Upgrading a PrestaShop Ecommerce Platform from 1.7 to PrestaShop 8

Client

Website:https://coolsense.co.za/

Project Overview

CoolSense is an ecommerce store website that sells cooling and climate products through an online marketplace. Their website was developed using the PrestaShop ecommerce platform, one of the most popular ecommerce platforms for building scalable online shopping platforms and ecommerce store websites.

Over time, the store began facing performance and compatibility issues because it was still running on PrestaShop 1.7, an outdated version of the platform. This caused conflicts with hosting environments, outdated modules, and server configuration.

To resolve these issues, the client required an experienced PrestaShop developer and PrestaShop support team capable of upgrading the system and stabilising the platform.

WaveInk, a UK-based PrestaShop agency specialising in ecommerce website services, was hired to upgrade PrestaShop 1.7 to PrestaShop 8, repair broken modules, optimise image and page URLs, and improve the stability of the ecommerce engine.

Challenges

During the initial technical audit of the PrestaShop shop, our developers identified several issues affecting the overall performance of the online ecommerce platform.

Outdated PrestaShop Version

The website was operating on PrestaShop 1.7.8, which is no longer ideal for modern hosting environments or newer PrestaShop releases.

Older PrestaShop versions can cause several problems, including:

• Increased security vulnerabilities
• Incompatibility with modern PrestaShop plugins and extensions
• Slower performance across online store platforms
• Limited integration with modern systems using the PrestaShop API and PrestaShop webservice

Broken Modules and Extensions

Several PrestaShop extensions and plugins installed on the website were outdated or incompatible with the existing version of the platform. This affected important features including the PrestaShop shopping cart and checkout process.

Server and PHP Compatibility Issues

The hosting environment required optimisation to properly support PrestaShop 8. This included improving PrestaShop Nginx configuration and updating PHP compatibility for modern cloud ecommerce platforms.

Broken Images and Page URLs

The PrestaShop database configuration contained incorrect paths that resulted in:

• Missing product images
• Incorrect category and product page URLs
• Navigation errors across the ecommerce shopping website

These issues negatively affected both user experience and search engine visibility.

No Staging Environment

The website did not have a staging setup, which meant upgrades would have to be applied directly to the live site. This significantly increased the risk of downtime during the PrestaShop upgrade process.

Our Solution

WaveInk followed a structured upgrade process using official PrestaShop documentation, PrestaShop docs, and PrestaShop API documentation to ensure the website upgrade was stable and secure.

1. Upgrade PrestaShop 1.7 to PrestaShop 8

Our development team successfully upgraded the platform from:
PrestaShop 1.7.8 → PrestaShop 8.2.3

Benefits of the upgrade

• Improved PrestaShop security
• Better compatibility with modern PrestaShop plugins
• Faster loading speed for the ecommerce store website
• Long-term stability supported by the PrestaShop community and PrestaShop GitHub ecosystem

2. Server and PHP Optimisation

To ensure the digital ecommerce platform performs efficiently, our team upgraded the server environment and optimised system configuration.

• PHP compatibility for PrestaShop 8
• Improved Nginx PrestaShop configuration
• Database optimisation within the PrestaShop DB

3. Fixing PrestaShop Plugins and Integrations

• Updated outdated modules
• Fixed conflicts between PrestaShop integrations
• Restored checkout functionality
• Ensured compatibility with the PrestaShop Webservice API

4. Repairing Image and URL Structure

• Product image paths
• Internal links
• Category and product URLs
• SEO-friendly routing structure

5. Staging Environment and Safe Deployment

• Checkout functionality
• Module compatibility
• Mobile responsiveness
• Performance optimisation

Results

After the upgrade and optimisation process, CoolSense experienced major improvements across their online ecommerce platform.

Key Results

• Successful upgrade from PrestaShop 1.7 to PrestaShop 8
• Improved PrestaShop security and stability
• Fixed broken modules and PrestaShop plugins
• Restored product images and page URLs
• Faster performance for the ecommerce shopping website
• Infrastructure ready for modern cloud ecommerce platforms

Technologies Used

• PrestaShop 8
• PrestaShop Webservice API
• PHP & MySQL
• Nginx Server Configuration
• PrestaShop Database Optimisation
• Ecommerce Website Management Services