How do I create an Ecommerce site? Prestashop tutorial in 4 steps
Online sales have become a must. Do you want to get involved 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 is this famous code, made up of tags, that programmers use. However, for less experienced users, there are ways of configuring sites without speaking this language. This is made possible by CMS (Content Management Systems). These are computer programmes that allow you to manage the appearance and content of a site from A to Z without "getting into the code".
When should I create a Prestashop site?
Prestashop is an OpenSource CMS for creating e-commerce sites. Used by nearly 300,000 people around the world, it's the ideal tool for small and medium-sized e-commerce projects. 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 shop, it is by far the most comprehensive. From the outset, the solution has 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 to help. Other modules, this time for a fee, can be used to address more specific needs in terms of web marketing, site ergonomics or back office management.
An army of developers
Prestashop is not alone: the catalogue is supplied by a multitude of developers of all nationalities. And just like Wordpress in the blogging sector, Prestashop offers a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and forums where users can freely ask questions or answer those of others. This collaboration within the community is a strength, and quickly reassures any novice who is reluctant to take the plunge.
An e-commerce specialist
Finally, what makes Prestashop different is that it specialises in e-commerce. There is little point in using it to create a showcase site or blog. But for selling, it's THE solution. And everything in the management of your site will be geared towards this.
Prestashop tutorial: to help you sell online
This CMS has the merit of being simple and intuitive. It's accessible to novices, and it's free. Save yourself the services of a webmaster or specialist agency. By creating your own e-commerce solution, you'll have an online sales interface tailored to your resources and ambitions.
Getting started
The first thing to do in this Prestashop tutorial is to define the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for your site: i.e. what will be displayed in the browser's address bar. We generally try to match it to the name of the brand. If your store is called betty, why not bettyshop, for example? With Prestashop, you can reserve a domain online and find out about hosting options.
Choose your model
Next, think about the template. This is the general layout that your website will have: its skeleton, with the layout of the content and visual blocks. Prestashop offers a basic template: take a look at it. If you want to go for something different, take a look at the catalogue: different templates are available at different prices. Once you've bought them, you've bought them once and for all.
Customise your shop
It's crucial that your shop is in your colours. Your brand image is at stake. The original template will have faulty elements: replace them with your own. Take care with the home page and the quality of the visuals - the aim is to make visitors want to buy.
Optimise your customer experience
Designed with e-commerce in mind, Prestashop offers perfect features to make browsing easier for visitors to your site. By activating the "faceted block" module, you can use a filter system to check off a given type of product. 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 is, deserves to take advantage of this obvious opportunity. With a tool like Prestashop, everything is in place to help you get started while making your management more professional. So don't hesitate: get started!
Article translated from French