionality of your shop or integrate with a CRM system? No problem. Offer a product through a subscription system? No problem either. The platform provides convenient tools for working with e-commerce without the need to install additional modules.
- Shopify is one of the most secure CMSs available. The platform provides SSL certificates for all stores and monitors compliance with PCI standards, ensuring the safety of your customers’ information: personal details, door-to-door delivery addresses and payment card details.
However, the service has one feature that may put business owners off. It works on the PaaS principle and provides its platform as a service: you rent a ready-made space for your store in the Shopify ‘mall’. While this approach simplifies the work in many ways and removes the worries about hosting, security, and updates, you can’t rebuild the building or change its foundation. For a business, this means that moving beyond a leased Shopify space will be difficult or expensive
Shopify is suitable for:
- Beginning entrepreneurs. It’s easy to launch a store on the Shopify platform without any special knowledge of coding or design: just choose a suitable theme, upload products and customise the content to suit your needs.
- Dropshipping businesses. Shopify has excellent compatibility with platforms that specialise in dropshipping. This is a type of online commerce where the seller does not buy, store or ship goods, but instead finds customers and sells directly from the supplier’s warehouse. Shopify’s functionality allows you to quickly add products from suppliers and keep track of orders.
- Stores with physical locations. If your business has retail stores, Shopify makes it easy to synchronise inventory between online and offline sales. This feature allows customers to check the availability of a product in a retail store, for example, to try on clothes.
Shopify is not suitable for:
- Large online stores. If your business has a large number of product items and receives hundreds or even thousands of orders, Shopify may not be able to handle the load. For such projects, you should look for more powerful and flexible platforms such as Laravel.
- Stores with unique functional requirements. Like any CMS, Shopify is limited to certain frameworks. For example, if you want to launch an online auction or integrate a website with a special delivery service that is not available in the standard Shopify settings, you will need to look for a more flexible platform.
- Businesses with limited operating budgets. Despite the convenience of the platform, it charges high transaction fees, which is a major concern for low-margin businesses.
| Budget for an online store on Shopify | ||
| $32 / month — Basic plan for individual merchants | $92 / month — Shopify plan for a team of 5 people | $399 / month — Advanced plan for a team of 15 people |
Magento
Magento is a platform for creating virtual trading platforms. It is appreciated for its adaptability, expandability, and a wide range of tools to increase sales. The platform is used by online stores in almost all areas of e-commerce: from exclusive boutiques to multi-brand portals.
The main advantages of Magento are:
- Flexibility — allows you to improve your shopping experience with a variety of features: advanced search, stock availability guarantee, personalised recommendations, etc.
- Scalability — Magento can handle the load no matter how fast your business grows. The online store will work quickly and stably even during sales.
- Compatibility with external services and applications — a Magento online store can be integrated with almost 300 systems, including CRM, ERP, and CMS.
But you should also keep in mind the specifics of Magento — working with the platform requires certain knowledge and skills. If you’ve recently started a business and don’t have an experienced team, it may take some time to master Magento. But if you’re looking for a CMS that matches your ambitions, it’s a great solution for your website.
Magento is suitable for:
- Businesses with a wide range of products. Magento is optimised for large catalogues and works fast even with tens of thousands of products. But it comes at the cost of expensive hosting that can handle such loads.
- International sales. As your business grows and expands beyond the borders of your country, Magento gives your site multi-language and multi-currency capabilities, and with a small upgrade, even automatic tax calculation.
- Websites with complex marketing campaigns. The platform offers features for setting up SEO, creating multi-level promotions, and tools for segmenting and personalising content for different groups of customers.
Magento is not suitable for:
- For those new to e-commerce. Getting started with Magento can be a challenge. Budding entrepreneurs just starting out in online commerce should consider simpler platforms.
- Simple and fast solutions. Magento requires attention and time to set up. For those who want to get their shop up and running quickly without the hassle, there are simpler platforms.
- Budget projects. Despite the free version of Magento, the additional costs of hosting, extensions and maintenance can be significant for a business just getting on its feet.
| Budget for an online store on Magento | ||
| free version of Magento Community Edition | from $1,988/month — paid version of Magento Commerce depending on the scale and needs of the business | from $2 688 / month — premium version of Magento Commerce Cloud for large corporations |
Drupal
Drupal is a flexible, modular content management platform. Similar to WordPress, it can change its appearance and expand functionality with additional themes and modules. However, unlike WordPress, Drupal easily handles scaling and grows together with your business. This is because, instead of a complex hook system, it relies on standard development practices — components of the PHP framework Symfony. Thanks to regular Symfony updates, this approach eliminates module compatibility conflicts and ensures high reliability and performance for complex projects.
Another key advantage of Drupal in eCommerce is its versatility. It’s suitable both for creating traditional online stores with the Drupal Commerce distribution and for building complex commercial solutions — from B2B portals to high-volume marketplaces.
However, it’s worth noting that despite all its strengths, the platform requires time to master, especially for those new to eCommerce. With the right approach, though, your business can unlock the full potential of what Drupal has to offer.
Drupal is ideal for:
- Complex online stores with custom functionality. Drupal offers unlimited possibilities for developing an eCommerce website tailored to your business needs. It easily handles advanced product options, unique bonus systems, and complex search functionality — even for websites with a vast product catalog.
- Large eCommerce platforms. Drupal is optimized to handle vast amounts of data, ensuring fast access to products and orders even under heavy load. From a business perspective, this means maintaining and increasing conversions — since slow websites drive users away and can result in lost sales. Therefore, the high performance of a Drupal-based website can become a key competitive advantage for large online stores.
- Multimedia platforms.
With Drupal, it’s easy to integrate sales with videos, blogs, or interactive elements to enhance marketing impact and engage customers more effectively. - Integration with external systems. Built on the API-first principle, Drupal offers flexible integration with CRM platforms, accounting software, warehouse management systems, and more.
Drupal is not suitable for:
- A quick launch with minimal investment. Setting up Drupal takes time and technical expertise. For businesses seeking a fast and budget-friendly solution, simpler tools might be a better choice.
- Technical independence. To maintain security and stability, Drupal requires ongoing technical support — including regular updates, module compatibility checks, and occasional code adjustments.
- Small-scale projects. Drupal is a powerful tool, and for stores with a limited product range that don’t plan to scale, its capabilities may be excessive and unjustified.
- Ease and intuitiveness. If you’re looking for a platform that’s easy to master without technical skills, Drupal might not be the best fit — its editor can seem complex at first.
| Budget for an online store on Drupal | ||
| ± $1,000 (basic functionality + template design) | ± $2,500 (unique design + custom functionality) | ± $4,500 (+ unique development of non-standard solutions) |
Summary
The choice between the Laravel framework and a standard CMS depends on priorities, specifics and business development strategy. If you need a standard website for a small or medium sized online store with a limited budget and time for development, a CMS is a good option. As long as it fits the size and needs of the business. Of course, with advanced paid plans and premium extensions you can achieve greater flexibility, but the budget for creating an online store will increase and the speed of its operation will decrease.
Laravel will be an effective solution for growing projects and non-standard commercial projects that require uniqueness, high performance and systematic functionality updates.
Interested in an online shop on Laravel or CMS?
Contact us for professional advice, a quote or to discuss online shop development. We work with both advanced frameworks and popular CMS. We create unique designs, fill them with content and promote them in search engines and social networks.