Prestashop is a great ecommerce solution for most medium size businesses. It comes with more flexibility and features that can easily be achieved from CMS driven online shopping platforms such as WordPress/WooCommerce or Drupal/Ubercart. Yet at the same time it has a relatively lightweight code base and simple file architecture unlike more industrial scale solutions like Magento.
Out of the box it comes with almost all of features one would normally expect from a sophisticated ecommerce solution and it handles multi-currency / multi-language scenarios like a breeze. There are a number of free modules (such as PayPal module) which most site owners will want to implement. But at some point you will find that there are things you want (or need to do) that aren’t free and in that case it’s time to shell out some money on a premium module.
Below are twenty premium modules which will go a long way to providing many of those common feature requests. At the time of writing, some of the modules have still not been updated to be compatible with the latest version of Prestashop (1.5) in which case it might be worth contacting the developer directly to inquire on the status of those projects.
1. M4 PDF Extension
If you are creating invoices in Japanese character fonts, this module is an absolute must have since Prestashop doesn’t have handle multibyte character fonts for it’s PDF generator by default. Even if you are not using multi-language invoices the module is still useful for shop owners who want more control over the PDF document layout. The module comes with the necessary language fonts included and it’s easy to install. The vender is extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
Cost: €99.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
2. Auto Backup
This should be one of the first modules any shop owner installs. Buy some peace of mind against catastrophic website failure. You can configure the module to run an automatic backup of either just your database or just your system files (or both of course) according to a schedule. Easy to install and the vendor support is fantastic.
Cost: $70.00 USD
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
3. Random Order ID
By default, Prestashop generates order numbers starting from 1 and increments upwards from there. Understandably most site owners are not so keen on letting competitors see the extent to which their business is growing. The beauty of this module is that it randomly generates a 6 to 9 digit unique number for each order.
Cost: €29.90 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4
4. Tabula Rasa
In the normal process of building a site, you will create a test installation, add and tweak the functionality, run some test orders against a test catalog then when you are satisfied, migrate the site onto a live server domain. The problem is that it is not necessarily straight forward or easy to delete all the “dummy” information from the site before going live. Even if you delete all the products, orders and customers there are potentially artifacts left behind in the Voucher and Loyalty program MYSQL tables. For the less technically minded this module provides an easy way to get back to a “clean slate” environment.
Cost: $19.99 USD
PS Versions: 1.4
5. Multiple Delivery Addresses
Sometimes you may want to allow your customers to create one order but send the products to multiple shipping addresses. Xmas orders for friends and relatives might be one such scenario. With this module you can individually send ordered products to different addresses and even select shipping methods on a product by product basis.
Cost: €100.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4
6. Localized Shipping
Quite often a vendor will want to charge different shipping rates within the same country depending on state, province or prefecture. For example in the case of Japan, a seller would want to charge the customer a different price for shipping to Okinawa versus Osaka. Different shipping weights also will likely come into play. This module solves those issues.
Cost: $75.00 USD
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
7. Attribute Wizard Pro
Prestashop does a reasonable job out of the box at handling products which possess simple variations of product attributes like size and color. But when the number of attributes becomes larger than three or four, Prestashop starts to run into problems with handling the mathematics of massive potential combinations. Attribute Wizard Pro solves that problem by taking a different approach. It doesn’t “pre-create” any attribute combination but instead creates each combination on “the fly” as selected by the user and saves that combination in a special temporary table. This is one of the most important Prestashop modules available in the module market place but it does have two criticisms. One is that it isn’t designed to allow CSV file uploading so all attribute data has to be input manually. The second is that there is quite a lot of code modification to core files required in order to get it to run. Hopefully this module will one day be incorporated into the core software distribution.
Cost: $150.00 USD
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
8. HTML in Category Description
This is another of those features which are annoyingly absent from the default distribution. Out of the box it isn’t possible to add anything other than plain text into the category description section, unlike product descriptions for example which have a WYSIWYG editor installed already. This module allows you to add HTML code and even images onto category pages.
Cost: €39.90 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
9. Multiblock Arbitrary HTML
Sooner or later the time will come when you need to add some random HTML into the sidebars or some other configured region of your site. For example you might want to simply add links to your Facebook and Twitter pages. This module lets you easily do that.
Cost: $39.99 USD
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
10. Export Orders Pro
At some point you will probably need to extract a CSV file containing details of all your orders for any given period. Your accountant will love you for having this module installed. Get details of every order and associated products, product attributes and customer information.
Cost: €80.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
11. Customer Photo Gallery
Customer Photo Gallery is a PrestaShop module which allows you to create a photo gallery in your shop. Both website owner and shop website guests can add photos to the gallery and view pictures added by other users. Lots of admin options available. This great feature increases your shop usability and create new way to interaction with customers and guests.
Cost: €39.99 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
12. Ultimate Ajax Search and Filter
If you have an extensive and sophisticated inventory, this module should be considered a must. Allow visitors to adjust sliders to set “feature” or “attribute” parameters when searching your stock.
Cost: €90.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
13. Prestashop News Management Module
It’s always good to give your customers a “news feed” of what developments are happening in your store. With the News Management Module you can do that in a very SEO friendly way. This might prove a competitive advantage if you wish to announce that your store will be appearing at an upcoming trade show, for example.
Cost: $100.00 USD
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
14. Inline Translation
This module is a godsend for translating front end text into another language. Prestashop by default comes with pretty good translation management capabilities but occasionally it can be a frustrating trial and error experience to work out which translation pairs on the back-end correspond to something we want to target on the front-end. Try out the Inline Translation module to save time.
Cost: €49.90 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
15. Export Catalog
Sometimes you just want to take a snapshot of what your current product catalog looks like. Perhaps you want to tweak it for reimporting via Prestashop’s native import functions. If so, this module should help.
Cost: €30.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4
16. Additional Payment Fees
If your site has C.O.D. as a payment option then you will no doubt need to add some additional fee to the invoice to cover the delivery company collection costs. This module does exactly that. You can add a “flat” extra fee (e.g. ￥500) or a percentage of the sale price.
Cost: €40.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
17. Prestashop Affiliates
One of the best ways of increasing your sales reach is sometimes by leveraging the help of friends and fans via an affiliate program. With this module, affiliates can add a sales widget onto their own site directing visitors to your site and they will get paid a commission for any resulting sales you make. It can be configured to remunerate the affiliates either in cash or “in-store” credit.
Cost: €100.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
18. Blog Module
Sometimes you have a bit more to say to the world than seems appropriate for a news feed. Sometimes you want to solicit comments from your visitors and engage them in an online conversation. This is a great way to build up brand equity and commitment from your customer base. The blog module is a way of integrating this seamlessly into your ecommerce site.
Cost: €30.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4 & 1.5
19. Forum Module
If you want to build the conversation out to a “many-to-many” interaction, a forum is the solution. An active forum community can really do wonders for your SEO and keeps customers loyal, engaged and satisfied.
Cost: €49.00 EUR
PS Versions: 1.4
20. EVolution Slider
When you want to add a bit of animated sparkle to your site, a JavaScript slider is the way to go. The EVolution Slider module has heaps of configuration options to let you choose an effect that will make your site shine.
Cost: €29.90 EUR
PS Versions: 1.5
