StoresOnline to BigCommerce Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Migrate StoresOnline to BigCommerce: The Ultimate Guide

Transitioning your e-commerce store from an older platform like StoresOnline to a modern, robust solution like BigCommerce is a strategic move that can significantly enhance your online presence and operational efficiency. While StoresOnline has served its purpose, its limitations often hinder growth, scalability, and access to contemporary e-commerce features. BigCommerce, on the other hand, offers a powerful, flexible, and scalable platform equipped with advanced marketing tools, extensive app integrations, and superior performance capabilities.

This comprehensive guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough to help you seamlessly replatform your store from StoresOnline to BigCommerce. Due to StoresOnline's architecture, the migration process typically involves exporting your data into CSV files, then importing it into your new BigCommerce store. This method ensures that vital customer data, product details, order history, and other essential entities are accurately transferred, maintaining data integrity throughout the transition.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your migration journey, proper preparation is key to a smooth and successful data transfer. Here's what you need to prepare for both your StoresOnline (source) and BigCommerce (target) stores:

Preparing Your StoresOnline (Source) Data

Since StoresOnline typically does not offer a direct API for automated data extraction, your migration will primarily be handled via CSV file export. This means you'll need to manually export your store's data into structured CSV files.

• Data Export: Identify and export all crucial data from your StoresOnline store. This includes, but is not limited to:
  • Products: SKUs, product names, descriptions, prices, images, variants, inventory levels, manufacturers.
  • Product Categories: Names, descriptions, hierarchical structure.
  • Customers: Names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, customer groups.
  • Orders: Order IDs, dates, customer information, product details, order statuses, prices, shipping information.
  • Reviews: Customer reviews and ratings.
  • CMS Pages & Blog Posts: Content, titles, URLs.
  • Coupons: Codes, discounts, usage limits.
• Organize CSV Files: Ensure your CSV files are well-organized and clearly labeled for easy identification during the import process. If your data includes images, prepare them separately, ensuring they are accessible via URLs or a file repository.
• Understand Limitations: Be aware that certain highly customized data or unique functionalities from StoresOnline might require manual recreation or adjustments on BigCommerce.

For more detailed guidance on preparing your source store, please refer to our FAQ on preparing your source store.

Preparing Your BigCommerce (Target) Store

Your BigCommerce store will be the destination for all your migrated data. Ensure it's ready to receive the influx of information.

• Set Up Your BigCommerce Store: If you haven't already, create and configure your BigCommerce account.
• Ensure HTTPS: BigCommerce requires HTTPS for API connections. This is standard for BigCommerce stores.
• Create API Credentials: To allow the migration tool to connect and transfer data, you need to generate API credentials within your BigCommerce admin panel. This involves creating a "Custom app" with the necessary API scopes. You will need the:
  • Client ID (Username)
  • Access Token (API Token)
  • API Path (Store Hash)
  These credentials provide secure access for data transfer. You can find detailed instructions on generating these within your BigCommerce admin under "Apps" > "API Accounts."
• Consider a Fresh Start: Decide if you want to "Clear Target Data" before migration. This option is useful if your BigCommerce store already has sample data that you want to remove to prevent conflicts.

For more insights into preparing your target store and managing access credentials, visit our guide on how to prepare your BigCommerce store.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once your preparations are complete, you can begin the migration process. This guide outlines the typical steps using a robust migration wizard.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Navigate to the migration service's website. You'll typically find an option to start a new migration.

Step 2: Configure Your Stores

Connect StoresOnline (Source Cart)

As StoresOnline does not support a direct API connection, you will select "CSV File to Cart" as your source shopping cart. You'll then upload the CSV files you prepared earlier, which contain your product, customer, order, and other essential data.

Connect BigCommerce (Target Cart)

Next, select "BigCommerce" as your target shopping cart. You will then be prompted to enter your BigCommerce store's URL and the API credentials you generated: the Client ID, Access Token, and API Path. These details allow the migration tool to securely access and transfer data to your new store. Remember that BigCommerce API connections require HTTPS and involve creating a custom app with specific scopes.

Step 3: Select Entities for Migration

This critical step allows you to choose exactly which data entities you want to move from StoresOnline to BigCommerce. You can select all available entities or pick specific ones based on your needs. Commonly migrated entities include:

• Products: Including SKUs, attributes, variants, descriptions, images, and prices.
• Product Categories: Maintaining hierarchical structures.
• Manufacturers: Associating products with their brands.
• Customers: With their billing and shipping addresses.
• Orders: Preserving order history and statuses.
• Product Reviews: Transferring valuable social proof.
• CMS Pages and Blog Posts: Migrating your informational and content marketing assets.
• Coupons: Ensuring your promotions transfer correctly.

Step 4: Configure Additional Options

To tailor your migration, select from various additional options:

• Clear Target Data: Remove any existing data on your BigCommerce store before migration.
• Preserve IDs: Maintain original Product IDs, Order IDs, Customer IDs, and Category IDs. This is crucial for historical data consistency and SEO. Read more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Create 301 Redirects: Automatically create redirects from your old StoresOnline URLs to new BigCommerce URLs, preserving valuable SEO rankings and link equity.
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product images embedded within descriptions are transferred correctly.
• Password Migration: Migrate customer passwords securely.
• Create Variants from Attributes: Transform product attributes into BigCommerce product variants.

Keep in mind BigCommerce's API rate limits during this process, which can affect the overall migration speed, especially for very large stores. Tools are typically designed to manage these limitations automatically.

Step 5: Map Data Fields

Data mapping ensures that corresponding fields from your StoresOnline data are correctly matched to their equivalents in BigCommerce. This step is crucial for maintaining data integrity and consistency, especially for customer groups, order statuses, and product attributes.

Step 6: Run Demo Migration & Full Migration

It's highly recommended to run a free demo migration first. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your BigCommerce store. Review the demo results thoroughly to ensure everything looks correct and address any potential issues. Once satisfied, proceed with the full migration. You might also consider purchasing a Migration Insurance Service, which offers additional remigrations if you need to make adjustments or encounter unforeseen issues after the initial transfer.

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the data transfer is a significant milestone, but a few crucial steps remain to ensure your new BigCommerce store is fully operational and optimized.

• Thorough Testing and Validation: After the migration, meticulously review all aspects of your new BigCommerce store.
• Products: Check product pages, images, descriptions, variants, pricing, and inventory levels.
• Customers: Verify customer accounts, login functionality, and address books.
• Orders: Review historical orders for accuracy and ensure new orders process correctly.
• Functionality: Test search, filters, forms, and the entire checkout process to ensure a seamless user experience.
• SEO and Redirects Verification: If you opted for 301 redirects, verify their implementation to preserve your SEO rankings and link equity. Update your Google Search Console with the new BigCommerce sitemap and monitor for any crawl errors or broken links.
• Theme Customization and App Integration: Personalize your BigCommerce theme to match your brand identity. Explore the BigCommerce App Marketplace to integrate essential apps and plugins for marketing, analytics, customer service, and other business needs.
• Go Live and Monitor: Once everything is validated, update your DNS records to point to your new BigCommerce store. Monitor your site's performance, traffic, and sales closely in the initial days post-launch. Remove your old StoresOnline store only after confirming the full functionality and stability of your BigCommerce site.

Should you require further assistance or specialized services, consider our Recent Data Migration Service for new orders and customers, Migration Customization Service for unique requirements, or our Ultimate Data Migration Service for a fully managed experience. Don't hesitate to contact our team for expert guidance throughout your migration journey.