Is PrestaShop the ideal accessibility platform for you?
If you are wondering if PrestaShop is the ideal accessibility platform for you, you have come to the right place. In PrestaShop Review, we will analyze the good and bad sides of PrestaShop accessibility.
There are a plethora of ways to improve accessibility on your website, but using PrestaShop through UserWay’s Accessibility Widget may be one of the better ones. It is an outside-the-box, streamlined website-building instrument whose creator, Bruno Leveque, strove to provide the best accessibility platform possible.
The way it works is simple. The accessibility widget finds weak spots and obstacles for the disabled on your PrestaShop internet page and works to remove them. It also provides both premade and purchased templates, as well as a selection of their own, hand-crafted designs and templates.
Installing this crucial UserWay Accessibility widget in your PrestaShop portfolio is completely free of charge, no matter the number of websites you are managing, or the number of pages per website.
Sign up, and you will almost simultaneously enjoy an accessibility boost, enhancing your website and preventing lawsuits caused by not adhering to ADA, Section 508, and WCAG 2.1 specifications.
Now that we have gotten through the introduction, let’s find out if PrestaShop truly is the ideal accessibility platform for you.
PrestaShop Review: What is the PrestaShop Web Accessibility Project?
In short, PrestaShop is a platform for e-commerce. It hosts itself and is an open-source solution. The company was started in 2007, and its headquarters are located in France.
To accommodate new customers, PrestaShop has recently unveiled the PrestaShop Ready edition, a hosted or SaaS alternative. You only have access to the code you need for customization with this option, but it’s more user-friendly.
PrestaShop Review Pros
PrestaShop has plenty to offer. Here are just some of the features they provide:
PrestaShop Simple to use
PrestaShop setup requires more time due to its more complex backend. With that said, you can try the demo of PrestaShop to walk you through the complete procedure.
The next stage is to identify which modules you’ll need for your online business after the initial setup procedure is over. It’s always best to use web developers to do the integrations if your technical skillset is restricted.
You will only need to create the products, handle orders, and manage inventory after you finish the integration and module setup. Other, daily operations such as product development, order administration, and inventory are rather simple once you’re through.
PrestaShop Customization in-store
The facts are that if you are looking to offer something unique, open-source is the way to go. Building a memorable brand is critical for your long-term success in the cutthroat online world.
Customizing an online store will require you to use two different modules. This is a simple plugin to easily make adjustments, and it also has an advanced module to allow you to alter the code to tailor your store to your own desires. You will need access to CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files in order to do this.
Completing product organization, establishing an internal engine for doing searches, or setting up various payment options is easy with the customization tools provided by PrestaShop.
A large selection of themes and templates is available in the PrestaShop marketplace, as well as over 1500 templates. More than 90% of these themes are developed by third parties, which is why you could end up paying between $60 and $90 for a premium theme from PrestaShop-approved partners.
PrestaShop Effective production creation
PrestaShop has stunning features, among which is an area for intuitive product creation. This area is where you can list all the products that you desire to sell. It is also possible to configure these features to show expiration dates that pertain to products that are time-sensitive. This is where you can also sell downloadable products via PrestaShop.
Finally, if you run out of stock, it is also possible to manage inventory and set alerts for restocking.
PrestaShop “Rich snippets” from Google
The unreal amount of people looking for products on Google indicates that SERP ranking is of great importance.
This gives shoppers the option to view products that they are looking for and compare their prices, which is why adding Google Rich Snippets to your links for products immediately boosts your SEO profile.
These snippets can be located in the PrestaShop add-on market. Leveraging it means that your reach will improve, which will in turn improve the experience for shoppers.
PrestaShop Processing of payments
In order to allow your website to functionally accept payment, a payment gateway needs to be set up.
PrestaShop accepts a wide array of payment options, among which are Authorize.net, First Data, Worldpay, Amazon Pay, Discover Global Network, Bambora, PayPal.
Customer Service PrestaShop
PrestaShop helps you keep in touch with your consumers by sending automated emails following transactions to reassure them.
In addition, you can set promotions that are specifically tailored to a certain product, order, or customer category.
To reduce the number of abandoned carts, PrestaShop will allow you to email clients, reminding them about products that are left in their carts.
PrestaShop Support for legal issues
Properly operating an internet store involves following all relevant laws. When you buy the commercial version of PrestaShop, you’ll get a set of shopping cart solutions that help you meet the requirements of a certain country. Germany has specified a few shopping cart standards for online retailers, for instance.
This is excellent, considering e-commerce platforms do not normally provide legal assistance. One of the great things about using PrestaShop is that you have design tools to help you create short pages that convey legal information to your consumers.
PrestaShop Safety and security
PrestaShop is PCI Compliance compliant and open source. You will therefore be required to complete this process yourself. To make sure your website stays secure, you’ll have to get an SSL certificate and make sure to keep your browser up to date.
However, the ready-to-use PrestaShop version features accounts that are pre-configured for you. Because the service is running on Google Cloud, which offers a free SSL certificate, this is why.
PrestaShop Review Cons
Here are some of the negative aspects of PrestaShop:
PrestaShop Customer service is expensive
The moment you are faced with a problem, it is virtually guaranteed that you will contact the PrestaShop team.
While the cost of assistance is unreasonable, you do receive an absurdly long amount of time to utilize it. For 3 hours of support, you may end up having to pay 250 USD or more on a monthly basis.
Additionally, 399 USD will have to be put aside yearly for six hours of service, which is pretty darn expensive in our opinion.
PrestaShop Developing and coding skills are a prerequisite
Open source platforms are created with developers in mind, which is why the backend interface is usually technical in nature. You will need to employ a developer if you have no programming experience.
As a result, you will not have to shell out a large amount of money to afford minimal customer care. Because SaaS systems strive to remove the need for developers, they continue to dominate. This means businesses can slash costs.
PrestaShop Review Pricing
PrestaShop does not offer a free trial for its software, after all, it’s free. There’s a demo available and this really does allow you to explore the inner workings of the software. This can be a great way to try out PrestaShop to see if it’s a suitable solution for your next web project.
The software, as we’ve mentioned, is free to download. Where you will expect the costs to go higher is with the themes, modules, hosting, and domain name. If you don’t know much code, this can get really expensive.
You can also expect your website to be expensive if you need to hire a developer.
If you decide to use PrestaShop Ready, then you will have a monthly cost. Currently, there is only one pricing plan that is about $20 per month. But that doesn’t include transaction fees which are free up to $3,000 per month and then 1.5% of your sales above that amount.
They are planning at least two more pricing levels. But the features of these pricing levels haven’t been announced yet.
With this package, you are given a lot of great features. For instance, you can get unlimited products, employee accounts, images, and an SSL certificate. These are great for managing and setting up your website.
You can also get great support any day of the week. However, PrestaShop Ready does not offer the variety of tools that the downloadable option has. You are also limited to just 12,000 emails set via your PrestaShop Ready System on the basic plan with no way to upgrade this.
There is a PrestaShop Ready trial that is valid for 15 days.
PrestaShop Review: Who should use it?
If you have products that are highly customizable, it will be necessary to be versed in the use of PHP, HTML, and CSS, or you’ll have to hire a developer, which is why you should use PrestaShop. Usage is not only free-of-charge, but is a great option, and one that is expanding its selection of modules regularly.
Medium and small enterprises are ideal for PrestaShop, but other, more complex platforms such as Magento Open Source offer more functionality in larger enterprise cases.
Do not be frightened by the lack of a support service, but if you are, using the SaaS platform for e-commerce might be a better idea.
PrestaShop Review The final verdict
Now that we have gotten to the end of this review, it is time to give our final verdict on whether PrestaShop is the ideal accessibility platform for you or not.
Well, if you are a cash-strapped novice, the company’s offering might be ideal for you.
It has many features and is Open source, which is very important. The setup process is straightforward and can be gotten the hang of after just watching the demo.
There is a wide array of template choices provided for those looking to create digitally accessible content, with more than 1500 options to choose from. Meta descriptions can also be included to boost your SEO standing.
Keep in mind that it is also possible to incorporate marketing features such as gift wrapping, coupon codes, discount modes, and more. This will help massively with the boosting of your sales.
So, in summation, it is our pleasure to be able to recommend PrestaShop as a reliable service provider when it comes to web accessibility.
