What are the back-office and front-office?

Your PrestaShop store has two facets, its back-office and its front-office:

• The back-office is the administration area where you will manage all the operations of your online store.
• The front-office is the interface for customers, the website part where they will be able to discover your catalog and make their purchases.

The back-office

This is the administration interface of your website. This is where you can manage all the operations in the background. For example, product management, site configuration, order management, inventory management, customer management, after-sales service, and much more. In other words, the back office is the place where you can control everything that happens on your website.

The front-office

This is the publicly visible part of your website, where your customers can see your products, place orders and interact with your company. In general, potential customers can access the front-office without needing an account, but they can often create an account to track their orders and access additional features.

Main differences between the front-office and the back-office of an online store

• Visibility: The front-office is what customers see and use on the website, while the back-office is reserved for administrators and employees of the company to manage the internal affairs of the store.
• Customer interaction: The front-office is designed to offer customers a smooth and intuitive experience, while the back-office does not interact directly with customers. However, employees will manage requests and solve problems reported by customers there.
• Objective: The front-office aims to present your products, facilitate their purchase and ensure after-sales follow-up. The back-office is designed to ensure the smooth operation of the store, particularly by managing inventory, orders and logistics.