Ubercart to Volusion Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Seamlessly Migrate Your Store from Ubercart to Volusion

Are you operating an online store on Ubercart but looking to enhance your e-commerce capabilities? Migrating to Volusion can unlock a new realm of features, scalability, and an improved user experience. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the essential steps, considerations, and best practices for a successful platform migration from Ubercart to Volusion, ensuring your valuable data, from products and customer information to orders and SEO rankings, makes a smooth transition.

Replatforming offers numerous benefits, including access to a more robust infrastructure, advanced marketing tools, and simplified management. With Cart2Cart, this complex data transfer process becomes manageable, allowing you to focus on growing your business on your new Volusion store.

Prerequisites for a Successful Migration

Before initiating your Ubercart to Volusion data transfer, ensure you have the following in place to guarantee a seamless transition and maintain data integrity:

• Admin Access: You will need full administrative access to both your Ubercart source store and your new Volusion target store. This includes administrator login credentials.
• FTP/SFTP Access: As both Ubercart and Volusion utilize a bridge connection method for data transfer, you'll need FTP or SFTP access to the root folders of both your Ubercart and Volusion installations to upload the necessary connection bridge. For more details, consult What is a root folder and where can I find it?
• Plugin Requirements: For Ubercart, the Cart2Cart Ubercart Migration module is required. Similarly, for Volusion, the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module will be necessary for establishing the connection.
• Backup Your Ubercart Data: Always create a complete backup of your Ubercart database and files before starting any migration. This is a crucial step for data recovery in unforeseen circumstances.
• Prepare Your Volusion Store: Ensure your Volusion store is set up and accessible, but do not add any products or complex configurations yet, especially if you plan to use the 'Clear Target' option during migration. For more information, refer to How to prepare Target store for migration? and How to prepare Source store for migration?
• Review Access Credentials: Understand The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart to ensure you have all required information readily available.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these steps to migrate your e-commerce data from Ubercart to Volusion using the Cart2Cart migration wizard. The process is designed to be intuitive, minimizing downtime and preserving your critical business data.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the Cart2Cart website. You'll be presented with options to start a do-it-yourself migration. Click on the appropriate button to launch the migration wizard.

Step 2: Connect Your Ubercart Source Store

In the migration wizard, you'll be prompted to set up your source store. From the dropdown list, select Ubercart as your current shopping cart. Enter the full URL of your Ubercart store. As Ubercart uses a bridge connection, you will then need to download the Cart2Cart connection bridge, upload it to the root directory of your Ubercart installation via FTP, and verify the connection. This bridge facilitates the secure transfer of your store's data.

Step 3: Connect Your Volusion Target Store

Next, configure your target store. Choose Volusion from the list of supported platforms and provide the URL of your new Volusion store. Similar to the source store, you will need to upload the Cart2Cart connection bridge to your Volusion store's root folder to establish a secure connection. After uploading, verify the connection to proceed.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which data entities you wish to transfer from Ubercart to Volusion. Cart2Cart supports a wide range of data, including:

• Products (including SKUs, variants, images, descriptions)
• Product Categories
• Manufacturers
• Customers (including customer data, addresses)
• Orders (including order statuses, details, invoices)
• Product Reviews
• Taxes
• Coupons
• CMS Pages

You can select all entities or choose specific ones based on your migration strategy. This ensures only relevant data is moved, maintaining the efficiency and focus of your data transfer.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

Enhance your migration by selecting from various additional options. These features are designed to preserve vital aspects of your store's functionality and SEO rankings:

• Migrate Images in Description: Transfers product and category images embedded within descriptions.
• Clear Target: Clears all existing data on your Volusion store before migration, ensuring a clean slate.
• Preserve Product IDs, Orders IDs, Customers IDs: Maintains original IDs for products, orders, and customers, which is crucial for integrations and historical data.
• Password Migration: Migrates customer passwords, allowing customers to log into their accounts on the new Volusion store without resetting.
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Generates 301 redirects for your old Ubercart URLs to new Volusion URLs, preserving link equity and preventing broken links (often labeled as 'Create 301 SEO URLs' or similar). This is vital for maintaining your search engine optimization.
• SEO URLs: Migrates existing SEO-friendly URLs.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

This step involves mapping customer groups and order statuses from your Ubercart store to their corresponding equivalents in Volusion. This ensures that customer roles (e.g., 'Registered Customer') and order states (e.g., 'Pending', 'Processing', 'Completed') are correctly translated and maintained in your new platform.

Step 7: Launch Your Full Migration

Once you've configured all settings, you have the option to run a free Demo Migration to see a portion of your data transferred. This allows you to review the process and ensure data accuracy. After a successful demo, you can proceed with the Full Migration. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Plan, which offers a certain number of remigrations within a specified period, providing peace of mind. For more details, refer to How Migration Insurance works?

Post-Migration Steps

After your Ubercart to Volusion data transfer is complete, there are several critical post-migration tasks to ensure your new store is fully operational and optimized:

• Thoroughly Test Your Volusion Store:
• Verify all products (SKUs, pricing, images, descriptions, variants) are displayed correctly.
• Check customer accounts, ensuring login functionality and correct order history.
• Place test orders using various payment methods and verify order processing.
• Test all contact forms and interactive elements.
• Update DNS Records: Once you're satisfied with your new Volusion store, update your Domain Name System (DNS) records to point your domain to Volusion. This will make your new store live to the public.
• Review SEO and Redirects:
• Confirm that all 301 redirects are working correctly to preserve link equity and prevent 404 errors.
• Submit your new sitemap to search engines (Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools).
• Monitor your search engine rankings and traffic using analytics tools.
• Inform Your Customers: Send out an announcement to your customer base about your new and improved store.
• Consider Recent Data Migration: If you continued to operate your Ubercart store during the migration, utilize the Recent Data Migration Service to transfer any new orders, customers, or products added after the initial migration. This ensures no data is lost.
• Decommission Your Ubercart Store: Once you are confident in your Volusion store's performance, securely decommission your old Ubercart installation.

Migrating from Ubercart to Volusion is a strategic move that can significantly benefit your e-commerce business. By following this detailed guide and leveraging Cart2Cart's robust migration services, you can achieve a seamless transition with minimal disruption. Should you encounter any challenges or require custom solutions, don't hesitate to contact us for expert assistance or explore our Frequently Asked Questions.