Product Images & Media

Why Product Images & Media needs Custom Migration

Large catalogs, CDN URLs, FTP layouts, and filename encoding issues often break galleries or featured images during platform moves. Custom Migration for product images & media tunes how files are exported, copied, and attached so visuals look correct on the target store.

Who this customization is for

• Catalogs hosted on CDN, S3, or external FTP rather than cart-local media
• Merchants with strict gallery order or variant-specific images
• Teams that already saw missing images or wrong featured images in Demo
• Brands with heavy image counts per SKU approaching platform limits

Common use cases

• Images hosted on CDN or external storage instead of the cart’s default media folder
• Gallery order that must match merchandising (primary, swatches, lifestyle)
• Filename or path encoding problems that cause missing images after import
• Platform limits on format, size, or number of images per product
• Variant images that must stay linked to the right option combination

What Cart2Cart customizes

We adjust image pipelines, attachment mapping, and validation checks for sample SKUs. Where needed, we coordinate alternate download sources and re-attachment rules so marketing-ready galleries appear after migration.

Platform considerations

Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and others differ in how featured images, gallery positions, and variant images are stored. Custom Migration aligns attachment logic to the destination instead of assuming identical media trees.

Note: The Target platform may require installing additional apps, plugins, or add-ons when a capability is not available by default. Custom Migration can map and import the data, but those Target-side apps/plugins often need to be installed and configured so the feature works in admin and on the storefront.

The best way to make sure everything is mapped correctly is to run a Demo Migration with your real Source platform data, then carefully check how entities look on the Target store before Full Migration.

Checklist for evaluating this customized migration

• Document where images live today (local media, CDN, FTP, S3).
• Confirm gallery order and which image is primary per product/variant.
• Note known broken filenames, encoding, or missing CDN assets.
• Check target limits (count, size, format) against your largest products.
• Validate featured image + gallery on Demo SKUs before Full Migration.

How to apply for this customization

1. Schedule a Call and mention product images / media.
2. Describe where images live and approximate catalog size.
3. Send a few product URLs where galleries are complex or failing in Demo.
4. We propose a custom media plan, test on samples, then apply it to Full Migration.

Self-service Additional Options vs Custom Migration

Basic product images migrate with products. Wizard Additional Options help with description images and URL preservation. Custom Migration covers CDN/FTP pipelines, gallery order, and variant image attachment issues.

• Migrate images from products/categories/blog descriptions — Self-service: Copy inline images embedded in descriptions during Wizard migration. Choose Custom Migration when: Custom Migration for CDN sources, encoding failures, gallery ordering, or variant-specific media rules.
• Preserve product image URLs — Self-service: Keep image URL paths where supported (files may still move via FTP/connection rules). Choose Custom Migration when: Custom Migration when media must be re-hosted, renamed, or re-attached under Target constraints.

Availability depends on your Source → Target pair—confirm checkboxes in the Migration Wizard Entities / Additional Options step. See the Additional Options guide and Additional Options FAQ for pair-specific details. If Wizard options are not enough, schedule a Custom Migration call.

Already ran a self-service migration?

Yes—you can still apply this Custom Migration after a Wizard (self-service) run. Cart2Cart can restart migration with the customized rules; the Target store typically needs Clear current data on Target Store before Migration (or an equivalent cleanup of the entities from the previous self-service migration) so customized results are not mixed with the old import. Share your Source/Target carts and what already moved—Migration Experts will confirm the safest clear-and-rerun plan before Full Migration. Schedule a call if you already completed a Demo or Full Wizard migration and need customization next.

Case studies from real Custom Migrations

Cart2Cart Migration Experts have delivered custom work related to Product Images & Media across 126 recorded customization projects spanning 48 Source→Target platform pairs. Below are pairs we see most often, the entities typically involved, and sample data volumes when available.

Platform pairs already in focus

• Magento → Shopify — 21 customization projects
• WooCommerce → Shopify — 18 customization projects
• Magento → WooCommerce — 12 customization projects
• Wix → Shopify — 5 customization projects
• PrestaShop → Shopify — 4 customization projects
• Oscommerce22Ms2 → WooCommerce — 4 customization projects

Entities commonly customized

• Products — seen in 66 related projects
• Customers — seen in 38 related projects
• Categories — seen in 34 related projects
• Orders — seen in 34 related projects
• Coupons — seen in 13 related projects

How much data was migrated

Among projects with recorded store size, median migration volume is about 9K records, with larger builds reaching roughly 157.7K at the 90th percentile and peaks near 732.5K. Exact counts depend on products, customers, orders, and related entities in scope.

Sample projects

• Shopify → BigCommerce — entities: Blogs, CMS pages, Products — total volume ~719.1K
• Magento → Shopify — ~371.3K records migrated
• Magento → WooCommerce — entities: Orders 175.5K, Customers 62.1K, Products 1.4K, Reviews 336 — total volume ~239.4K
• WooCommerce → Shopify — entities: Orders 58.4K, Customers 46.5K, Products 3.5K, Categories 964 — total volume ~109.5K

Every store is different—share your Source/Target carts and entity scope on a Migration Expert call and we will estimate a similar Custom Migration path.

What we need to scope image & media customization

Galleries, CDN paths, FTP layouts, and variant image links are among the most individual parts of a catalog. Filename encoding, hotlink rules, and per-SKU image counts only show up when we look at your actual media tree.

Prefer staging or production access (admin + reachable image URLs) so we can validate downloads and gallery order on live products. If that is not feasible, a DB dump plus sample media archive can be reviewed offline; dump/media inspection usually requires a deposit because restore and path debugging take dedicated engineer time.

FAQs

Can you migrate images from a CDN?

Often yes, if URLs are reachable. We may stage downloads or use alternate sources when hotlink rules block pulls.

Will image SEO filenames stay the same?

We try to preserve filenames when the target allows. Encoding and uniqueness rules can force safe renames.

What if some source images are already broken?

Migration cannot invent missing files. We surface failures so you can fix sources or drop dead assets.

Don’t launch with broken product photos—talk to Cart2Cart.