EC-CUBE to Magento Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Seamlessly Transition Your E-commerce Store from EC-CUBE to Magento

As your e-commerce business grows, the need for a more robust, scalable, and feature-rich platform becomes paramount. Migrating from EC-CUBE to Magento can unlock a world of possibilities, offering enhanced flexibility, powerful marketing tools, and a vast ecosystem of extensions and themes. This replatforming journey, while significant, is a strategic move to future-proof your online store and improve the overall user experience.

This detailed guide will walk you through every essential step of migrating your e-commerce data from EC-CUBE to Magento. Since EC-CUBE does not typically support a direct connection bridge for automated migration tools, we will leverage a highly efficient CSV-based migration approach, ensuring all your valuable data, from products and customer records to orders and reviews, makes a smooth transition to your new Magento store.

By following these actionable steps, you'll be able to confidently transfer your store's foundation, minimize downtime, and set the stage for continued success on the Magento platform.

Prerequisites for a Successful Migration

Before you begin the data transfer process, thorough preparation is key to ensuring a smooth and error-free migration. Here's what you need to have in place for both your source EC-CUBE store and your target Magento store.

For Your EC-CUBE (Source) Store:

• Full Data Export: You will need to export all relevant data from your EC-CUBE store into CSV files. This includes product data (SKUs, variants, prices, images), customer information, order history, categories, manufacturers, reviews, and CMS pages. Ensure your CSV files are well-structured and clean. For assistance, consider our CSV.File Data Migration service.
• Data Cleaning: Prioritize cleaning your EC-CUBE data before export. Remove any outdated, duplicate, or corrupted entries. This will prevent importing 'dirty' data into your new Magento store, maintaining data integrity.
• Complete Backup: Always create a full backup of your entire EC-CUBE database and files before initiating any data export. This serves as a critical safeguard in case any unforeseen issues arise during the process. Learn more about preparing your source store: How to prepare Source store for migration?.
• Admin Access: Ensure you have full administrative access to your EC-CUBE store to perform the necessary data exports.

For Your Magento (Target) Store:

• Fresh Magento Installation: Have a clean, freshly installed instance of Magento (version 1.x or 2.x, as supported by the migration tool) ready on your server. Avoid installing any themes or extensions yet, to prevent potential conflicts during the initial data transfer.
• Robust Hosting: Ensure your Magento hosting environment meets the platform's system requirements for optimal performance and scalability.
• Full Admin Access: You'll need complete administrative access to your new Magento store, including your admin URL, username, and password. Refer to The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart for details.
• FTP/SFTP Access: You will need FTP or SFTP access to your Magento server to upload a connection bridge file, which is essential for the migration tool to connect to your target store. Understand more about root folders: What is a root folder and where can I find it?.
• Magento Module for Password Migration: If you intend to migrate customer passwords, ensure you have the necessary Magento module installed as indicated by Magento's platform requirements.
• Target Store Backup: Even with a new installation, it's a good practice to create a backup of your Magento store before migration. For more information, check out How to prepare Target store for migration?.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, let's dive into the step-by-step process of moving your e-commerce store from EC-CUBE to Magento using a migration wizard.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration Process

Your journey begins by accessing the migration wizard. This intuitive interface will guide you through each stage of the data transfer.

You can choose to start a DIY migration directly or explore other service options if you prefer expert assistance.

Step 2: Connect Your Source (EC-CUBE via CSV) Store

Since EC-CUBE typically doesn't offer a direct API for migration tools, you'll select the 'CSV File to Cart' option as your source platform. This allows you to upload the CSV files you exported from your EC-CUBE store, containing all your critical business data.

Follow the prompts to upload your product data, customer records, order history, and other relevant CSV files. The migration tool will then parse this data, preparing it for transfer to your Magento target.

Step 3: Connect Your Target (Magento) Store

Next, you'll specify Magento as your target platform. Provide the URL of your newly installed Magento store. The migration wizard will then instruct you to download a connection bridge file. This file is crucial for establishing a secure connection between the migration tool and your Magento instance.

Unzip the downloaded file and upload the 'bridge2cart' folder to the root directory of your Magento installation via FTP/SFTP. This bridge acts as a secure gateway, enabling the transfer tool to access and write data to your Magento database. Once uploaded, verify the connection to proceed.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This is where you choose precisely which data entities you want to move from your EC-CUBE CSV files to your Magento store. You'll see a comprehensive list of entities, including:

• Products (including SKUs, variants, attributes)
• Product Categories
• Product Manufacturers
• Product Reviews
• Customers
• Orders
• Invoices
• Taxes
• Coupons
• CMS Pages

You can opt to select 'All entities' for a complete data transfer or pick specific items based on your migration strategy. Carefully review your selections to ensure all essential data makes the journey.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options & Data Mapping

This critical step allows for fine-tuning your data transfer and ensuring data integrity and SEO preservation.

Additional Migration Options:

You'll be presented with various optional features to tailor the migration process. Consider these popular choices:

• Clear Target Store Data: This option (Clear current data on Target store before migration option) ensures your new Magento store is completely empty before the migration, preventing any data conflicts.
• Migrate Customer Passwords: If selected, this will transfer customer login credentials. Note that this requires a specific Magento module, as outlined in the platform requirements.
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Crucial for maintaining your search engine rankings and link equity. This option automatically generates 301 redirects for your old EC-CUBE product and category URLs to their new Magento counterparts, preventing 'page not found' errors.
• Preserve IDs: Options to preserve original IDs for products, customers, and orders (How Preserve IDs options can be used?).
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensures all embedded images within product descriptions or CMS pages are transferred.
• Create Variants from Attributes: Important for product data that relies on variations like size and color.

Data Mapping:

In this section, you will map your EC-CUBE customer groups and order statuses to their corresponding equivalents in Magento. This ensures consistency and proper categorization of your customer data and order history in the new platform.

Carefully match each source field to its target counterpart using the dropdown menus provided.

Step 6: Run a Demo Migration (Optional but Highly Recommended)

Before committing to the full data transfer, perform a free demo migration. This transfers a limited number of your chosen entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your Magento store. A demo is invaluable for:

• Verifying the connection and configuration.
• Checking data integrity and format on the target store.
• Identifying any potential issues or adjustments needed before the full migration.

Review the demo results thoroughly in your Magento admin panel.

Step 7: Perform the Full Migration

Once you are satisfied with the demo results, you can proceed with the full migration. Review the total cost, which is calculated based on the number and type of entities you are transferring. You may also consider adding a Migration Insurance Plan (How Migration Insurance works?) for additional peace of mind and the ability to re-migrate data if needed.

Initiate the full data transfer. The migration tool will work in the background, minimizing downtime for your EC-CUBE store during the actual transfer process. You will receive notifications on its progress and completion.

Post-Migration Steps

The migration doesn't end when the data transfer is complete. A few crucial post-migration steps are essential to ensure your new Magento store is fully functional and optimized.

• Reindex Magento Data: After the data transfer, Magento requires reindexing to make all migrated data (products, categories, prices, etc.) visible and searchable on your storefront. Navigate to System > Index Management in your Magento admin and reindex all necessary indexes.
• Verify Data Integrity: Thoroughly check all migrated data in your Magento store.
  • Products: Confirm product details, SKUs, variants, prices, images, descriptions, and category assignments.
  • Customers: Verify customer accounts, addresses, and if applicable, password migration.
  • Orders: Check order history, statuses, and associated customer data.
  • Reviews: Ensure all product reviews have transferred correctly.
  • CMS Pages: Verify content pages are intact and properly formatted.
• Configure Store Settings: Set up essential Magento store configurations, including:
  • Shipping methods and rates
  • Payment gateways
  • Tax rules
  • Email notifications
  • Store information and contact details
• Install Theme and Extensions: Now is the time to install and configure your chosen Magento theme and any necessary extensions (plugins) to enhance functionality and design.
• Update DNS and SEO:
  • Point Domain: Once you've thoroughly tested and verified your new Magento store, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new Magento hosting.
  • Check Redirects: Verify that all 301 redirects (if enabled during migration) are functioning correctly, preserving your SEO rankings and link equity.
  • Update Webmaster Tools: Inform Google Search Console and other webmaster tools about the site migration. Submit a new sitemap for your Magento store.
• Thorough Testing: Conduct extensive testing of your entire Magento store from a customer's perspective. Test the complete user journey, including browsing, adding to cart, checkout process, account creation, and mobile responsiveness.
• Consider Recent Data Migration: If there were new orders or customer sign-ups on your EC-CUBE store after the main migration, consider using a Recent Data Migration Service to transfer these latest updates.
• Remove Old Store: Once you are fully confident in your new Magento store's performance and stability, you can safely decommission your old EC-CUBE store.

Migrating from EC-CUBE to Magento is a significant undertaking, but with careful planning and the right tools, it can be a smooth and rewarding experience. Embrace the advanced capabilities of Magento and propel your e-commerce business to new heights.