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PrestaShop lets you open up your own web store
If you’re a merchant looking for a straightforward way to morph into an “e-merchant”, PrestaShop might make it on your shortlist.
For starters, it’s an open source (read: free) PHP and MySQL-based web script that, once installed, allows you to run your very own “electronic store”, with all the modern bells and whistles you’re used to seeing at the major e-tailers, including a comprehensive PayPal checkout.
The larger setups might swing towards the very impressive Magento Commerce web script, which is also open source and based on PHP and MySQL but for anything akin to a small to mid-sized store, PrestaShop feels like an awesome fit — even though it can technically handle a much larger store.
PrestaShop handle multiple languages, multiple currencies and multiple payment processing options brilliantly. It sports many “web 2.0″ features like a tag cloud, countless modules (extending the basic features) and a healthy dose of AJAX effects, namely when you add an item to your shopping basket.
From a customer’s standpoint, the web script looks very nice, is intuitive and performs flawlessly. All of which are essential for online sales to happen.
As an “e-store administrator”, you’ll be able to manage your catalog, customers, orders, payments and shipping to stay on top of what’s going on. The “admin interface” is easy to operate and the average semi-techie type will feel in control enough to enjoy working with this script (and that’s important if you’re going to use PrestaShop on a daily basis).
In a nutshell, here’s an overview of what PrestaShop offers, in its “front office”, which is basically the stuff your online customers will look for, see, use and appreciate:
- Special deals (price reductions, gift vouchers)
- Featured products on homepage
- Top sellers on homepage
- New items on homepage
- ‘Free shipping’ offers
- Cross-selling (Accessories)
- Product image zoom
- Order out-of-stock items
- Customer subscription & user accounts
- Unlimited payment methods
- Payment by bank wire
- Cash-On-Delivery (COD)
- Preconfigured for Paypal
- Multiple-recipient contact form
- Product tagging & tag cloud
- Search
- Merchandise return (RMAs) & credit slips
- Package tracking
- Offer gift-wrapping & recycled packaging
- PDF customer invoice
- Shopping Cart recall
- Sale of services & virtual goods
- Custom Favicon
- RSS feed
- Newsletter opt-in
- ‘Pick up in-store’ option
By all means, this is a highly credible (front-end) feature set which, coupled with your time, effort, creativity and marketing in setting up your online store can help you succeed in your e-tailing project.
Open source consulting firms might also adopt this script as it’s solid enough for serious deployments (now) but also set for a bright future with loads of upcoming features like 1-click purchases, affiliates management, per-item shipping cost and a loyal customer program.
It’s always reassuring to see an open source script being update regularly with such high-impact features that bring real value for both the e-merchant and the online customers.
Keep an eye on PrestaShop, this e-commerce web script is clearly going places.
Tags: prestashop, e-commerce, e-merchants, e-tailing, e-tailers, e-shops, online shops, e-shopping, web script, php, mysql, open source, paypal, bank wire, money, merchandise, package tracking, rmas, credit slips, free download, front office, online shoppers
One Response to “PrestaShop lets you open up your own web store”
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Prestashop is very reliable application – it’s worth using. If you want to switch to this software you can try web service cart2cart. It automates data migration to Prestashop.