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

Embarking on Your E-commerce Journey: Migrating from HostCMS to Volusion

Transitioning your e-commerce store to a new platform is a significant undertaking, but with the right strategy and tools, it can be a smooth and rewarding experience. This comprehensive guide will walk you through every step of migrating your online store from HostCMS to Volusion, ensuring a seamless data transfer and minimal disruption to your business operations. Volusion offers a robust, all-in-one e-commerce solution, making it an excellent choice for merchants looking to enhance their online presence, streamline management, and improve user experience.

Since HostCMS does not offer a direct API connection for automated migration tools, we will leverage a CSV file migration approach. This method involves exporting your crucial store data from HostCMS into CSV files, which will then be imported into your new Volusion store, ensuring the integrity and completeness of your product catalog, customer database, and order history.

Essential Prerequisites for a Successful Migration

Before you begin the migration process, careful preparation is key to ensuring a smooth transition and preserving your valuable data. Here's what you need to prepare for both your HostCMS source store and your new Volusion target store:

For Your HostCMS (Source) Store:

• Data Export: You will need to export all essential store data from your HostCMS platform into well-organized CSV files. This typically includes:
  • Products (with SKUs, descriptions, pricing, inventory, variants, images, metadata)
  • Product Categories and Manufacturers
  • Customer information (names, addresses, order history, passwords if possible)
  • Orders (details, statuses, invoices)
  • Product Reviews
  • CMS Pages and Coupons

  Ensure your CSV files are clean and correctly formatted to facilitate a smooth import. For more detailed guidance, refer to our How to prepare Source store for migration? FAQ.

• Data Cleanup: Take this opportunity to clean up any redundant, outdated, or incomplete data in your HostCMS store. This will ensure you only transfer high-quality information to your new Volusion platform.
• Full Backup: Always perform a complete backup of your entire HostCMS store, including both database and files, before initiating any migration steps. This is your safety net in case of unforeseen issues.
• Image and Media Files: While product data will be in CSV, ensure you have access to your HostCMS server via FTP to export product images and other media files that will need to be associated with your new Volusion store.

For Your Volusion (Target) Store:

• Set Up Your Volusion Store: You need to have a new Volusion store instance created and accessible. While you don't need to populate it with data yet, basic setup (like account creation) is necessary.
• FTP Access and Bridge Installation: Volusion requires a connection bridge for data transfer. You will need FTP access to your Volusion store's root directory to upload the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. This module acts as a secure gateway for the migration tool to connect with your Volusion database.
• Administrative Credentials: Gather your Volusion administrator login details (adminLogin, adminPwd, adminUrl). These credentials, along with your store URL, will be needed to establish the connection. For a secure migration, understanding access credentials is vital; read our guide on The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.
• Review Target Store Preparation: Familiarize yourself with the requirements for your target store by checking our How to prepare Target store for migration? guide.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once your preparations are complete, you can begin the automated data transfer using a dedicated migration wizard. Follow these steps carefully to ensure a successful move.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Start by navigating to the migration service platform. You will typically find an option to 'Start Migration' or 'Launch Migration Wizard'. This is your entry point to the entire process.

Step 2: Configure Your Source Store (HostCMS via CSV)

In the migration wizard, you'll be prompted to specify your current e-commerce platform. Since HostCMS doesn't have a direct connector, select "CSV File to Cart" as your Source Cart. You will then upload your carefully prepared CSV files containing your HostCMS store's data for various entities like products, categories, customers, and orders.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Volusion Store

Next, you'll set up your target platform. Select "Volusion" from the dropdown list. You will need to provide your Volusion store's URL and then install the migration bridge. This involves downloading the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module and uploading it via FTP to the root folder of your Volusion store. The wizard will then verify the connection.

For guidance on locating your root folder, please see our What is a root folder and where can I find it? FAQ.

Step 4: Select Data Entities to Migrate

This critical step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you want to transfer from your HostCMS CSV files to Volusion. You can select all available entities or pick and choose specific ones. Commonly migrated entities include:

• Products, Product Categories, Product Manufacturers
• Customer Data and Customer Groups
• Orders and Invoices
• Product Reviews
• Coupons and CMS Pages

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

To tailor the data transfer to your specific needs, you'll be presented with a range of additional options. These are crucial for preserving your store's integrity and SEO rankings. Consider the following:

• Preserve Product IDs, Order IDs, and Customer IDs: This option helps maintain consistency for existing integrations or historical data. Learn more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Migrate Images in Product Descriptions: Ensures rich content is transferred correctly.
• Password Migration: Allows existing customer passwords to be moved, improving user experience by avoiding forced password resets.
• SEO URLs and Create 301 SEO URLs: Absolutely vital for maintaining your search engine rankings and link equity. This option automatically creates redirects from your old HostCMS URLs to your new Volusion URLs.
• Clear Target Store Data: If your Volusion store is not brand new and contains some test data, this option allows you to clear current data on Target store before migration to avoid duplicates.
• Create Variants from Attributes: If your HostCMS products use attributes to define variations (e.g., size, color), this ensures they are correctly structured as variants in Volusion.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

The data mapping step ensures that specific fields from your HostCMS CSVs are correctly matched to their corresponding fields in Volusion. This is particularly important for customer groups and order statuses. For instance, you might map a 'Wholesale Customer' group from HostCMS to a similar group in Volusion, or 'Processing' order status to its equivalent, maintaining crucial data integrity.

Step 7: Run a Free Demo Migration

Before committing to the full replatforming, it's highly recommended to perform a free demo migration. This typically transfers a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your Volusion store. Use this opportunity to thoroughly inspect the transferred data for accuracy, formatting, and completeness. This ensures everything looks as expected and helps identify any potential issues early.

Step 8: Perform the Full Data Migration

Once you are satisfied with the results of your demo migration, you can proceed with the full data transfer. This will migrate all selected data from your HostCMS CSVs to your Volusion store. During this final stage, consider opting for a Migration Insurance Service, which offers additional remigrations for a specified period, giving you peace of mind.

Post-Migration Steps: Securing Your New Volusion Store

Completing the data transfer is a major milestone, but the journey isn't over. These post-migration tasks are crucial for a successful launch and long-term success on Volusion.

• Thoroughly Test Your Volusion Store: This is arguably the most critical step. Test every aspect of your new store, both front-end and back-end:
  • Product pages: Check descriptions, images, pricing, SKUs, and variants.
  • Shopping cart and checkout process: Perform test purchases, including various payment gateways and shipping options.
  • Customer accounts: Verify login, order history, and address books.
  • Order management: Process test orders from your Volusion admin panel.
  • Search functionality: Ensure products are easily discoverable.
  • Forms and contact pages: Test submissions.
• Configure SEO and Redirects:
• If you didn't enable 301 redirects during migration, or if you have specific URL changes, implement them to preserve your SEO rankings and link equity.
• Update your sitemap and submit it to search engines like Google.
• Check for broken links using an SEO audit tool.
• Update DNS Settings: Once you are completely confident with your new Volusion store, update your Domain Name System (DNS) records to point your domain to Volusion. This makes your new store live to the world.
• Install Essential Apps and Integrations: Replicate any functionality from HostCMS by installing equivalent apps or integrating necessary services (e.g., accounting software, marketing tools, live chat) from the Volusion App Store.
• Perform a Final Data Audit: Double-check critical data points such as inventory levels, pricing, and customer information.
• Decommission HostCMS (or Redirect): Once your Volusion store is fully operational and verified, you can either decommission your old HostCMS store or set up a sitewide redirect to ensure all traffic goes to your new platform.

Migrating from HostCMS to Volusion can seem daunting, but by following this detailed guide, you can ensure a successful transition. If you encounter any challenges or require expert assistance, please don't hesitate to Contact Us or explore our Frequently Asked Questions for more support.