If you already have a physical store or have decided to start online, surely some of the questions that most often go through your head are: What do I need to set up my own ecommerce? What is the best CMS to create my own online store?
Having enough technical knowledge, pecking code and programming your website from scratch can be an alternative to a CMS. But with an application like WordPress or Prestashop you can launch your website without much difficulty and much faster! In fact, even if you have no experience, you can create an online business without many complications. It is clear that at first it will be a little more difficult, but once you get the hang of it, you will see that it is much easier.
Are you determined to start your own business and do not know which tool is the most suitable to do so? In this post we see which is the best CMS to set up an online store.
WordPress, Prestashop and Magento: 3 CMS to set up an online store
When we talk about content managers or CMS to create an online store, we can not forget to mention WordPress, Prestashop and Magento. They are the three most used applications for ecommerce, but which is the best?
Depending on the type of business you want to set up, the technical knowledge you have or even the budget you have, you must choose one CMS or another. Below we will see what each of them consists of and which may be more suitable for you.
WordPress + WooCommerce
WordPress is the most used CMS in the world, with almost a 60% market share. It has become one of the most popular for its ease of use, the number of plugins that are available in the official WordPress repository and the large community behind this plugin.
Although initially it was a platform for the publication of blogs and later popularized also for the creation of websites, thanks to the WooCommerce plugin, WordPress has become a very good CMS for online stores.
The main advantage of using WordPress and WooCommerce for an ecommerce is that you do not need to be an expert to start and launch your online business. In this post I leave you a very complete guide in case you want to take a look at the configuration process. In addition, you have a lot of free and paid extensions that will help you customize your page to the fullest.
Although WooCommerce is the best known WordPress plugin to set up an ecommerce, you also have other options available that allow you to convert a page into an online store such as, for example, WP Ecommerce or Easy Digital Downloads.
Prestashop
It is a very well prepared ecommerce platform and one of the most powerful in the market. Like many other CMS, you can install it in a couple of clicks through the cPanel control panel that you have available in our hosting plans.
Although it is not as intuitive or simple as WooCommerce, it is not a solution designed only for people with advanced technical knowledge. In fact, you have a lot of resources and related information about this CMS, although practically all of it is in English.
Prestashop has an interface with an intuitive design and is easily customizable. It has a large number of modules that can easily cover the needs of your online store, but the configuration work is not so simple. Also the customization possibilities are greater than in WordPress and you can manage a larger product catalog.
Prestashop is a CMS designed only for ecommerce and is completely specialized in this category. On the contrary, WooCommerce was born as a plugin that converts a website made WordPress into an online store
Magento
Another great protagonist of the CMS for online stores is Magento. Considered as the content manager or most powerful CMS for ecommerce, but also the most complex and difficult to use solution. It has many more configuration and customization options, but you need to have advanced technical knowledge to be able to use them.
Compared to WooCommerce and Prestashop, Magento is the CMS with a higher learning curve.
At the level of catalog and product management, Magento is the best application if you have a large volume of transactions and manage a very large inventory level. In other words, Magento is intended for larger projects than Prestashop and, above all, WooCommerce.
It is also important to keep in mind that, a content manager as powerful as Magento, requires more resources at the server level than any other ecommerce application.
So, what is the best CMS to set up an online store?
Now that we have seen the most popular content managers for ecommerce, which is the best of all?
The most important thing is to emphasize that both WooCommerce, Prestashop and Magento are very good options to create an online store, but not all serve for the type of project or business you want to launch. Depending on the following factors, you will know which is the most suitable application for your project:
- Technical knowledge. If you are still starting and do not have programming knowledge or have never managed a platform like this, it is best to opt for the simplest solution: WooCommerce. You can also try it with Prestashop, but Magento would not be suitable for your case.
- Cost and budget. If you are going to outsource the creation of your project, it is important that you keep in mind that creating a website in Magento will cost you a lot more. The configuration options are not as simple as in WordPress, but the result is not going to be the same either.
- Resources: In this sense, it is also important to keep in mind that the needs of web hosting are not going to be the same either. While a Web hosting plan may be enough to start with WooCommerce or Prestashop, for an ecommerce in Magento you should choose a plan such as Professional Hosting or directly a Virtual Private Server. This also directly influences the cost and budget you have for the launch of your business.
- Magnitude of the business. Is it a large project or an online store with many categories or many products? If so, it is best to opt for an advanced solution like Magento.
In conclusion
WordPress with WooCommerce, Prestashop or Magento are the best CMS to create an online store. Depending on the technical knowledge you have, the budget you have or the magnitude of your business, you must choose one or the other.
