DrupalCommerce to Squarespace Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Migrating from DrupalCommerce to Squarespace: A Definitive Guide for Merchants

The e-commerce landscape is ever-evolving, and sometimes, a platform re-evaluation becomes essential for sustained growth and streamlined operations. If you're currently running your online store on DrupalCommerce but are drawn to the design flexibility, integrated features, and user-friendly interface of Squarespace, this guide is for you. Transitioning an established store, complete with products, customer data, and order history, can seem daunting. However, with the right strategy and tools, you can seamlessly transfer your e-commerce presence and unlock Squarespace's potential.

This article provides a clear, actionable roadmap for moving your valuable store data from DrupalCommerce to Squarespace, ensuring data integrity and minimizing downtime throughout the process. We'll leverage a trusted migration service to facilitate a smooth transfer, allowing you to focus on your business while the technical heavy lifting is handled.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your migration journey, a few preparatory steps are crucial to ensure a smooth and successful data transfer. Adequately preparing both your source (DrupalCommerce) and target (Squarespace) stores will save you time and prevent potential roadblocks.

For Your DrupalCommerce Source Store:

• Full Administrative Access: Ensure you have full admin credentials for your DrupalCommerce store, including access to the file system (FTP/SFTP) for uploading the Migration Bridge.
• Install Cart2Cart Drupal Commerce Migration Module: A specific module is required to establish a secure connection between your DrupalCommerce store and the migration service. This module facilitates data extraction.
• Data Backup: Always perform a complete backup of your DrupalCommerce database and files before initiating any migration. This is a critical step for data recovery in unforeseen circumstances.
• Review Supported Entities: Familiarize yourself with the data types that can be migrated, including Products, Product Categories, Products Manufacturers, Products Reviews, Customers, Orders, Invoices, Taxes, Stores, Coupons, and CMS Pages.

For more detailed information on preparing your source store, you can refer to our FAQ on preparing your source store.

For Your Squarespace Target Store:

• Active Squarespace Account: Ensure you have an active Squarespace account and a basic store setup ready to receive your imported data.
• HTTPS Requirement: Squarespace requires HTTPS for all API connections, so ensure your site is secured.
• Understand API Limitations: Be aware that Squarespace has API rate limits, which the migration service will manage, but large migrations might take longer.
• Familiarize with Supported Entities: Squarespace supports the migration of Products, Products Categories, Products Reviews, Customers, Orders, CMS Pages, Gift Cards, Coupons, and Blogs Posts.

For more insights into preparing your target store, consult our FAQ on preparing your target store.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, you're ready to begin the migration process using an automated tool like Cart2Cart. Follow these steps to facilitate your data transfer:

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Begin by visiting the Cart2Cart website. You’ll find an option to start a new migration. This typically involves registering an account or logging in to your existing one.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Cart (DrupalCommerce)

Select DrupalCommerce as your Source Cart from the provided dropdown menu. You’ll then be prompted to provide your DrupalCommerce store’s URL. A critical step for DrupalCommerce migrations is the installation of the Cart2Cart Drupal Commerce Migration module. This module, along with uploading the Migration Bridge, facilitates a secure and direct connection between your DrupalCommerce database and the migration tool. You'll typically need FTP/SFTP access to your server to place the Bridge file in your DrupalCommerce root folder. Once uploaded, Cart2Cart will verify the connection. Be prepared to provide details such as your admin login, password, and the full URL of your DrupalCommerce store, along with specific bridge location details.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Cart (Squarespace)

Next, select Squarespace as your Target Cart. Since Squarespace utilizes an API-only connection method, the Cart2Cart Squarespace Migration App simplifies this by requiring you to provide your Squarespace Admin URL, your administrator's email, and the corresponding password. This allows the service to establish the necessary secure connection and access tokens (like apiKey, apiSecret, accessToken, refreshToken) for data transfer. Ensure your Squarespace store is set up and accessible via HTTPS.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This crucial step allows you to define exactly which types of data you want to move from DrupalCommerce to Squarespace. You'll see a comprehensive list of supported entities, including:

• Products
• Product Categories
• Product Reviews
• Customers
• Orders
• CMS Pages
• Coupons

You can choose to migrate all entities with a single click or selectively pick specific data types that are most relevant to your new Squarespace store. This granular control ensures you only transfer what you need, maintaining a clean target store environment.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

This stage offers powerful customization to tailor your migration. You'll encounter two main sections:

Additional Migration Options

These checkboxes allow you to refine how data is transferred and ensure important aspects like SEO are preserved. Key options for your DrupalCommerce to Squarespace migration include:

• Preserve Product IDs, Order IDs, and Customer IDs: Highly recommended to maintain historical data consistency and prevent broken links. Read more about how Preserve IDs options can be used.
• Migrate Images in Description: Essential for transferring rich product descriptions and CMS page content with visuals intact.
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Critical for preserving your existing search engine rankings and link equity. This ensures old URLs redirect seamlessly to new ones.
• Password Migration: Allows customers to log in to your new Squarespace store with their existing DrupalCommerce credentials.
• Clear Target Store Data: An option to remove any existing data from your Squarespace store before migration, ensuring a fresh start. Learn more about clearing current data on target store before migration.

Data Mapping Setup

Here, you'll ensure that customer groups and order statuses from your DrupalCommerce store are correctly matched to their equivalents in Squarespace. This step is vital for data consistency and proper categorization in your new platform.

Step 6: Run a Free Demo Migration

Before committing to a full migration, conduct a free demo. This allows you to migrate a limited number of entities (e.g., 10-20 products, customers, and orders) to your Squarespace store. The demo serves as a powerful preview, allowing you to:

• Verify data integrity and formatting in your new store.
• Check how products, customer data, and other entities appear.
• Confirm that the migration process works as expected for your specific store configuration.

Thoroughly review the migrated data on Squarespace after the demo. If everything looks good, you're ready for the final step.

Step 7: Initiate Full Migration

Once you're satisfied with the demo results, proceed with the full data transfer. At this stage, you'll review the total cost of the migration and have the option to purchase Migration Insurance, which offers additional remigrations if needed. Confirm all your settings and launch the full migration. The service will then transfer all selected data from DrupalCommerce to Squarespace.

During this process, remember that Squarespace has API rate limits. While managed by the migration service, large volumes of data might take time to transfer. You can track the progress and will be notified upon completion.

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the full migration isn't the final step. To ensure a seamless transition for your customers and maintain your online presence, follow these critical post-migration tasks:

• Thorough Data Review: Meticulously check all migrated data on your Squarespace store. Verify products (SKUs, variants, images, descriptions), categories, customer accounts, orders, reviews, and CMS pages for accuracy and proper display.
• Update DNS Settings: Point your domain name to your new Squarespace store. This is crucial for directing traffic to your new site.
• Configure SEO and 301 Redirects: Even if you selected the 301 SEO URLs option during migration, it’s vital to double-check that all critical old URLs (especially for popular products or blog posts) correctly redirect to their new Squarespace counterparts. This preserves your SEO rankings and link equity.
• Install Necessary Squarespace Apps/Extensions: Explore the Squarespace App Store to find any essential integrations or functionalities your business requires that weren't part of the core migration.
• Set Up Payment Gateways and Shipping: Configure your payment processors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal) and shipping zones/rates within Squarespace. Conduct test purchases to ensure everything functions correctly.
• Test All Store Functions: Perform comprehensive testing of your new Squarespace store. This includes adding items to the cart, checking out, creating customer accounts, using search functions, and submitting contact forms.
• Go Live: Once you're confident that your Squarespace store is fully functional and all data is accurate, announce your new platform to your customers!
• Consider Recent Data Migration Service: For any new orders or customer registrations that occurred on your old DrupalCommerce store during the migration period, a Recent Data Migration service can transfer these incremental updates to your new Squarespace store.

By diligently following these steps, you can ensure a successful and stress-free transition from DrupalCommerce to Squarespace, empowering your business with a fresh, modern e-commerce platform.