Discover PrestaShop, the Leading e-Commerce Website Building Platform in Europe

For millions of people around the world, e-commerce platforms are a blessing. Just think about how easy and convenient it is to shop online: you wake up one day, realize that you need to purchase an item, and all you need to do in order to get it is visiting your favorite e-commerce site. Add the item to your cart, make the transaction, and wait a few days for it to get delivered to you. All of this can be done while you’re comfortably lounging on the sofa.

E-commerce platforms took the world by storm only a few years ago, and today they’ve become an indispensable part of the global retail framework. The number of digital buyers steadily increases every year: in 2020 alone, over 2 billion people bought goods from e-commerce sites, and e-retail sales surpassed 4.2 trillion US dollars worldwide (source: Statista).

The main perks of e-commerce stores

Why are e-commerce platforms the go-to choice for so many people when it comes to making a purchase? Well, the reasons are many, but one of the main ones is the time-saving factor. In fact, not many people have the time to go around different brick and mortar stores in order to find the product they need, especially full-time workers. Accessibility is another important aspect, since not everyone has the means to reach physical stores (people who don’t own a transportation vehicle, for instance). Also, online stores generally offer a wider choice of products to choose from, compared to physical stores, since there are no space constraints for an e-commerce shop.

PrestaShop: create your own e-commerce store

With that said, if you own a brand, you might be interested in expanding your business out of your mere local area; in which case, creating an e-commerce website for your company is the best route you could take, since it would help tremendously with increasing your reach and sales. And if you’re unsure about where to even begin, don’t worry, because I’m here to fill you in about an amazing tool that will help you achieve that: PrestaShop.

What is PrestaShop and how can you use it?

PrestaShop is a Paris-based freemium, open source e-commerce platform. Launched in 2007 by founders Bruno Lévêque and Igor Schlumberger, the platform helped develop over 300.000 e-commerce websites to this day.

Thanks to PrestaShop, you can create and manage your own online store. Start selling your products and services, manage your orders, establish relationships with your customers and keep track of your statistics. You’ll have a variety of professional-looking themes at your disposal to customize your store, and you can decide to take it to the next level and open up to international markets!

How to start your online business with PrestaShop

Want to get started with PrestaShop? You can do just that by downloading the PrestaShop software. But there are some requirements you’ll need to satisfy first:

– server space at a hosting provider

– domain name

– FTP client

– text editor

Once you’ve made sure that you’ve got it all, proceed with providing info about your profile before downloading PrestaShop here:

– enter your profile type:

— Merchant

— Freelance

— Agency

— Technology partner

– then enter your email address

– select Download after agreeing to the platform’s policies

You can go to this official video tutorial that will help you go through all of the steps necessary to set up the PrestaShop software!