Magento 2 Cart and Checkout Process

🛒 Magento 2 Cart & Checkout Process – Seamless Shopping Flow

The cart and checkout process in Magento 2 is designed to give customers a seamless shopping experience. From adding products to the cart, reviewing the order, applying discounts, to finalizing the purchase—each step is highly customizable. Let’s walk through it!

🧺 Step 1: Shopping Cart Functionality

When a customer adds products to the cart, Magento creates a quote that holds product information, prices, and customer session data.

  • Quote stored in: quote table
  • Linked with session or customer ID
  • Includes products, shipping, billing, and totals

🔧 Example: Get Current Cart Items

$objectManager = \Magento\Framework\App\ObjectManager::getInstance();
$cart = $objectManager->get('\Magento\Checkout\Model\Cart');
$items = $cart->getQuote()->getAllItems();

foreach ($items as $item) {
    echo $item->getName() . ' - ' . $item->getQty() . '<br>';
}

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📦 Step 2: Checkout Process

The Magento 2 checkout is a two-step process by default:

  1. Shipping Address & Method: Customer enters their shipping details and chooses a shipping method.
  2. Payment Method: Customer selects a payment option and places the order.

🔧 Example: Place Order Programmatically

$objectManager = \Magento\Framework\App\ObjectManager::getInstance();
$cartManagement = $objectManager->get('\Magento\Quote\Api\CartManagementInterface');
$cartId = 1; // Quote ID
$orderId = $cartManagement->placeOrder($cartId);

echo "Order ID: " . $orderId;

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🎯 Customizing Checkout

You can customize checkout fields, validation, or add steps using:

  • JavaScript/Knockout.js for UI changes
  • Layout XML for structural changes
  • Plugins/Observers for backend logic

🔧 Example: Add Custom Field to Shipping Address

Use checkout_index_index.xml and Knockout.js to add fields in UI components like:

<item name="custom_field" xsi:type="array">
    <item name="component" xsi:type="string">Magento_Ui/js/form/element/abstract</item>
    <item name="dataScope" xsi:type="string">shippingAddress.custom_field</item>
</item>

✅ Summary

  • Magento 2 uses the quote system to manage cart data
  • Checkout is a two-step process but highly extendable
  • Programmatic access lets you control and automate the cart and checkout logic

Mastering the cart and checkout flow means delivering smooth, high-conversion user experiences—making both you and your customers happy! 🛍️