BV Commerce to PrestaShop Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from BV Commerce to PrestaShop

Planning to elevate your e-commerce presence? Migrating your online store from BV Commerce to PrestaShop offers a robust solution for enhanced flexibility, scalability, and a vibrant open-source community. While BV Commerce has served many merchants effectively, a replatforming to PrestaShop can unlock powerful features, improved user experience, and greater control over your store's future. This detailed guide will walk you through every step of the data transfer, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal downtime.

Given that BV Commerce typically does not offer direct API integration for automated migrations with many tools, this guide will focus on a CSV-based approach for exporting your BV Commerce data, followed by a streamlined import into your new PrestaShop store.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your migration journey, it's crucial to prepare both your current BV Commerce store and your new PrestaShop environment. Proper preparation is key to ensuring data integrity and a successful transfer.

For Your BV Commerce (Source) Store:

• Admin Access: Ensure you have full administrative access to your BV Commerce store.
• Data Export Capability: You must be able to export all necessary data (products, categories, customers, orders, reviews, etc.) into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This is the primary method for extracting data from BV Commerce.
• Data Clean-up: Take this opportunity to clean up old, irrelevant, or duplicate data in your BV Commerce store. This will result in a cleaner, more efficient PrestaShop store post-migration.

For more detailed preparation tips, refer to our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?

For Your PrestaShop (Target) Store:

• Fresh PrestaShop Installation: Have a clean, working installation of PrestaShop ready. Avoid installing themes or extensions before the migration to prevent potential conflicts.
• Admin Access: You'll need full administrator credentials for your PrestaShop store.
• FTP/SFTP Access: PrestaShop migrations typically require uploading a Connection Bridge file to your store's root directory. This necessitates FTP or SFTP access to your hosting server.
• Plugin Requirement: The Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module is required for connecting your PrestaShop store effectively. The migration tool will guide you through its installation.

Learn more about preparing your target store by reading How to prepare Target store for migration?

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

This section outlines the process of moving your BV Commerce data to PrestaShop using a specialized migration wizard.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the migration service wizard. This is where you'll initiate the data transfer process.

Step 2: Connect Your Source (BV Commerce) Store

Since BV Commerce typically requires a file-based transfer, you will select 'CSVTOCART' as your source cart type within the migration wizard. This signifies that your data will be imported from CSV files.

• Export Data: Manually export your BV Commerce data into separate CSV files for products, product categories, customers, orders, manufacturers, reviews, CMS pages, blogs, and other relevant entities.
• Upload CSV Files: The migration wizard will provide options to upload these prepared CSV files. Ensure your files are correctly formatted according to the tool's requirements. For detailed guidance on CSV preparation, consider our CSV.File Data Migration service.

Step 3: Connect Your Target (PrestaShop) Store

Now, it's time to set up your new PrestaShop store as the migration target.

• Select PrestaShop: Choose 'PrestaShop' from the list of target carts.
• Enter Admin URL: Provide the Admin URL of your PrestaShop store.
• Connect via Bridge: The recommended connection method for PrestaShop is through a 'Connection Bridge.' Download the provided bridge file from the wizard, extract the 'bridge2cart' folder, and upload it via FTP/SFTP to the root directory of your PrestaShop installation. This bridge acts as a secure data conduit between the migration service and your store.

Step 4: Select Data Entities to Migrate

In this step, you'll specify exactly what data you want to transfer from your BV Commerce CSV files to PrestaShop. The migration service supports a wide range of entities, including:

• Products, Products Categories, Products Manufacturers, Products Reviews
• Customers, Orders, Invoices, Taxes
• Stores, Coupons, CMS Pages, Blogs, Blog Posts

You can choose to migrate 'All entities' or pick specific ones based on your business needs. Carefully review the list to ensure all critical customer data, product variants, and other essential information are included.

Step 5: Configure Migration Options & Data Mapping

This crucial stage allows you to fine-tune your migration and ensure data consistency between platforms.

Additional Migration Options

You'll find various checkboxes to customize the data transfer:

• Preserve IDs: Select options like 'Preserve Product IDs', 'Preserve Category IDs', 'Preserve Orders IDs', and 'Preserve Customers IDs' to maintain existing identifiers. This can be vital for maintaining data integrity and external system integrations. Learn more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product images embedded within descriptions are also transferred.
• Password Migration: Migrate customer passwords for a seamless transition for your existing user base.
• Create 301 SEO URLs: This is highly recommended to preserve your SEO rankings and link equity. It ensures old BV Commerce URLs redirect automatically to their new PrestaShop counterparts, preventing broken links and enhancing the user experience.
• Clear Target Store Data: Use this option with caution. It will erase all existing data in your PrestaShop store before the migration starts. Consult Clear current data on Target store before migration option for details.
• Create Variants from Attributes: If applicable, convert product attributes into variants in PrestaShop.

Data Mapping

The wizard will prompt you to map specific fields, especially for customer groups and order statuses. This ensures that your customer roles (e.g., 'Wholesale' in BV Commerce) and order states (e.g., 'Pending' or 'Completed') are correctly translated to their equivalents in PrestaShop, maintaining coherent customer data and order processing.

Step 6: Run Demo Migration & Full Migration

Before committing to the full data transfer, perform a free demo migration. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10-20 products, customers, orders) to your PrestaShop store. Use this opportunity to:

• Verify Data: Check if all selected data (SKUs, pricing, metadata, customer details, order history, etc.) has been transferred accurately.
• Test Functionality: Ensure product pages, customer accounts, and basic store functions work as expected.

Once you are satisfied with the demo results, proceed with the full migration. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Service, which offers additional remigrations if needed, or explore our Cart2Cart Remigration Service for post-migration adjustments. You can also opt for a managed service like Basic Data Migration Service for expert assistance.

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the data migration is a significant milestone, but the process isn't over yet. These post-migration steps are vital for optimizing your new PrestaShop store and ensuring a seamless transition for your customers.

• Thorough Data Review: Log into your PrestaShop admin panel and meticulously check all migrated data. Verify products (images, descriptions, pricing, variants), categories, customer accounts, order histories, and CMS pages.
• Configure PrestaShop Settings: Set up essential store configurations, including shipping zones, tax rules, payment gateways, and store information. These are crucial for handling transactions and logistics.
• Install Theme & Essential Modules: Choose and install your PrestaShop theme. Then, install any necessary modules (plugins) for SEO, marketing, analytics, or extended functionality to enhance your store's user experience.
• Implement 301 Redirects: If you haven't already used the built-in 301 redirect option during migration, implement them now. This prevents 404 errors, preserves your hard-earned SEO rankings, and ensures link equity is maintained.
• Update DNS Records: Once you're fully satisfied with your new PrestaShop store, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new hosting server. This will make your PrestaShop store live to the public. Be prepared for a brief period of downtime during DNS propagation.
• Test Everything Rigorously: Conduct extensive testing of all critical functionalities: browsing products, adding to cart, checkout process, account creation, password reset, search functionality, and contact forms. Consider placing a few test orders to ensure payment and order processing are flawless.
• Backup Old Store: Even after a successful migration, retain a complete backup of your old BV Commerce store for historical data access or in case unforeseen issues arise.
• Monitor Performance: Keep a close eye on your new PrestaShop store's performance, load times, and error logs. Address any issues promptly to ensure a smooth shopping experience.

By following these steps, you can successfully replatform from BV Commerce to PrestaShop, positioning your business for future growth and improved online capabilities. If you encounter any challenges or require expert assistance, don't hesitate to Contact Us for specialized support.