CMS:
The growth of e-business is increasing like never before and is expected to grow more in the coming years. 43.6% of all the websites on the internet are powered by some kind of CMS. Before learning about the best CMS Platform for e-commerce let?s understand what CMS means. Usually, we create web pages with the help of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS programming languages. You will have to learn these programming languages and coding if you want to build a website for your online business. However, CMS platforms can solve this problem of yours by allowing you to make a website without writing code or learning programming.
BENEFITS OF CMS:
Useful for a business of any size:
CMS is considered as one of the most excellent e-commerce solutions for any business – regardless it?s size. It helps in the flexibility, simplicity, and scalability of all business sizes (small businesses, mid-market, and enterprises).
Simplifies the complex process:
CMS helps in simplifying the complex procedures. It is a user-friendly program that allows the users to upload anything on their website in the blink of an eye.
Accessible from anywhere:
CMS is accessible to anyone from anywhere because the interface of CMS is browser-based in most of the cases.
Safe to use:
Content Management Systems have advanced security features that protect your content and database from all kinds of malicious attacks. It provides you with an option where you can easily restrict access to your content via a permission-based system.
Top CMS Platforms for E-Commerce:
WordPress:
WordPress is the top choice for most of the users and is considered as one of the best CMS Platforms. Earlier, WordPress was focused only on blogging, but with its new updates, it has added more features and an expansive plug-in library. Because of this, the software is now a full-scale CMS and is frequently used to design powerful websites by diverse entities. WordPress uses e-commerce based themes and e-commerce based plugins like WooCommerce.
Let us now look at the various pros and cons of WordPress.
Pros: – Variety of free themes and plugins available.
– Lets you download content in XML format.
– Frequent updates to improve website performance.
– Allows hassle-free integration with social networks.
– Better security compared to other sites.
Cons: – Prime target for potential hackers.
– Frequent updates can be a nuisance sometimes.
– Certain themes can decrease the speed of the website.
PrestaShop:
PrestaShop is another e-commerce solution for a CMS and is good if used for small and medium stores. Unlike WordPress, PrestaShop is a website that is e-commerce ready and can be used for e-commerce purposes as soon as it is installed. Though PrestaShop can have quite a steep learning curve, to begin with, there are many modules available plus there is a large PrestaShop community. where various tips and tutorials are shared. Let?s study the pros and cons of PrestaShop.
Pros: – Easy to install.
– User-friendly design.
– Minimal system requirements.
– Less expensive.
– Open-source shopping cart is free.
– Supports reliable payment gateways.
Cons: – Suitable only for small and medium stores.
– No official built-in support team.
– Expensive add-ons.
– Unprofessional design.
But if we compare PrestaShop vs WordPress, WordPress is the top choice of many users. This is because:
- Compared to PrestaShop CMS, WordPress CMS is easy to operate.
- PrestaShop helps you to only sell online whereas WordPress allows you to sell as well as expand your website.
- Compared to WordPress, PrestaShop has very limited features.
- The maintenance cost of WordPress is much lower than PrestaShop.
- WordPress Plugins are cheaper than PrestaShop Add-ons.
Taking into account everything, it really depends on your business and use case regarding what might suit well for you. Make sure you get an experience with both of them before finalising one for the long-term.
