Considering re-platforming from Magento, WooCommerce or Squarespace?
You’ve decided on the move to Shopify but what are you going to do with all of your previous data already on your current platform?
A big part of the platform comes with the migration of data that are needed, this contains lots of historical data, such as; orders, customers, old products, and new products and it’s important this transfers across smoothly and without any mistakes.
We handle the data migration using the app Cart2Cart they are a fantastic business that focuses on importing all entities – including products, orders, customers, collections – automatically and accurately from your current shopping cart to Shopify. Cart2Cart only moves data from one ecommerce platform to another.
Cart2Cart can complete a migration within a matter of hours or up to a few days. We recommend doing a demo migration prior to building your new website and then a second “delta” migration at the time of launch.
There are many cases when the following pieces of information are not migrated over to Shopify when using Cart2Cart:
- Grouped products
- Bundle products or kits
- Search terms
- Reviews and ratings (this is handled separately and can be done by exporting and importing into the new app)
- Static content pages
- Blog articles and comments
- Gift cards
- Payment methods
- Shipping methods
- Discount codes
Due to differences in data structures between platforms, some data cleanup may be necessary prior to migration. Because of these differences, you must manually migrate some data fields.
The typical migration process looks like this:
New Site Design – After completing your new Shopify site design, you are ready to start your migration.
Data Prep – Data structures are different between ecommerce platforms. Data must be appropriately cleaned ahead of time to handle these differences. Cart2Cart can provide guidance and assistance with this process.
Data Mapping – Once data is prepared, data is mapped between your current ecommerce platform and Shopify. This ensures data is moved properly between the systems.
Test Sample Data Set – After data mapping is complete, data will be moved over in three stages: products, customers, and orders.
Full Migration – Once each data type is approved by you, the migration application can be used to run the full migration.
Website Goes Live 🎉
Delta Migration – Here is typically a short period of time between the full migration and the go-live date. Once you go live, an additional delta migration is recommended to pick up any data that was processed during that time.
Migration Complete – One thing to understand is that as customer passwords cannot be migrated to Shopify, your customers will have to reset their passwords. The easiest way to do this is by using the Bulk Account Inviter app. With this app, you can invite your customers to activate their accounts for your online store. You will have to contact your Launch Manager or Merchant Success Manager to install the Bulk Account Inviter app. Note, however, that this app is limited to Shopify Plus merchants only.
READ: Web Migration Case Study - Darts Corner
