Analysis of the e-commerce market crisis and the Prestashop platform

2025 will definitively confirm the negative trend recorded by the online sales market and, in particular, the debacle of the PrestaShop platform. A brief but decidedly comprehensive analysis of the situation follows.

📉 1. General e-commerce trends (2024-2025)

- Post-COVID boom over: After the 2020–2021 boom, growth has stabilized or slowed in many sectors.

- Increased customer acquisition costs: Platforms like Google and Meta have raised CPC and CPA.

- Market saturation: Fashion, tech, and home goods are extremely competitive.

- Declining consumer confidence: Inflation and economic uncertainty (especially in Europe) have reduced online spending.

🛒 2. Data and signals related to PrestaShop

a. Drop in new active PrestaShop stores

- Fewer new sites launched compared to past years.

- Fewer installation/customization requests.

b. Migration to SaaS platforms (WooCommerceñ above all)

- Many users prefer more user-friendly solutions.

- Shopify is gaining market share among SMEs.

c. Fewer modules sold on Addons Marketplace

- Sales of plugins/modules have dropped in the last 12-18 months.

- Restrictive PrestaShop policies and increasing competition.

🧩 3. Specific causes for PrestaShop sites

- Technically demanding for beginners.

- Competition from large marketplaces.

- SEO challenges if not properly optimized.

- Issues with updates and version compatibility.

📊 4. Signals from Google Trends and marketplaces

- Declining interest in PrestaShop.

- Increase in negative reviews and forum content increasingly aimed at promoting the products and services of developers participating in the system, and unfair competition/defamation of independent developers.

✅ 5. However, opportunities remain

- PrestaShop remains solid for complex and B2B projects.

- Those who integrate optimized URLs and advanced SEO modules can still perform well.