WooCommerce Data Migrations

The process of migrating to WooCommerce from another platform involves many variables and technical considerations.

While in WordPress to WordPress migrations there’s usually just a single WXR File, a migration to WooCommerce is split into multiple files: Products, Customers, and Orders. Each of these files needs to be in the CSV format.

WooCommerce has a built-in product CSV importer with column mapping functionality, where WooCommerce automatically attempts to match the column name of the CSV file to a WooCommerce product fields. Fields that don’t get matched automatically can be mapped manually by using the dropdown menus to the right of each row.

To import Customers and Orders a 3rd party plugin is required. The recommend plugin is Customer/Order/Coupon CSV Import Suite by SkyVerge. It works very similarly to the built-in CSV importer with column mappings. [Documentation]

Exporting the content

The links below contain all the information needed to export data from the most popular e-commerce platforms. Platforms change frequently, if a link stops working, please update the list below.

Shopify

• https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/customers/import-export-customers
• https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/orders/export-orders
• https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/import-export/export-products

Squarespace

• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206540677-Exporting-orders
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205814028-Importing-and-exporting-content#toc–import-and-export-products
• https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/229497568-Managing-customers#toc-export-as–csv–desktop-only-

BigCommerce

• https://support.bigcommerce.com/s/article/Import-Export-Overview

Wix eCommerce

• https://support.wix.com/en/article/exporting-orders-in-wix-stores
• https://support.wix.com/en/article/exporting-products-in-wix-stores

Adobe Commerce

• https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-admin/systems/data-transfer/data-export

Other considerations

Not all migrations are just about moving products, customers, and orders.

As an example, when we have moved partners from Squarespace to WooCommerce in the past, one of the requirements is often to keep existing subscriptions working without having to ask subscribers to reauthorize their cards. In the end we were able to do this because Squarespace uses Stripes for Subscriptions, but it still required a significant amount of research, custom migration tooling, and coordination on our part.

Tip: If you’re migrating subscriptions, stop now, read this, and consult your friendly team Woo expert.

Each store has its own particularities and WooCommerce is capable of doing a lot of different things, from Subscriptions to Memberships. It’s important to do a lot of research early on to understand what kind of functionality the store needs and how we’ll be migrating the data to the new WooCommerce site.

Delta Migrations and Preparing for a Launch

Here are a couple of additional considerations to think of when a migration, delta or otherwise, needs to sync up with a launch timeline.

Practice: Ideally, do a practice migration 1-3 weeks before the launch, depending on the complexity of the migration. Go through the entire process for the migration (obviously without the actual launching the site part) to find any surprises that come up so they can be dealt with prior to launch.

Avoiding id conflicts: If a site is being built or redesigned for a site that has an existing WordPress WooCommerce store, it is important to have a plan before you begin development in order to avoid new pages during build creating a conflict with ongoing Woo purchases. Make sure the developer has a plan in place to prevent this, or consult with an internal developer to put a plan in place.