Many people start with Shopify, and for getting started it's a good choice. But a serious project, one with a vision, sooner or later asks for things no app will sell you. With PrestaShop the engine is yours: you open it up, modify it, take it wherever you need. My shop, shop.laterradipuglia.it, started out like everyone else's. Today, one customisation after another, it's a Ferrari.
| Shopify | Custom PrestaShop | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | Fast and cheap | Needs some initial work |
| Costs over time | Subscription plus apps, often paid monthly | Hosting and development: what you build stays yours |
| Customisation | As far as the platform and its apps go | No limits: the code is yours |
| Your data | On the platform | On your server, queryable however you like |
| Special rules | If an app exists, and if it does exactly that | A module written for your case |
| Ideal for | Getting started, simple catalogue | Growing, complex catalogue and rules |
Everything you see below really runs, every day, on my shop. These are modules written for the purpose, not subscription apps.
I replaced the paid external service with a module of my own. After every order the invitation goes out, reviews appear on the home page, categories and products in four languages, and they reach Google as stars in the search results. Whoever leaves a review gets a thank-you.
BRT, FedEx, MBE, spedisci.online, Palletways for pallets and a courier dedicated to the United States: every shipment goes with the right courier for its weight and destination. Courier invoices check themselves, shipment by shipment.
American customers see everything before they pay: the site calculates duties and charges, product family by product family. Nothing to pay on delivery. Texts in four languages.
At checkout the customer reads the reason, instead of a silent error. Fewer abandoned carts, fewer emails to customer service.
For every product the site calculates the real shipping cost and passes it to Google, together with the return policy, for 8 countries. Customers see it before they even click through.
A refunded product goes back into stock by itself and notifies whoever was waiting for it: PrestaShop alone doesn't do that. And a list shows who is waiting for a sold-out product, with the supplier to call.
The new European directive requires a simple way to withdraw online. My shop has one: two clicks, no account, with a receipt.
Sales count only real orders, not cancelled ones. Alongside, the products that are running out and the upcoming deadlines: what you need to make decisions in the morning.
The shop's virtual assistant, on 5 sites and in 4 languages. It's where PrestaShop meets artificial intelligence.
Over 170 of them, one by one: what it does, where it lives, what could overwrite it. Before every update we know what to check.
No manual edits on the live site: first you see what changes, then it's applied, then it's checked again.
In the move to PrestaShop 9 the whole history came across: almost 17,000 orders and over 19,000 customers.
If all you need is to sell a small catalogue in a single country, Shopify does the job and costs less at the start.
A custom engine needs care. If there's nobody to look after it over time, a closed platform is better.
Customisations are built piece by piece. If speed comes before everything else, start simple and grow later.
From an old PrestaShop or from another platform, bringing your orders, customers and history with you.
Reviews, shipping, duties, inventory: the rules of your business written into the code.
Structured data, Google Shopping feeds, measurements that tell you what really works.
Assistant, orders, inventory and suppliers managed with artificial intelligence.
Tell me what your shop looks like today and where you want to take it. In 30 minutes we'll work out whether custom PrestaShop is right for you. If it isn't, I'll tell you.