Friday, 24 February 2017

Prestashop and Shopify: Which one would work for you?

E-commerce is the booming trend today. More and more businesses are cashing in on the trend by coming up with specialized online stores to sell their goods and services. E-commerce software solutions have made it easy for them, as they provide all the basics that are needed to go online. These include customized templates, shopping cart, SEO, analytics, and e-mail marketing, to name just a few. When it comes to e-commerce development platforms, you would definitely be spoilt for choices. Amongst the most popular ones are Prestashop and Shopify. If you are looking for picking between Prestashop and Shopify ecommerce development in India, there would be several things to be considered. Here is a comparison between the two:
 
Appearance
With regards to the appearance of these platforms, it is the themes that are to be considered. Prestashop offers a wide array of customizable themes, but they lack in terms of aesthetics. There are around 1500 in number and most of them are free. The high-quality ones are professionally designed and are expensive.

On the other hand, Shopify offers nearly 100 professional-looking themes which are designed by experts. A few of these come free. These themes offer numerous settings that can help you customize them with ease. Moreover, these are compatible with multiple screen sizes.


Features and Pricing
The advantage of opting for prestashop development in india is that it is open-source. All you need to do is download and install it and you are ready to go. It makes a great bargain, considering that you get features like theme customization, adding items, tracking orders, and versatile SEO tools, all for free. You will have to pay if you need some extra features for your website.

Shopify is comparatively pricey as it is available in three paid versions, Basic, Professional, and Unlimited. All of these come with a 14-day free trial, unlimited products, round the clock support, blogging tool, and more. The extra features it offers, in addition to the core Prestashop features, make it effectively cheaper (as you may have to pay more if you add them to Prestashop platform).


Store Management
Both Prestashop and Shopify offer useful store management features for your online store. These enable you to design the pages according to your requirements. You can upload images, edit items, and use various payment gateways. Though these platforms share common store management features, Prestashop emerges as a winner on this one because it incorporates more shipping modules. Additionally, it offers impressive checkout services such as one-page checkout, gift wrapping, and shopping cart saving.


Flexibility and Scalability
Prestashop is flexible yet it lacks in terms of scalability. It can be customized according to your business's requirement but scalability is determined by the user skill. It entails so many options that these can overwhelm you when you have to scale the store according to the growing needs of your business.

Scaling up is relatively easier with Shopify. You need to buy an advanced package that provides new tools for your growing business. With Prestashop, you would have to research and find out all the new tools that are needed. Though the community focus of Prestashop does help, it is easier with Shopify.


In conclusion, the choice between these two platforms purely depends upon your business and its requirements. Whichever you choose, it is important to look for a reliable Shopify or Prestashop development company where you get the best services.