Make E-Commerce Store in PrestaShop for Free in 2022

E-Commerce is the online sale purchase of goods or transactions. E-commerce is preferred because of its 24/7 availability, speed of access, easy accessibility, international reach, and personalization. There are many options helping us to create an online store i.e. Magento, open chart, OS commerce e.t.c, but we go for Prestashop as it is free.

PrestaShop:

PrestaShop is an open-source E-Commerce solution, to open an online store, add products, add categories, order management, and so on. In Prestashop there are more than 300 built-in features, to manage products and listing.  Prestashop is 100% free. It has about 0.25 million users and is in 60+ languages.

Shopping online concept – Shopping service on The online web. with payment by credit card and offers home delivery. parcel or Paper cartons with a shopping cart logo on a laptop keyboard

How is PrestaShop sustaining?

The major source of their survival and revenue is the plugin sale to calculate tax automatically there isn’t any built function, so you have to pay to download and add it to your shop as an extension. 

Another source is that they have a partnership with payment methods like PayPal, visa, e.t.c. so they get revenue from them.

Technology Stack Of Prestashop:

Now we will discuss which programming languages and tools Prestashop is created so that when we have to add an extension or plugin we know the information.

Prestashop installation and usage will be developed in the environment of XAMPP, the webserver of XAMPP is Apache, web server is, which runs the web page. 

• In XAMPP the X represents the platform we are using i.e. Windows and Linux.

• A is for a web server that is Apache.

• M is representing Database, in our case it is MariaDB.

• P is for PHP used for core development.

• Next, P is for the pearl which is an old programming language.

As MySQL is no freer, MariaDB is its community version. So the technology stack of Prestashop is windows, apache, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP, and pearl. Prestashop runs on localhost and cloud both.

Downloading, Configuring On Local Host Using XAMPP:

1. Download and run the XAMPP.

2. Now go to www.prestashop/en/download, it will show you the latest version of Prestashop, click on start now and then download now.

3. Go to the XAMPP folder, htdocs, make a Prestashop folder and paste the Prestashop downloaded Zip file there, and unzip it.

4. Browse localhost/Prestashop, the screen will be loading, once it gets loaded, select language, click next, them next, it will check your system compatibility, again next.

5. Name your shop, enter the main activity, and other details asked.

6. Click next, you will get database files, go to MySQL or localhost and on PHP my admin and create a database of name Prestashop or any other, then click next, it will start the installation, go next.

Running Online Store:

After successful installation, how to access the store?  Prestashop has two interfaces one user and the second admin.

User

In the browser write localhost/Prestashop/admin, and you get a window that asks to delete the installed folder. For this folder go to C, XAMPP, then htdocs, Prestashop, there will be an installed folder, delete that, because it doesn’t let you connect to the database.

Again browse localhost/Prestashop, you will get the client screen, you see the products, you can shop e.t.c.

Admin

Now browse localhost/Prestashop/admin, you will get the login window, log in, you will see the logo and theme, theme means where your pictures, products, listing e.t.c. are, the default theme is changed timely by Prestashop.

If you go to localhost, my admin, a database of the name Prestashop will have been created.

This shows the successful installation.

Create Online Store Using Prestashop On Cloud : 

• Now we will publish the store we created, on internet with a domain name URL, to be able to access it anywhere on earth. Through ISP or any company, we will purchase the domain name and hosting services and will then install the Prestashop on cloud. The Prestashop maintenance data: user names, passwords, products and orders will be on the cloud i.e. Amazon web services, we will not have to just maintain, the system will take care of it.

• So we have selected 1&1.com, and browse 1&1.com. There are different packages, click the basic one, then continue, write the domain name if available, continue, payment mechanism when cleared, you will wind up with a congratulation message.
• On this page, your installation is in progress on the cloud, once the Control Panel button is enabled click on it. Enter the user name and password provided at the time of the transaction.

• Here you are Log in, click on hosting, then click on Prestashop start now, click check and continue, write the name, domain name, administrator’s email, password and website title, then continue.

• This page is the same as PHP, my admin, enter that description, and password, you don’t need to create a database, it will be created by 1&1.

• You will get the address of your website, note it. The next screen will show your directory, database name, and Prestashop version, note it too and click install.
• Your website is ready to use, to access your store you need to have your website address and an admin panel.

• If your installation is successful, browse your store name and you will find your store, it means on the cloud you have mapped with the domain name.

• To run it successfully from the back end enter the shop name/admin, enter the user name, password, and login, if you can see the same dashboard and option as on localhost admin, you did a great job.

Login As Admin Into Admin Panel :

Controlling as admin on the cloud is the same as on localhost. Login on localhost as admin and also on a cloud, more or less the products, orders, and menu on both will be the same.

The modules option shows which modules are enabled, click module, module and services, and see all the modules listed, from here you can configure or disable them.

Adding Categories :

The first thing to do after shop setup is to add the products you want to show your customer in your database.

You can’t add the products directly, you have to add a category, and the products will be added to the category or subcategory, a product can also be part of two categories.

When you log in as admin, go to the catalog and then categories, click on add category, name it, display yes, parent category home, add a description and add image.

The meta title is through which someone searches your store, normally companies hire SEO for this.  

Enter all the details, and save. 

If you want to add a subcategory, add a new category, and select a parent category instead of home.

Adding Product :

Now we will add a product, go to the catalog, then product, there are some products already present, you can change the category of existing products.

To add new products, click on add new product, and the panel will open, write the name, and add images, and quantities.

Stock alert:

It is very important, it is also called re-order level, it sends a message when the quantity is low or equal to the limit you set. 

Next, when the order is out of stock, choose an option.

Next is shipping, set the delivery time, for in-stock products and out-of-stock products, select available carriers e.t.c. In pricing, add the price, tax, and check other options. This was the basic setting, the category is home.

Change Theme, Shipping Details :

Go to design, theme & logo, add a logo, save, and it’s updated.

Go to design then pages it will show all the pages. Click edit where you want to change, edit and save. If you want to add a new theme, go to the theme, then catalog, there will be different options with prices.

To configure shipping information, you have to configure shipping, because without it orders can’t be placed, so go to modules, then shipping, carriers, enable the free shipping, which means configure some shipment method.

Generate An Order for your store as a customer:

Order Processing :

• Log in as admin, and check the status of the order newly placed, first status is awaiting check payment, and explore that.

• There is an option of address edit, view invoices.

• There are more order statuses in Prestashop than in Magento which are awaiting bank payment, cash on delivery, awaiting check payment, canceled, delivered e.t.c.

• Update the status after it is done, so that customer can track its order.

E-COM SEO tips :

• Improved Keywords, keep on testing the keywords.

• Keywords and meta tags should be relevant to each other.

• Backlinking is the communication between pages of your website, how good/bad it is matters.

• The size and quality of pictures matter a lot.

• Page Speed.