How to Use Flutter to Build a Laravel eCommerce Mobile App?

Since we are in a digital age, and mobile applications are an important part of e-commerce. Consumers wish to purchase goods easily and quickly from their mobile phones. Hence, if you have already created an e-commerce site using Laravel, it is a good idea to also have a mobile application for your business. Flutter is a great platform to develop mobile applications for Android as well as iOS using the same code base.

In this blog, we're going to guide you through creating a mobile app with Flutter for your Laravel e-commerce website.

Why Laravel and Flutter?

Let us explain why Laravel and Flutter make the best combination before we start.

1. Flutter: Flutter is Google's mobile app platform. With Flutter, you can create gorgeous-looking and high-performance mobile apps from a single codebase that targets iOS and Android.
2. Laravel: Laravel is among the most popular PHP frameworks for secure and scalable backend development, especially for online shopping websites.

With Flutter, along with Laravel, you can develop secure mobile applications that can seamlessly integrate with your e-commerce backend.

Steps to Use Flutter to Develop a Laravel e-commerce Mobile App

Step 1: Install Laravel e-commerce Backend

If you already have a Laravel e-commerce website, make sure it is properly organized. Otherwise, begin by initializing a Laravel backend with:

• Laravel 10 or the most current version.
• MySQL database.
• Authentication system (such as Laravel Breeze, Jetstream, or Sanctum).
• RESTful APIs for communication with the mobile app.
• Basic e-commerce functionality such as product catalog, cart, orders, and user management.

You can also speed up the process using packages like Bagisto (an eCommerce package built on Laravel).

Step 2: Apply APIs in Laravel

APIs or Application Programming Interfaces are what you would need to utilize in order to implement your mobile app with the Laravel backend. They are somewhat like bridges connecting the front end and the back end.

Some of the APIs that you will at least require are as follows:

• User Registration and Login.
• Product List and Product Details.
• Add to Cart and View Cart.
• Place Orders.
• Payment Integration.
• Order History.

You may safely use Laravel Sanctum for API authentication and output in JSON, which is simple to process using the Flutter application.

Step 3: Setup Flutter Project

We now shift to the mobile side.

• You can download the Flutter SDK on your computer.
• Create a new Flutter project by running this command:
• Flutter create my _ecommerce_app
• Open the project in an IDE such as Visual Studio Code or Android Studio.

You are now ready to develop a mobile application that will retrieve data from your Laravel backend.

Step 4: Integrate Flutter App with Laravel APIs

Flutter will have to make HTTP requests to retrieve data from Laravel. You can use http package to retrieve data.

• Make functions to invoke your Laravel APIs.

Step 5: Design UI Screens in Flutter

Make good-looking screens in Flutter to present Laravel data.

Rapidly developed screens are:

1. Home Screen – Show list of products.
2. Product Details Screen – Show product image, price, and description.
3. Cart Screen – Show added products.
4. Login/Register Screen – Enable registration or login for users.
5. Order Screen – Enter and show orders.

Step 6: Implementation of State Management

State management is needed while developing an e-commerce app. If someone adds a product to cart, it should be shown everywhere.

You can use state management libraries like:

1. Provider – It is simple and easy to use for small-medium apps.
2. Riverpod – It is new and flexible.
3. GetX – It is light and easy to consume.

You can use one of them to store—cart, user logged-in status, etc.

Step 7: Process Authentication

You can make use of process authentication using Laravel Sanctum. Store the user token in local storage on Flutter using the shared_preferences package.

Step-by-step procedure to process login:

1. User logs in with email and password.
2. Flutter calls an API to the Laravel login API.
3. Laravel sends back a token.
4. Flutter stores and uses the token for subsequent API calls.

This process informs the application whether the user is logged in or not.

Step 8: Add Cart and Checkout Capability

Your app should have the following functionality for users:

• Add to cart
• Update quantity
• Remove
• Checkout

You can send cart information to Laravel via POST requests. Laravel would then store the order in the database.

For payments, add well-known gateways such as Stripe, Razorpay, or PayPal in the backend and use respective SDKs in Flutter.

Step 9: Test Your App

You can test the app extensively prior to launch.

• Test all API connections.
• Test login, listing of products, cart, and checkout.
• Catch every error (e.g., no internet, data lacking, etc.).
• Run Android and iOS devices.

Flutter runs, and Android/iOS simulators in Flutter make testing a breeze.

Step 10: Publish the App

When all things are running beautifully, you can publish the app:

• Get APK or iOS app compiled.
• Publishing to Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
• Hosting your Laravel backend on a secure server.

You can continue to update your app depending on user response and levels of performance.

Conclusion

Developing a mobile application for your Laravel e-commerce website using Flutter is a smart decision in the current corporate world. Having a good Laravel backend and interactive Flutter front end, you can offer your customers excellent shopping experience on the mobile platform. Starting from API development in Laravel to designing pretty interfaces in Flutter, every step counts. You can make your app secure, fast, and simple.

WebbyTroops Technologies is more than capable of doing so. With unmatched experience in Laravel and Flutter, WebbyTroops Technologies has transformed numerous companies' e-commerce websites into thriving mobile apps.

Our experts are backend and frontend experts and provide streamlined, optimized e-commerce solutions for contemporary needs. From scratch or reimplementing an existing setup, WebbyTroops Technologies is the reliable companion to turn your mobile dream into a reality.

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