Prestashop 1.5.0 is now available

A few days ago a new version 1.5.0.17 of Prestashop was released! I can say without any hesitation: we all have been waiting for this moment forward. The new version of prestashop is a huge step forward. Since then (in our opinion) all other store systems are far far behind.

We invite you to watch this short configuration video to see how simple it is for everyone to start their own online business with PrestaShop v1.5. 

No matter who you are or what you do for a living, owning and operating an online store has never been easier. With more than 300+ out-of-the-box features included in PrestaShop v1.5, anyone can create a truly unique and successful online business. 

The list of new features housed in v1.5 is far too long to mention in its entirety here, but we’re happy to highlight some of the key ones for you, below.

Prestashop v1.5.0 new features:

Multistore management
With options for multiple currencies, multiple languages and multiple domains, multistore management is complete, efficient and integrated into PrestaShop v1.5.  This new feature will allow any merchant, regardless of business size, to manage multiple stores from a single Back Office.

Cart-pricing rules

PrestaShop v1.5 allows you to manage your cart’s pricing rules easily through an ergonomic interface. Additionally, merchants can now provide discounts on any and all items in a customers’ cart. This feature provides an overtly-efficient way to market promotional offers upon checkout.

New modules API

For new APIs, the structure has been revised to help you simply and efficiently manage updates to all of your modules. The APIs will now automatically check to ensure you always have the latest version(s) of each module installed into your Back Office.

Rewritten Core

PrestaShop’s core software has been rewritten to meet the MVC pattern and the object paradigm. This will make it even easier for all developers using PrestaShop.

Redesigned Back Office

With an improved ergonomic Back Office and an updated graphical layout, PrestaShop’s new Back Office design is visually stunning and very easy to use. The redesign respects the MVC pattern to allow developers to quickly make customizations, if needed.

Editing commands in Back Office

The editing commands in the Back Office have been optimized and relaxed. You will now be able to modify customers’ shopping carts as well as products already ordered. You will also be able to place orders from the back office, allowing you to help customers make purchases on your site (i.e. when they contact you by phone).

Improved Front Office Design and Functionality

The customer experience has been improved, including the order and checkout processes.  Merchants will now also be able to offer comprehensive product descriptions on a homepage that has been reimagined, and rebuilt from the ground up.

(New default template)

Improved After-Sales Service                                           

The integrated customer service feature has been greatly improved to centralize all of your customers’ messages from multiple sources. This new feature allows you to sync all of your email accounts so you can view and send messages directly from your Back Office.

Improved inventory management, supply orders, product returns and partial deliveries

For greater efficiency, PrestaShop will now include an inventory management tool allowing you to discern your physical stock from available quantities. In v1.5, you will now be able to manage your inventory in various warehouses, generate supply orders and view your stock through clear and specific interfaces. This inventory management tool is natively compatible with the new multistore feature, so managing your entire catalog of products has never been easier. Finally, for flexibility in managing customer orders, partial deliveries will now be available.

Improved management of downloadable products                

We have made selling downloadable products (photos, music, computer files, etc…) easier. You will now be able to manage product variations and create packages of multiple downloadable products. The file upload process has also improved.

In addition to the features provided above, multiple delivery addresses are now available. This way, if a customer chooses to shop for Christmas, or some other big event, they can buy multiple products at once and ship them individually to family and friends all over the world.

Several new partner modules have also been added as native features inside PrestaShop v1.5′s source code.

New partner modules include:

AddShoppers

Klarna

Jirafe

Allied Wallet

Kiala

Wexpay

PrestaShop Assurance

Merchant Warehouse

We’ve also taken extensive time to improve numerous existing partner modules so you can maximize your stores functionality and profitability.

Major module improvements include:

Cloudcache (Added SSL support. Cloudcache is now compatible with old templates using Smarty)

Avalara (Major improvements were made)

Twenga (No major fixes here, but the module definitely functions more efficiently)

Hipay (Major improvements)

TNT (Major improvements)

SoColissimo (Major improvements and bug fixes)

Shopping Flux (The module was entirely rewritten, and now v2 is available)

PayPal (Major improvements and bug fixes were made to improve functionality)

Paysafecard (Minor bug fixes)

Trusted Shops (Minor bug fixes)

Mondial Relay (Major improvements and bug fixes)

PrestaShop’s partner modules function better in v1.5 then they have in previous versions of our software. Utilizing modules allows you to completely customize the look, feel and functionality of your online business.

This article is based on http://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/prestashop-v1-5-now-available-for-download/