How to create an Ecommerce site? Prestashop tutorial in 4 steps
Online sales have become a must. Would you like to get in on the action too? Whether you want to sell your products or offer your services, e-commerce is a great opportunity. How do you set up an online sales interface that's both professional and easy to manage? Appvizer guides you through this prestashop tutorial. Find all our tutorials on ecommerce solutions.
The Prestashop free CMS and extensions
The benefits of a CMS
The Internet is governed by a single, universal language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). It's this famous code, made up of tags, that programmers use. However, for less experienced users, there are ways of configuring sites without having to speak this language. This is made possible by CMS (Content Management Systems). These are computer programs that allow you to manage the appearance and content of a site from A to Z, without "getting into the code".
When should you create a prestashop site?
Prestashop is an OpenSource CMS for creating e-commerce sites. Used by some 300,000 people worldwide, it's the ideal tool for small and medium-sized e-businesses. Beyond that, the more complex Magento solution is often considered more appropriate.
Prestashop, a complete tool
While Prestashop is not the only tool for creating an online store, it is by far the most comprehensive. From the outset, the solution offers over three hundred native functions. Depending on the needs of your business, all you have to do is activate or deactivate the modules. If you still can't find what you're looking for, the Prestashop Addons platform is there for you. Other modules, this time for a fee, will address more specific needs, whether in terms of web marketing, site ergonomics or back office management.
An army of developers
Prestashop is not alone: a multitude of developers, of all nationalities, feed the catalog. And just like Wordpress in the blogging sector, Prestashop offers a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and forums where users are free to ask questions or answer those of others. This collaboration within the community is a strength, and quickly reassures the uninitiated who are reluctant to take the plunge.
An e-commerce specialist
Last but not least, Prestashop specializes in e-commerce. There's little point in using it to create a showcase site or blog. But for selling, it's THE solution. And everything you do to manage your site will be geared towards this goal.
Prestashop tutorial: to help you sell online
This CMS has the merit of being simple and intuitive. Accessible to novices, it's also free. Save yourself the services of a webmaster or specialized agency. By creating your own e-commerce solution, you'll have an online sales interface tailored to your means and ambitions.
Getting started
The first thing to do in this Prestashop tutorial is to define your site's URL (Uniform Resource Locator): in other words, what will be displayed in the browser's address bar. We generally try to match it to your brand name. If your brand is called betty, why not bettyshop, for example? Prestashop lets you reserve a domain online, and shows you hosting options.
Choose your template
Next, consider the question of the template. This is the general layout that your website will have: its skeleton, with the layout of content and visual blocks. Prestashop offers a basic template: take a look at it. If you'd like to start with something else, take a look at the catalog: different templates are offered at different prices. Once you've bought them, you've bought them once and for all.
Customize your store
It's crucial that your store reflects your corporate identity. Your brand image is at stake. The original template will have default elements: replace them with your own. Pay particular attention to the home page and the quality of the visuals - the aim is to make visitors want to buy.
Optimize your customer experience
Designed with e-commerce in mind, Prestashop offers the perfect features to make it easier for visitors to navigate your site. A filter system, activated by the "faceted block" module, lets you check off a given product typology. In this way, buyers can choose to select according to their criteria, and consult only those products that interest them: a time-saving and practical feature that will play a crucial role in the conversion to a purchase.
Thanks to this Prestashop tutorial, you can now think big! Selling online isn't just for the "big boys". Your business, whatever it may be, deserves to take advantage of this obvious opportunity. With a tool like Prestashop, everything's in place to help you get started while professionalizing your management. So don't hesitate: get started!
Article translated from French