An online store is the most important asset of any e-commerce business. It’s the heart of your online business. Without a properly functioning one, you risk losing so many potential sales each day. But building an e-commerce site isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially if you know nothing about programming.
Lucky for you, there are several open-source e-commerce platforms to choose from. These make it easier for people like you to start an online store with little to no knowledge about creating web pages from scratch.
Some of the best e-commerce platforms are:
- PrestaShop
- Magneto
- WooCommerce
Each platform has its own pros and cons but if you’re a small business that’s looking for a free and user-friendly e-commerce platform, we highly recommend trying out PrestaShop first.
What is PrestaShop?
PrestaShop is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms today. This platform alone powers more than 150,000 online stores and boasts a huge online community of users and developers. It’s very user-friendly and doesn’t require programming skills to create a simple e-commerce site. But, most of all, it’s completely free to install it to your website!
This platform is ideal for small and medium businesses that are looking for a low-cost, user-friendly, and customizable platform for their online store. Since it’s open-source, you can access over 25,000 plugins and extensions to add to your site!
Why Choose PrestaShop?
Free to Install, Low Maintenance Costs
The great thing about PrestaShop is that you can download and install it to your site for free. Magneto, on the other hand, does have a free version but you need to purchase the expensive Enterprise Edition which contains most of the necessary tools to fully customize your site. With this platform, maintenance costs are also kept at a minimum.
Quick and Easy Installation
Users with no technical background can quickly and easily install PrestaShop, as well as customize their online store with a couple of features. Unlike Magneto, you won’t spend hours trying to figure out how to integrate it into your website. It’s the perfect choice for small businesses!
User-Friendly
PrestaShop is very user-friendly, making it ideal for new e-commerce store owners. With its easy to navigate admin panel and customization options, having the site you’d like can be done all by yourself. Not to mention that this platform offers unique flexibility to fit all your business needs.
Huge Community
Another great thing about PrestaShop is its large community of developers and users. You can easily discuss your problems and find solutions in discussion boards. Trust us, there are thousands of helpful developers out there.
Over 25,000 Modules and Themes
There are thousands of modules and themes that you can download in the official marketplace alone. Some may be free but others aren’t but you can really add a lot of power to your site. There are modules for email automation, site management, SEO, featured products, and more. It even boasts 20 times more plugins and extensions than Magneto!
Supports 41 Languages
PrestaShop fully supports two languages: English and French. But it’s available in 41 languages, making it the most diversified e-commerce platform available.
Built for E-Commerce
Unlike WooCommerce, which is just a plugin for WordPress, PrestaShop is built solely for e-commerce. Sure, there are tons of modules that make you add a blog or other types of content but its focus lies on being an online store. All functions are made perfectly for e-commerce!
PrestaShop May Be the Perfect Choice for Your Business
Not a very technical person? Want everything simple and easy to use?
PrestaShop may just be the right platform for your site. It’s efficient, flexible, and powerful. Small and medium businesses have been using this platform for years, and it has been working great since then.
We highly recommend you to try and install PrestaShop for your e-commerce store. If you aren’t happy, you can still change your platform in the future. But that’s highly unlikely.