CartKeeper to PrestaShop Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from CartKeeper to PrestaShop

As your e-commerce business evolves, replatforming to a more robust and scalable solution often becomes a necessity. Migrating your store from CartKeeper to PrestaShop can unlock powerful new features, enhance performance, and provide greater control over your online presence. While the prospect of moving your entire digital storefront might seem daunting, this expert guide will walk you through each step, ensuring a smooth and successful data transfer to your new PrestaShop platform.

We understand that data integrity, minimizing downtime, and preserving SEO rankings are paramount during such a transition. This article outlines a clear, actionable strategy for moving your products, customers, orders, and other crucial store data from CartKeeper (via CSV file export) to PrestaShop, leveraging a powerful migration solution.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating the migration process, careful preparation is key to a seamless transition. Ensuring both your source CartKeeper data and target PrestaShop environment are ready will prevent common pitfalls and ensure data integrity.

For Your CartKeeper (Source) Data:

• Data Export: Since CartKeeper is not directly supported by automated tools, you will need to export all your store data into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This includes essential entities like products (with SKUs, variants, descriptions, images), product categories, customer records, order history, product reviews, and any associated metadata. Ensure your CSV files are well-organized and accurately reflect your current store data. For more details on this process, consider our CSV.File Data Migration service.
• Data Validation: Thoroughly review your exported CSV files for completeness and accuracy. Correct any inconsistencies or missing information before proceeding.
• Backup Your Store: Always create a complete backup of your CartKeeper store and its database before any major operation, even if you're only exporting data.
• For additional guidance on preparing your source store, refer to our How to prepare Source store for migration? FAQ.

For Your PrestaShop (Target) Store:

• Fresh PrestaShop Installation: Install a fresh instance of PrestaShop on your chosen hosting provider. Do not add any products or customers to it yet, as the migration process will populate these.
• Hosting Environment: Ensure your hosting environment meets PrestaShop's requirements and has sufficient resources (disk space, RAM, PHP memory limit) to handle the imported data.
• Admin Access: You will need full administrative access to your PrestaShop store, including the admin URL, username, and password. Access to your FTP client is also crucial for uploading the Connection Bridge. For more on securely managing your credentials, see The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart and Is it safe to provide your company with my access details?
• Required Module: PrestaShop migrations typically require the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module to be installed for successful data transfer. This module facilitates the connection between the migration tool and your PrestaShop store.
• For comprehensive information on preparing your target store, please visit our How to prepare Target store for migration? guide.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, you're ready to initiate the data transfer process. Follow these steps to move your CartKeeper data to PrestaShop.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Begin by accessing the migration wizard. This is where you'll define the source and target platforms for your replatforming journey.

Select the option to start a new migration and proceed to configure your store connections.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (CartKeeper via CSV)

In the source store setup, choose 'CSV File to Cart' as your source platform. You will then be prompted to upload the CSV files containing your CartKeeper data.

Upload all the prepared CSV files for your products, categories, customers, orders, and any other data you wish to transfer. The system will then process these files, recognizing the structure of your CartKeeper data.

Step 3: Configure Your Target PrestaShop Store

Next, select 'PrestaShop' as your target e-commerce platform. Provide the Admin URL of your newly installed PrestaShop store.

To establish a connection, you will need to upload the Connection Bridge. Download the bridge file, extract the bridge2cart folder, and upload it to the root directory of your PrestaShop installation using an FTP client. This bridge acts as a secure communication channel between the migration tool and your PrestaShop store. For a better understanding of file locations, refer to What is a root folder and where can I find it? Remember that the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module is a prerequisite for this connection method.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which data entities you want to transfer from your CartKeeper CSV files to PrestaShop. You can select individual items or opt to migrate all available data.

Common entities for migration include:

• Products (SKUs, pricing, descriptions, images, variants)
• Product Categories
• Customers (customer data, billing/shipping addresses)
• Orders (order history, statuses)
• Product Reviews
• Manufacturers
• Coupons
• CMS Pages
• Blogs and Blog Posts

Carefully review this list to ensure all critical business data is selected for transfer, maintaining data integrity.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options and Map Data

To further customize your migration, select from a range of additional options and perform data mapping.

Additional Migration Options

These options allow you to tailor the migration to your specific needs:

• Preserve Product IDs, Preserve Orders IDs, Preserve Customers IDs: Highly recommended for maintaining historical data and avoiding conflicts. Learn more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Essential for preserving SEO rankings and link equity from your old CartKeeper store. This automatically creates redirects for your old product and category URLs to their new PrestaShop counterparts.
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensures all embedded product images and descriptions are transferred correctly.
• Password Migration: Allows existing customer passwords to be migrated securely.
• Clear Target Store Data: If your PrestaShop store contains any pre-existing demo data, you can choose to clear it before migration. Understand the implications of Clear current data on Target store before migration option.

Data Mapping Setup

This step ensures that your CartKeeper customer groups and order statuses are correctly matched to their corresponding equivalents in PrestaShop. Accurate data mapping is vital for consistent customer data management and order processing within your new store.

Step 6: Run a Demo Migration & Full Migration

Before committing to the full data transfer, it's highly recommended to run a free demo migration. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your PrestaShop store, giving you an opportunity to review the results and identify any potential issues.

After a successful demo and verification of the transferred data, proceed with the full migration. During this final stage, you can also consider adding a Migration Insurance Service, which provides options for additional remigrations if needed. Learn more about How Migration Insurance works? The system will provide a comprehensive list of all data entities selected for transfer, along with the total cost for your review. Once confirmed, your full data will be transferred to PrestaShop.

Post-Migration Steps

The migration doesn't end when the data transfer is complete. A few critical post-migration tasks are necessary to ensure your new PrestaShop store is fully operational, optimized, and ready for customers.

• Thorough Data Review: Log into your PrestaShop admin panel and meticulously check all migrated data. Verify products (descriptions, images, pricing, SKUs, variants), categories, customer accounts, order history, and product reviews. Ensure all links are working and images are displaying correctly.
• Configure PrestaShop SEO: If not handled automatically, implement 301 redirects for any old CartKeeper URLs that might not have transferred seamlessly. This is crucial for preserving your existing SEO rankings and link equity. Update your sitemap and submit it to search engines. Note that for PrestaShop, certain SEO options are typically excluded for blogs, so review your blog content separately.
• Install Essential Modules and Themes: Reinstall and configure any necessary PrestaShop modules (e.g., for payment gateways, shipping, marketing) and apply your chosen theme. Customize your theme to match your brand identity and ensure a seamless user experience.
• Payment and Shipping Gateways: Configure and rigorously test all payment methods (e.g., PayPal, Stripe, credit card processors) and shipping options to ensure they are fully functional before going live.
• Update DNS Records: Once you are confident that your PrestaShop store is fully functional and all checks are passed, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new PrestaShop store. Monitor for any potential downtime during this transition. You might also consider our Recent Data Migration Service to capture any new orders or customer data that occurred during the DNS propagation period.
• Monitor and Optimize: Keep a close eye on your new PrestaShop store's performance, user experience, and analytics. Address any bugs or issues promptly. Optimize for speed and mobile responsiveness.

Migrating from CartKeeper to PrestaShop is a significant undertaking, but by following these steps, you can achieve a successful transition. If you encounter any complexities or require specialized assistance, our experts are available to help with services like Migration Customization or full-service packages like the Ultimate Data Migration Service.