PrestaShop is a hidden gem. There are many much more widely known online shopping cart solutions that have nothing like the features, potential, and ease of use that this open source, completely free-to-use, system has. But until now there has been no information available on how to make the most of it. This book takes a step-by-step approach to help you set up your own e-commerce store and maximize its potential. Even if you are totally new to e-commerce and PrestaShop, you can have your own functioning e-commerce store quickly and with tiny expenditure. Imagine the feeling when you get that glorious e-mail saying that you have your first paying customer.

This practical guide follows the order of developing an active business. Packed with easy-to-follow steps with loads of screenshots and clear explanations, it follows a step-by-step approach to set up a PrestaShop e-commerce store from the very beginning through finding a web host, setting up your PrestaShop store, accepting money from customers, and planning for the future of your business.

The first few chapters are a lightening, but thorough, illustration of how to get your shop online, stocked up, and looking smart and unique, including some really cool and really simple product features to show off your wares in style - very quickly. The later chapters are quite diverse and cover some exciting stuff such as newsletters, loyalty schemes, alternative revenue streams, statistics and analytics. You will also learn about security, disaster recovery, payment handling, currencies, taxes, shipping, and more. Towards the end, the chapters cover final preparations before going live, handling orders in PrestaShop, and how to promote your store and get more customers. Once the money starts to flow, the book looks at the future of e-commerce and your PrestaShop business. Then it discusses how to get to the top of your niche and stay there. And then the big secret: to use the knowledge you have gained to turn a single PrestaShop into a thriving e-commerce empire.

The Appendix covers a number of worthwhile topics such as a handy PrestaShop control panel reference and various web resources for PrestaShop.

Start and run your own e-commerce business using PrestaShop

What you will learn from this book

• Install PrestaShop on a web server
• Use PrestaShop catalog features to present your products in an enticing and professional manner
• Write great sales copy and articles and make them available through the PrestaShop content management system
• Customize and configure the look and feel of your PrestaShop to make it unique and professional
• Connect PrestaShop to a choice of payment handlers to take online payments
• The ins and outs of handling shipping, taxes, and currencies in PrestaShop
• Secure PrestaShop using a wide range of built-in features and other tactics
• Back up your business offline and learn how to completely re-deploy your business in under 30 minutes in case of disaster
• Implement and use PrestaShop and Google Analytics statistics features to discover ways to improve your store
• Market your new business using e-mail, social media, SEO, articles, blogs, forums, and more
• Turn a new PrestaShop store into a thriving online business and then into an e-commerce empire of the future

Approach

The book is structured so that following the chapters in order leads to building a fully functioning and live trading PrestaShop. Guidance is also given should you wish to learn or practice your skills in an offline, non-trading environment.

Every chapter contains clearly structured and illustrated step-by-step explanation to achieve the goals discussed. Nothing is left for readers to work out themselves, but it would be very simple for them to use the information to go beyond the specific tutorials, should they wish to do so.

There is optional additional reading, including more than a dozen specifically written downloadable e-books made available on the book's support website just for readers of PrestaShop 1.3 Beginners Guide.

Who this book is written for

This book is for anybody who wants a fully functioning e-commerce store using PrestaShop. You do not have to have any previous knowledge of PrestaShop or any aspect of e-commerce or business in general. If you do, then you will probably find this guide really valuable as well. The book covers all you need to know about starting your own e-commerce business.