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Shopify Store Integration in the Reactjs/Nextjs


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mukul Rana

You wanna use e-commerce features in your application and don’t wanna write the backend logic from scratch? Shopify’s got your back.

With Shopify, you can integrate full-fledged e-commerce functionality into your React or Next.js app without reinventing the wheel.

It simplifies the way you manage products, carts, checkouts, and orders — just like the big players: Amazon, Flipkart, and more. Shopify gives you control over both the frontend and backend (via APIs), so you can build a customized shopping experience the way you want.

🛒 Why Use Shopify in Your Web App?

  • No need to build your own e-commerce backend from scratch
  • Secure & scalable infrastructure
  • Fast to set up and test (even with a development store)
  • Custom UI possible with React/Next.js
  • Smooth checkout with Shopify-hosted payment gateway

🔄 Different Use Cases for Using Shopify

1. Storefront API

Use this when you’re building a custom frontend (React/Next.js) and want full control over what the users see and interact with.

With Storefront API, you can:

  • Fetch products and collections
  • Create carts and manage checkout
  • Handle customer authentication and order history (with some setup)

2. Admin API

This is for backend admin-level access like:

  • Managing products, inventory, or orders
  • Creating discount codes or webhooks
  • Performing store-level operations

🚀 How to Start — Step-by-Step

1. Create a Shopify Development Store

  • Go to Shopify Admin Dashboard and create the account.
  • Create a dev store (no billing)
  • This store will be your testing ground

Shopify Store Dashboard

2. Create a Custom App in Shopify Admin

  • Inside your store, go to Apps and Sales Channel → Develop App → Create App

Create App Screen

  • Fill the basic fields (name, email), then go to the Configuration tab
  • Enable Storefront API access

  • Add necessary scopes like:

    • unauthenticated_read_product_listings
    • unauthenticated_write_checkouts
    • unauthenticated_read_customers, etc.

  • Go to the API credentials tab → copy tokens and save them to your .env file

  • Install the app to the store (don’t skip this!)

Show the tabs on the APP screen

Scopes of the StoreFront API

🛍 What About Cart, Checkout & Payment?

Here’s the flow:

  1. User clicks Buy Now
  2. You create a checkout via API
  3. Add selected product(s) to the checkout
  4. Redirect the user to checkout.webUrl (Shopify-hosted payment page)

Super smooth!

🔗 Helpful Links

✅ Conclusion

If you’re building an e-commerce web app and don’t wanna spend time on backend logic or payment systems — Shopify Storefront API is 💯.

It gives you flexibility, security, and scalability without sacrificing customization.

You get the best of both worlds: custom frontend + ready-made e-commerce backend.

Happy Coding! 🚀 Feel free to connect or drop questions in the comments.


This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mukul Rana