When we built Aero we wanted to make an ecommerce platform that was lean, lightning fast, and delivered the performance that today’s retailers look for. The framework that Aero is built on — Laravel — was central to making that dream a reality.
Laravel is a PHP framework and it provides the Aero ecommerce platform with its inbuilt dynamism, scalability and independent adaptability.
But why did we choose Laravel, and how does it help agencies build the online stores that retailers want and need?
The case for Laravel in ecommerce
There are several reasons why we chose to build Aero on Laravel, and why we believe it provides the ideal foundation for an ecommerce platform.
When it came to building Aero, we knew Laravel already had a community that was fully behind it, who were eager to spread the word about it. There’s a real buzz around this framework. Developers love it.
But we don’t want you to think this popularity is the only factor driving our decision. The buzz exists for a reason: Laravel is simply too good to ignore.
Why use a PHP platform?
Nearly 80% of websites use PHP. Essentially, it's the common language of web development. It's a general-purpose programming language, and when developing a platform where users need the freedom to adapt it for their own uses, having a common language is hugely valuable. For developers, it’s a commonsense choice with an easy to engage with and flexible syntax.
Overall, it’s a fast framework that makes web application development easier. Because it’s well-established, PHP is stable and reliable, as well as adaptable.
Running a website written in PHP is a bit like driving a car that runs on petrol. It’s widely supported, and there are many people who know how it works.
As a PHP framework, Laravel is progressive without being over-complicated. It offers a fluid and intuitive developer experience, and its model-view-controller (MVC) software design pattern tightly separates its business logic from its presentation layers.
What are Laravel’s specific benefits for ecommerce?
With its considerable community support and built-in libraries, Laravel is the perfect fit for ecommerce:
It offers freedom to developers, without compromising on security (see below) or performance
It provides easy third-party integration for apps
Laravel enables a faster time to market, with rapid debugging and testing, along with easy website maintenance
Laravel uses a tool that runs applications and services in small, lightweight service containers, which won’t interfere with already installed software or computer configurations
These service containers load products into platform memory, making the platform highly extendable, both in terms of code and plugins
Laravel provides plenty of package options, whether you use Laravel plugins or build your own modules
It has a very effective, asynchronous scheduling and queuing system, which means that customers aren’t waiting for processes to happen because the system carefully controls timings.
How secure is Laravel?
Obviously, security is a prime concern for ecommerce websites, and Laravel puts this at the very heart of its framework.
Laravel achieves a balance between risks, controls and usability, inserting guards that authenticate individual requests. Its inbuilt system processes requests, comparing each one with information it’s saved in the user’s session. In order to proceed, the request has to match.
The platform also includes native protection against cross-site scripting, cross-site request forgery and SQL injection.
Aero and Laravel
Using Laravel feels like the right match for us and supports our whole approach to providing a lean, dynamic and independent ecommerce platform. It also gives agencies and developers the freedom they need to build online stores that retailers dream of.
For more insights and useful information about ecommerce platforms, please follow Aero on LinkedIn.
