Want to Build a Simple Showcase Site with PrestaShop? it’s possible ! Even though this CMS is best known for its e-commerce functionalities, you can disable shopping carts and other online selling options to use PrestaShop to build your showcase site.
Your website then becomes a catalog to present your products and new collections. Visitors will benefit from all the information about your offer, as well as the information to find your products and services. Of course, with PrestaShop your showcase site will allow them to contact you directly if needed.
How to Use PrestaShop to Manage Your Showcase Site? why do it? All the answers are in this article!
What is PrestaShop?
Before fully answering the question “How to create a showcase site with Prestashop?” », remember that this open-source solution above all allows to build and develop an online store.
In addition, according to PrestaShop, more than 300,000 merchants use a CMS to manage their e-commerce. With its 300 integrated features to add payment methods, control shipping, manage inventory, optimize product inventory or even improve relationships with suppliers or customers, this solution has it all !
PrestaShop is one of the most powerful e-commerce site building platforms on the market: it has a user-friendly interface to manage your online business.
Even more: This CMS can also allow you to create a “simple” showcase site and display your catalog to your prospects as well as advice and blog articles. For example, the Bonne Gueule PrestaShop showcase site welcomes visitors with a webzine full of useful information:
Whats up ? That’s what we’ll see in the rest of this article!
Why Build a Prestashop Showcase Site?
PrestaShop is above a CMS! It is possible to deactivate e-commerce related features and use them only to create a showcase site. And the benefits are many…
Create an intuitive catalog
PrestaShop’s native options make it the ideal solution for intuitive digital catalog display. The visitor will have the opportunity to get to know your products better, browse your offers and be attracted by your offers. He will always have a reference tool for your orders or for searching for your new products.
Your PrestaShop showcase site will be used both to promote your goods and services to new audiences and to retain your existing customers. two birds with one stone!
Promote your brand and your values
You will have the possibility to create pages that summarize your commitments and present your company as well as your teams. This allows you to humanize your brand, but also allows you to establish a closer relationship with your visitors.
Here’s an example of a PrestaShop showcase site where “Who are we?” Particularly well made:
Improve the visibility of your establishment
Building a showcase site with PrestaShop means taking advantage of advanced SEO features! This CMS makes it possible to create SEO friendly URLs and customize the title tag, meta title, meta description and all the features related to SEO.
Required parameters to position your product catalog on relevant queries.
Attract traffic to the point of sale
Thanks to the organization of the product sheet into categories and sub-categories, you make browsing through your offers more fluid. You can link each item to a file to give the visitor a description… and ask them to contact you or consult your list of distributors to visit the store.
If you have your own points of sale, you can also display it on your pages and thus drive traffic to your store, as in this example from the PrestaShop showcase site:
Take advantage of international presence
PrestaShop supports over 75 languages ​​worldwide and can geolocate each visitor to display the correct translation. To do this, CMS provides language packs that translate your pages without modifying the code.
Easily Upgrade Your Prestashop Showcase Site to E-commerce
Building a showcase site with PrestaShop means thinking long term. In fact, today all you need is a catalogue, but in a few months or years, you’ll want to grow it into e-commerce. With PrestaShop, this can be done quickly and easily!
Get to know your consumers better
PrestaShop provides a dashboard that delivers over 20 reports on the number of visitors to your showcase site, their profile, their behavior, and their conversion point. You benefit from relevant data to better understand your buyers, identify their needs, and improve your business development strategy.
Disadvantages of PrestaShop for Showcase Site
Since PrestaShop is specifically designed for e-commerce, using it for a showcase site can have some drawbacks. It is important to know them before choosing this CMS.
some free features
Although PrestaShop is free to download and install, many themes, features and add-ons are paid for.
However, the free version remains sufficient for a showcase site for small or medium-sized businesses that do not require advanced modules. Available on the market are mainly aimed at e-commerce.
You can still create rates, a contact page or even a blog section and a photo gallery at a lower cost.
not a very dynamic design
Prestashop comes with a great design for running a free or budget showcase site. Nevertheless, the design offered by CMS lacks a modern and dynamic touch, even though it provides basic functions.
So, for example, a PrestaShop showcase site is not suitable for a portfolio of creators, web designers or photographers.
lack of official support
Unlike other website management solutions, PrestaShop does not have official support teams to assist you with bugs or technical challenges. You have to pay for add-ons to get help from platform experts.
However, there is an active community of 700,000 users ready to help, as well as detailed documentation and support pages on Facebook and Twitter. The only downside is that these resources essentially answer questions related to online sales and using PrestaShop to manage your store.
How to Create a PrestaShop Showcase Site?
Are you convinced and you want to use PrestaShop for the showcase site? Here are the steps to follow.
1. Reserve a Domain Name and Hosting
To create a PrestaShop showcase site, you will need a domain name (NDD).
and a host. We have already devoted many articles on these topics on the blog. If you need help choosing your NDD, you can consult our guide “6 Best Practices for Reserving the Ideal Domain Name”.
As for hosting, we recommend you read our 2022 comparison of the best web hosts to find the one that meets your needs.
2. Download Prestashop
As an open-source CMS, PrestaShop provides the files you need to set up your showcase site. They are available on the PrestaShop site.
Then you have to install them on the local server or directly on your host.
We recommend that you hire a web developer on Kodur if you are a beginner. You are guaranteed to have an operational PrestaShop showcase site, ready to be personalized!
3. Disable E-commerce Features
The PrestaShop Showcase site does not require e-commerce features. So you have to disable many settings to avoid bugs and hinder user experience.
Among the items to be disabled are:
- command tunnel : choice of means of payment, delivery, order tracking email, etc.;
- add to cart button: Very important to avoid the confusing side of users who will spend time filling baskets… only to not be able to order at the end!
- Order Management and Inventory Management Modules: they reduce the weight of your site for nothing;
- automated email : reminders and reminders to customers;
- sales statistics and turnover: To simplify your dashboard.
4. Ensure activation of key parameters for the PrestaShop Showcase site
Depending on your goals, your WordPress showcase site will require certain features, which are available by default:
- the possibility for the visitor to download a PDF document such as a user guide, or your product catalog;
- Option to search and filter results across pages;
- Classification of your products or services into categories and subcategories;
- integration of a contact page with a form for collecting contact details, pre-sales or after-sales service questions, as well as quote requests;
- activation of pages presenting your activities and that of your company’s partners;
- Personalization of your catalog by visitor profile (for example, B2B or B2C, or by company size, gender, or any other criteria associated with your eligibility strategy).
5. Customize Your Showcase Site
let’s go ! It’s time to choose a PrestaShop theme and customize it with your graphical charter. Very intuitive, the CMS allows you to create an exclusive catalog, add unique pages, and provide a seamless user experience.
The goal is to draw visitors to your universe, build a link with them (and their value) and encourage them to choose your products.
our tip
Creating a showcase site with PrestaShop can be difficult for a beginner. If the tool offers many features and allows you to consider using the e-commerce function in the future, it is not always easy to learn. To help you, post an ad on Codeur.com and find a PrestaShop developer who can help you build an operational showcase site from A to Z!