If you want to open an online store and you're wondering about the right software, you certainly don't have an easy decision.
Hardly anyone doubts that the internet has enormous reach among the media. That is why more and more companies appreciate the chance to reach customers in this very way, and they often choose online sales as the only form of running a business. The reason is simple – the internet means practically unlimited possibilities; customers from Poland and from around the world have round-the-clock access to your products, and you don't bear the huge running costs that come with brick-and-mortar shops. Add to that the convenience, the ease of controlling the business from any place and device, and many other aspects. In this situation, a PrestaShop store sounds great!
In short
PrestaShop is a free, dedicated open-source e-commerce engine — a good choice for typical store businesses with a large catalogue, variants and multilingual support. However, it has a higher technical entry barrier than WooCommerce, weaker integration with content and a blog, and can be demanding to maintain. Whether it's good depends on the project: for a clean, extensive store — yes; when simplicity, content SEO and connecting the store with the website matter, WooCommerce is more often the better choice.
Take into account:
First of all, you need to consider what kind of store you need, how large the product range and traffic will be, what amount you are able to invest, what features will be needed and what, generally speaking, you expect from the store. Various e-commerce platforms are available on the market, both free and paid, which have their pros and cons, and every piece of software is different. Our article presents important issues related to PrestaShop. What is worth knowing about it?
PrestaShop is the most popular online store software and, very importantly, it is free thanks to its Open Source licence. The steady and rapid development of PrestaShop has meant that, as far as our country is concerned, as many as 40% of users rely on this solution!
Did you know that…
The PrestaShop platform was devised by French students
at The Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation
(fr: École pour l’informatique et les nouvelles technologies), in short EPITECH,
in Paris, in 2005, and was originally named „phpOpenStore”.The company itself – PrestaShop SA – was created in 2007 by two internet enthusiasts, Igor Schlumberger and Bruno Lévêque. Their main goal was to make e-commerce software more accessible. Initially, the script was supported in two languages: French and English. Three months after the product's market launch, the project had been translated into 13 languages.
Let's take a closer look at the pros and cons of this software.
What advantages does a PrestaShop store have?
Versatility
Compared with other available e-commerce platforms, it is worth emphasising that PrestaShop is fairly well balanced. Thanks to this, it can fairly be called the most versatile script. Its huge advantage is that it is free, while at the same time its quality and functionality are at a very good level. Such software will work brilliantly when you are building your first PrestaShop store, because it may turn out to be perfect for your company, and thanks to this you won't have to invest huge sums in paid scripts.
Simple installation
To install PrestaShop, all you need to do is go to the script's official site www.prestashop.com and then download, unpack and upload its latest version. The installation runs smoothly and the process itself is not complicated. Every step is described so that even a beginner user can manage on their own, despite a lack of coding or programming knowledge.
Useful functionalities
The software is appreciated for its built-in functionalities, which turn out to be very useful, even for people who know little about the e-commerce industry. Of course, there are many, many more of these functionalities, but we will list the key ones worth paying attention to:
– barcode support,
– RSS feed support,
– newsletter,
– the ability to import data from stores based on osCommerce,
– SMS notifications,
– multilingual support and handling of multiple currencies,
– various payment systems,
– the ability to track shipments (by you and the customer),
– comparing the prices of several products at once,
– an extensive comment system,
– the ability to install external modules that support or enrich the store,
– mobile platform support,
– the ability to issue invoices,
You will find a variety of modules, graphic templates and plugins on the official marketplace
PrestaShop Addons.
Technical requirements
The system requirements you have to meet for an installed PrestaShop store to function correctly are modest. In this case, PHP5 and MySQL5, or their newer versions, are essential.
Simple interface
Navigating the admin panel is very intuitive, and the interface can additionally be modified freely, because PrestaShop is based on the popular Smarty templating system, which is well known in the developer community. If you decide on a PrestaShop store, you will be able to see for yourself that after only a short time you can easily find exactly what you happen to need.
Good script performance
The software does not require a lot of server space, despite being very extensive in terms of functionality. A plus for the good level of performance.
Optimisation
Attract even more customers to your store and optimise it for search engines. You will do this easily thanks to the many available tools and modules, a large number of which are free. Thanks to optimisation, your PrestaShop store will appear on the first pages of search results, which will increase not only your store's traffic but, above all, conversion. While you're at it, you can take a look at our website and online store positioning offer >here<
Polish support
You will obtain technical support in Polish thanks to the enormous community of Polish developers. On the forum, various issues are raised, starting from the most basic ones, all the way to very advanced ones. Supporters of PrestaShop-based stores will gladly answer your questions and help solve problems (if you encounter any at all).
Useful analytical tools
In a single tab you have data ready to review, which you can analyse without having to use additional extensions. Thanks to this, you can easily check the number of visits and purchases made, profit statistics, the average purchase value and view charts. All this information, gathered in one place and available at all times, will give you an insight into how effectively your products are selling.
Credibility
PrestaShop is a partner of the biggest leaders in the e-commerce category – such as Google and PayPal. Your store's customers will certainly appreciate such connections, which will raise their trust in your brand and the products you sell.
Transparent operation
A larger number of products in PrestaShop's case does not affect the ease of using and managing the store. The catalogue can hold from several dozen to several thousand products without making the store harder to use for either the administrator or the customers. This is a big plus, given that not all sales platforms maintain transparency with a wide product range.
The weak points of PrestaShop.
Every coin has two sides – and so we move on to the disadvantages the software has:
Paid add-ons
PrestaShop in its basic version does not offer very extensive functionality. We have to pay extra for many modules if we want to use them. This can generate additional costs if we want to use a larger number of them. Of course, if you can program yourself, this issue will be of little importance to you. On the other hand, if adding functionality is something you have no idea about and you have to outsource it, then on top of the paid add-ons themselves you will have to factor in extra costs.
Limited design
The script is not designed favourably for designers. A problem with continuous expansion appears here. At a certain point it is simply impossible (of course, if we want to maintain sensible performance). That is why, when it comes to the appearance and adapting the store to your own taste, it is worth thinking carefully right at the start about what should look and function how.
Frequent fixes
The authors of PrestaShop release fixes every now and then, which is not entirely good — in fact it is a drawback. Updates are very important, and nobody needs convincing of that, but they also require considerable knowledge to implement effectively. This often makes things harder for the owners of stores based on this platform. Currently there is no way to use automatic updates.
To sum up:
PrestaShop is software that is most certainly worth trying. The stores rank well and the large number of free add-ons makes it easier to work on and modify the store. If you choose this platform, make sure the script is installed professionally (and correctly!). If you manage to configure your PrestaShop store properly and set it up on a good server, it will perform really brilliantly.
Before you set about the installation, think carefully about what your needs are and define your expectations – this will allow you to make a good decision when choosing the right e-commerce software.
