I often talk about Prestashop, but maybe you don’t know exactly what it is? Are you wondering how it can be more powerful than WordPress, Joomla or another similar tool? Well, Prestashop is a CMS (or Content Management System) specially designed to create e-commerce sites. In short, it’s a CMS, just like WordPress or Joomla, but it’s less focused on content production and more on ecommerce. WordPress is therefore used to create a showcase site, while Prestashop is used to create an online store. Prestashop will therefore be an invaluable asset if you ever plan to set up an online store.
Prestashop in a nutshell
If I had to introduce Prestashop to someone with little knowledge of the Internet, I’d start by saying that Prestashop allows you to organize your product catalog in a clear and simple way. Like any online store, it comprises both a part visible to visitors (called the Front Office) and an administration part accessible only to the merchant and his employees (called the Back Office). The front office allows visitors to consult the product list, place orders and pay. The second part is used to manage inventory, organize orders, deliveries and accounting, and manage customers. Prestashop has the significant advantage of offering both a simple, efficient customer interface and a comprehensive administration interface, providing easy access to all the information you need to run your online business. Its particularly ergonomic dashboard will make your life much easier if you want to get started in ecommerce, and this explains why Prestashop has rapidly become an extremely popular CMS.
Modules, Prestashop’s other trump card
As with other high-quality CMS, Prestashop has the distinct advantage of offering a wide range of modules, enabling you to tailor your shop window to the precise use you’re going to make of it. There are both free and paid modules. Modules are in fact “bricks of code” that make it easy to add new functionalities to your store. Prestashop has more than 310 functionalities right out of the box, but some simple needs, such as mailing, are not handled by Prestashop when it is installed. Also, Prestashop is primarily designed for the creation of an online store for the B2C market, so you’ll need to set up several modules to, for example, group your business customers into a specific customer group or invoice your business customers tax-free. Purchasing modules often pays for itself very quickly, as they enable you to boost the efficiency of your site or the speed with which you handle the tasks you need to carry out in the back office! Not only are there modules for your store’s back office, there are also many modules that add functionality to the front office of your Prestashop online store. These modules will enable you to better meet your customers’ expectations.
Many Prestashop themes, or how to customize your shop window
Because lawnmowers and clothes are not sold in the same way, Prestashop also offers different visual styles to help you find the one best suited to your product range. Once again, you’ll need to consider purchasing a theme if you don’t want to create a custom graphic charter. Don’t neglect this aspect of your store. The look and feel of your store must correspond to the image you want to convey. Think of what your customers will think when they realize that your site looks just like the one next door. This is an ecommerce site, not a yellow pages site. If you’re looking to cut corners when your store isn’t even online yet, I can’t imagine how you’ll react when you’re looking for an effective, tailor-made SEO service.
A user community means continuous improvement
As with WordPress, one of the advantages of Prestashop is the fact that it is used all over the world and by so many merchants. Prestashop’s popularity is driving many developers to work for and on this tool. As a result, Prestashop is growing in functionality and richness thanks to its contributors. This is one of the reasons why it’s impossible to summarize Prestashop in so few lines, as there are so many different ways to use it. Selling downloadable products is not the same as selling cruises, and selling to regular customers can also involve special customer management. So we’ll have plenty of opportunity to come back to Prestashop and its many advantages!
