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Looking to move from OpenCart

Captain Weak Beard
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Captain Weak Beard Newbie

Captain Weak Beard

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I'm currently using OC and I'm looking to move over to Prestashop. I'm just playing round with a test install and want to ask questions as they come up with my testing.

 

  • If a custom theme is installed, will all the additionally installed modules work (just as payment gateways, rich snippets, etc), or would they need further customization to work correctly with the new theme (or vise versa if the theme is installed first)?
  • When a new user signs up for an account, can their password be removed from email that's sent to them?
  • Can the Powered by Prestashop be removed from the automated emails that are sent to customers?
  • Once email is set-up, will the Customer Service area receive customers replies to emails?

 

Thanks,

Greg

Edited by Captain Weak Beard (see edit history)
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Apium Newbie

Apium

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Hello Greg,

 

Let me begin by saying it's great that you are considering moving from OpenCart to PrestaShop. It is always nice to welcome a soon-to-be convert to the PS community :).

 

Now, let me try to answer your questions one by one.

  • If a custom theme is installed, will all the additionally installed modules work (just as payment gateways, rich snippets, etc), or would they need further customization to work correctly with the new theme (or vise versa if the theme is installed first)?

If a module is properly written by the developer, it should work either out-of-the-box, or with only minimal customization. In my experience, the time-consuming modules are those that display content on the front office (as these need to be styled, and that may or may not already have been done by the theme developer), not so much the modules that add functionality like payment gateways. I'd dare answer this claiming (almost) no further customization is required.

  • When a new user signs up for an account, can their password be removed from email that's sent to them?

Yes, that's quite simple to do. In /mails/<language>/account.html and /mails/<language>/account.txt, you'll find the field {passwd}. That's the password variable, and removing it from the template will solve this.

  • Can the Powered by Prestashop be removed from the automated emails that are sent to customers?

Of course it can! :) Each email has a section that styles this part, and those can be removed (rather) easily, if not somewhat laborious. I'd refer you to this post: https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/268657-i-want-to-remove-powered-by-prestashop-from-emails/.

  • Once email is set-up, will the Customer Service area receive customers replies to emails?

From the documentation (http://doc.prestashop.com/display/PS16/Customer+Service), I'd answer that as yes! (Disclaimer: I've never worked with the customer service myself, so I cannot state this as fact. Maybe somebody else could clarify better?) I just had this confirmed by a customer who uses this as a full yes!

 

 

Regards,

 

Niels

Edited by Apium (see edit history)
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Captain Weak Beard Newbie

Captain Weak Beard

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@Apium - Many thanks for the helpful replies, I'll have plenty of questions over the next few days as I trial PS and work through it's features - mostly straight forward so far.

 

@El Patron - I'd be planning to use identical URL structuring to preserve my SEO. One think I noticed earlier, when generating an SEO friendly URL, was that it was prefixed with product number, can this be removed as it seem unnecessary and makes the URL more complicated?

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El Patron Mentor

El Patron

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@Apium - Many thanks for the helpful replies, I'll have plenty of questions over the next few days as I trial PS and work through it's features - mostly straight forward so far.

 

@El Patron - I'd be planning to use identical URL structuring to preserve my SEO. One think I noticed earlier, when generating an SEO friendly URL, was that it was prefixed with product number, can this be removed as it seem unnecessary and makes the URL more complicated?

 

I do not advise to remove the native ps url.  There are module that tout to do this but IMHO you won't even now the issues that will create now and in the future.  For example all may see fine at first but the you need new module, that module is dependent on url prod id, which does not exist....so kaput...lol

 

I suggest leave native core structure alone and have plan for seo friendly redirects to new url....

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Captain Weak Beard Newbie

Captain Weak Beard

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@El Patron - no problem, I wasn't sure if there was an option in the store settings somewhere which I had missed.

 

 

Is there a feature in PS that can generate tracking codes for marketing URLs? That's one thing I discovered recently in OC which has been really handy, allowing me to monitor URLs used in on & off site links for Click Thru Rate & orders (like banner images or links on other landing pages).

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Apium Newbie

Apium

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Is it possible to set up flat rate shipping? So a fixed price, regardless of weight or order value, for Standard, Priority and Express Delivery. Plus the option for Free Standard delivery on orders over x amount?

 

This post might answer these questions: https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/265666-solved-configuration-of-the-shipping-flat-rate-and-free-shipping/

 

Is there a feature in PS that can generate tracking codes for marketing URLs? That's one thing I discovered recently in OC which has been really handy, allowing me to monitor URLs used in on & off site links for Click Thru Rate & orders (like banner images or links on other landing pages).

 

I honestly do not know if such a feature exists (at least not by default, I believe), but I'd not be surprised if there's an addon for this. You could try a search on http://addons.prestashop.com/! I do have to say that statistics in PrestaShop are quite good, on average. If used in combination with Analytics, I think you can get quite a lot of this information out of them already.

Edited by Apium (see edit history)
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Apium Newbie

Apium

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How well does PrestaShop handle https? I was an absolute pain in the ass to get https working in OC, considering it should be a standard requirement for an ecom' site!!

 

I've actually done this recently, and will do it again for another customer in a few weeks (it's on the schedule). So far, my conclusions are that it can be a little tricky to get this right, but it shouldn't be too hard to handle. Furthermore, there are quite some tutorials on this, google is your friend :).

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mdr23 Newbie

mdr23

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Hey there, I am an OC transplant - it's a HUGE relief to be using PS now. The others here have answered your questions, but here is a little extra perspective.

I used OC 2.1 for six months before it completely collapsed on me. I had maybe four third-party Extensions (i.e., Addons/Modules) and a theme. Over half of the Extensions didn't install correctly. OC is full of issues. Trying to get answers from the forums was often useless and big waste of time. A friend of mine also switched from OC to PS after I talked about how much more I liked it. :) We are both happy - never going back to OC.

A few things Prestashop does better, imo:
+ Overall, very stable feeling
+ Email management
+ SSL (OC was a nightmare)
+ Product Combinations management is quite robust (out of the box)
+ Inventory management
+ Modules installation and management (so far, so good)
+ Superior forum support - very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly community
And last but not least, it has Export (like any respectable cart should) - try finding that on OC!

Some OC Extensions developers confided in me saying that since v2.0 and later, it's gone downhill with no signs of coming back.

To be fair though, a few things I wish PS has, but OC had done nicely:
+ Password reset (is an emailed link to reset password)
+ SEO urls, but (out of the box) must type each manually (!)
+ Speed
+ Custom product fields were designed a little more thoughtfully

 

Not worth staying with OC... Cheers :)

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Captain Weak Beard Newbie

Captain Weak Beard

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Thanks mdr!

I've been with OC for a year nearly, this is my first time in e-commerce so in some ways OC has been a baptism of fire. I too had issues getting SSL to work with OC, meant spending a good amount to time searching endless forum posts and the net to even get a hint of what needed changing (as with all OC issues) in the htaccess - then a good amount of trial and error due to lack of a definitive answer. The OC support is not so good, poor ticket replies and not that great of a forum.

Still playing with PrestaShop at the moment as I've got limited time, but I like it a lot so far as it got plenty of built in features I would have liked in OC which would have meant installing a OC/VQmod or extension.

Also need to look as how I'm going to migrate, can I install PS on a subdomain, migrate the data, remove OC and then move PS to the main domain?

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Captain Weak Beard Newbie

Captain Weak Beard

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So I'm now running PrestaShop, only the bootstrap theme and nothing fancy, but I can say PS is way ahead of OpenCart. Honestly with OC if I wanted to set up custom P&P options the answer was "There's a module for that", or if I wanted to display the % saving on a sale item - "There's a module for that", or have the product image change on selection of different product options - "There's a module for that". And that's just what I can think of right now.

Oh and the nightmare that was forcing SSL site wide ... c'mon now it's 2016, SSL should be compulsory not an option for data protection when taking payments and storing peoples personal details. And not forgetting the final nail in OC's coffin for me, the unresolvable API issue ... which meant there was no way to progress customers orders through the order statuses to completion.


Just found a free module to notify the customer when Out of Stock products are back in stock.... brilliant!!

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El Patron Mentor

El Patron

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We have done several OpenCart to PrestaShop conversions but also 'other' carts to PrestaShop.  We know how to not only keep you link juice but also how to get your first PrestaShop rock solid at admin but also in great front office using high quality front office themes that have the tools to manage your catalog.  We do 'all' the heavy lifting to get your cart switched and selling..  Happy day, Fred

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