Marketlive to Volusion Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

Transitioning Your E-commerce Store: Marketlive to Volusion Migration

Embarking on an e-commerce platform migration can be a daunting, yet incredibly rewarding, endeavor. Moving your online store from Marketlive to Volusion offers a fresh start with a platform known for its robust features and scalability. This comprehensive guide is designed to walk you through every step of the data transfer process, ensuring a smooth transition for your products, customers, orders, and more. We’ll cover essential prerequisites, a detailed step-by-step migration process, and crucial post-migration tasks to get your new Volusion store up and running flawlessly.

Understanding the nuances of data migration, from maintaining data integrity to preserving vital SEO rankings, is key. Our approach utilizes an expert migration solution to facilitate this complex replatforming, ensuring your business experiences minimal disruption and maximum benefit from its new Volusion home.

Prerequisites for a Successful Migration

Before you initiate the data transfer from Marketlive to Volusion, careful preparation is essential. Addressing these prerequisites will streamline the process and prevent potential hurdles.

For Your Marketlive (Source) Store:

• Data Export: As Marketlive is not directly integrated with many automated migration tools, you will need to export your store’s data into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This is the primary method for transferring information from Marketlive. Ensure you export all critical entities including:
  • Products (with SKUs, variants, descriptions, images, and prices)
  • Product Categories
  • Product Manufacturers
  • Product Reviews
  • Customer information (including shipping and billing addresses)
  • Orders (with full order history, statuses, and associated customer details)
  • Invoices
  • Taxes
  • Stores/Storefronts
  • Coupons
  • CMS Pages
• Access: Ensure you have full administrative access to your Marketlive backend to perform these data exports.
• Data Review: Take this opportunity to clean up any outdated or redundant data within your Marketlive store before export. This helps ensure only relevant and accurate information is moved to Volusion.

For more details on preparing your source store, consult our FAQ on source store preparation.

For Your Volusion (Target) Store:

• New Volusion Store Setup: You must have a new, functional Volusion store established. This will be the destination for all your Marketlive data.
• Admin Access: You’ll need full administrator login credentials (admin login, password) and the admin URL for your Volusion store.
• Install Migration Module: Volusion migrations require the installation of a dedicated module. You will need to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. This typically involves using FTP access to upload a “bridge” file to your Volusion store’s root folder. This bridge enables secure communication between your old store data and the new Volusion platform. Understanding what a root folder is can be helpful here.
• Clear Target (Optional but Recommended): For a clean migration, consider clearing any existing demo data in your new Volusion store. This prevents data conflicts and ensures a fresh start. Learn more about the “Clear current data on Target store before migration” option.

For additional guidance, refer to our FAQ on target store preparation.

General Preparations:

• Data Backup: Always create a complete backup of your Marketlive store data before beginning any migration process. This is a critical safety measure.
• Review Data Structures: Familiarize yourself with how data entities (like products, customers, orders) are structured in both Marketlive and Volusion to anticipate any mapping requirements.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, you’re ready to begin the migration using our intuitive wizard. This process streamlines the transfer of your valuable e-commerce data.

Step 1: Get Started with the Migration Wizard

Begin your migration journey by navigating to the migration wizard. You’ll typically start by selecting “Start Migration” or a similar option.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (Marketlive via CSV)

Since Marketlive data will be migrated via CSV files, you will select “CSV File to Cart” as your source platform in the migration wizard. You will then be prompted to upload the CSV files containing your exported Marketlive data.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Store (Volusion)

Next, configure your new Volusion store as the migration target. Select “Volusion” from the dropdown list of target platforms. You will then need to provide your Volusion store’s URL and your admin credentials (login and password). Remember, this step requires that the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module (bridge) has already been uploaded to your Volusion store’s root directory.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Migration

This crucial step allows you to specify exactly which data entities you want to move from Marketlive to Volusion. You can choose to migrate “All entities” or select specific data types individually. Volusion supports the migration of a wide range of data, including:

• Products (with all associated data like SKUs, variants, prices, images)
• Product Categories
• Product Manufacturers
• Product Reviews
• Customers
• Orders
• Invoices
• Taxes
• Store information
• Coupons
• CMS Pages

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

Enhance your migration with various additional options and ensure data consistency through mapping.

Additional Migration Options:

Review and select from a list of powerful options designed to customize your data transfer:

• Clear Target Store Data: Highly recommended for a fresh start, this option removes all existing data from your Volusion store before migration.
• Preserve IDs: Crucial for maintaining existing customer relationships and order history, you can choose to preserve Product IDs, Order IDs, and Customer IDs.
• Migrate Images in Product Descriptions: Ensure all visual content within your product descriptions is transferred seamlessly.
• Password Migration: Safely migrate customer passwords for a smooth user experience.
• SEO URLs and Create 301 SEO URLs: Preserve your search engine rankings by automatically generating SEO-friendly URLs and setting up 301 redirects from your old Marketlive URLs to the new Volusion ones. This is vital for maintaining link equity. Note that SEO options are generally excluded for blogs on Volusion.
• Migrate Invoices: Transfer your complete invoice history.
• Skip Custom Attributes: An option to streamline data by excluding specific custom attributes.

Data Mapping Setup:

Ensure that customer groups and order statuses from your Marketlive store are correctly matched to their corresponding equivalents in Volusion. This prevents data discrepancies and maintains logical flow for your business operations.

Step 6: Run a Free Demo Migration

Before committing to a full transfer, we highly recommend performing a free demo migration. This allows you to migrate a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your Volusion store. It’s an excellent opportunity to:

• Verify the accuracy of the data transfer.
• Check the presentation of products and other entities on your new Volusion platform.
• Confirm that additional options and data mapping have been applied correctly.

The demo ensures data integrity and gives you confidence before proceeding with the complete migration.

Step 7: Initiate Full Migration

Once you are satisfied with the demo results, you can proceed with the full migration. At this stage, you’ll review the total cost and have the option to select a Migration Insurance Plan, which offers additional remigrations if needed. Learn how migration insurance works.

With everything configured, simply click to start the full data transfer. You’ll be notified once your extensive data is safely migrated to your new Volusion store.

Post-Migration Steps

After your data has successfully migrated to Volusion, a few critical steps remain to ensure your new store is fully operational and optimized.

1. Verify Data Integrity and Store Functionality:

• Products: Check product listings, SKUs, variants, prices, images, and descriptions.
• Customers: Verify customer accounts, order history, and contact information.
• Orders: Review recent orders, order statuses, and shipping details.
• CMS Pages: Ensure all informational pages (e.g., “About Us,” “Contact”) are present and correctly formatted.
• Site Search: Test the search functionality to ensure customers can find products easily.
• Checkout Process: Perform test purchases to confirm the checkout flow, payment gateways, and shipping calculations are working correctly.

2. Configure Essential Store Settings:

• Payment Gateways: Set up and test your preferred payment methods.
• Shipping Options: Configure shipping zones, rates, and carriers.
• Taxes: Ensure your tax settings comply with local regulations.
• Theme and Design: Customize your Volusion theme to match your brand’s aesthetic.
• Integrations: Reconnect any third-party applications or services (e.g., analytics, marketing automation, accounting software).

3. SEO and Redirects:

• Check 301 Redirects: Verify that all 301 redirects are working as intended to guide search engines and users from your old Marketlive URLs to the new Volusion pages. This is vital for preserving your SEO rankings and link equity.
• Update Google Analytics & Search Console: Ensure your analytics and webmaster tools are configured for your new Volusion domain.

4. Update Your Domain and DNS:

Once you are confident everything is working on your Volusion store, update your domain’s DNS settings to point to your new Volusion store. Plan this carefully to minimize downtime for your live site.

5. Final Testing and Go-Live:

Conduct a final, thorough review of your entire store. Test responsiveness across different devices and browsers. Once satisfied, make your new Volusion store officially live!

6. Consider Additional Services:

If new data accumulates on your old Marketlive store after the initial migration, consider our Recent Data Migration Service to ensure no information is lost.

For any further questions or assistance, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions or Contact Us directly. We’re here to support your successful transition to Volusion!