Aero Commerce to WIX Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Aero Commerce to WIX

Embarking on an e-commerce platform migration can feel like a daunting task, but with the right guidance, it's an opportunity to revitalize your online store and unlock new growth. This guide will walk you through the process of migrating your existing Aero Commerce store to the feature-rich WIX platform, ensuring a smooth and successful transition of your valuable data.

Aero Commerce, while robust, may not always align with evolving business needs or desired functionalities. WIX, known for its user-friendly interface, extensive app market, and powerful design capabilities, offers a compelling alternative for merchants seeking a more versatile and scalable solution. Because Aero Commerce does not typically offer direct API connections for automated migrations, this guide will focus on a tried-and-true method: leveraging CSV file exports from Aero Commerce for a seamless data transfer to WIX.

By following these detailed steps, you'll be able to move your products, customer data, orders, and other essential store information to your new WIX storefront with confidence, preserving your SEO rankings and ensuring a positive user experience from day one.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before you begin the replatforming journey, thorough preparation is key to minimizing downtime and ensuring data integrity. Here's what you need to have in place:

• Backup Your Aero Commerce Store: This is paramount. Always create a complete backup of your Aero Commerce database and files before initiating any data export process. This serves as your safety net in case anything unexpected occurs.
• Access to Aero Commerce Data: You'll need full administrative access to your Aero Commerce backend to export all necessary data into CSV files. Ensure you can access and export details for products, customers, orders, categories, and other entities you wish to transfer. For more details on preparing your source store, read our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?.
• A Fully Set-Up WIX Store: You should have a WIX account and a basic store setup ready. This includes choosing a template, setting up payment gateways, shipping methods, and any core settings that aren't data-dependent. For tips on preparing your target store, see How to prepare Target store for migration?.
• Review Your Data: Take this opportunity to clean up any outdated, duplicate, or irrelevant data in your Aero Commerce store. Migrating clean data will improve your WIX store's performance and manageability.
• Disable Notifications (Temporarily): Consider temporarily disabling order notifications and other automated communications on your WIX store during the migration period to avoid confusing customers with partial data imports.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Migrating from Aero Commerce to WIX primarily involves exporting data from Aero Commerce into CSV files and then using a migration tool that supports CSV imports, such as CsvToCart, to push this data to your WIX store. Follow these steps for a structured and efficient data transfer:

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Your journey begins by initiating the migration process, typically on a dedicated migration platform. This initial step allows you to select your migration type and prepare for the connection of your source and target stores.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Aero Commerce Store

Since Aero Commerce usually requires a file-based transfer, you will first need to export your store's data into CSV files. Most migration services, like those utilizing the 'CsvToCart' method, are designed to handle this. There are no specific plugin requirements for this file-based approach.

1. Export Data from Aero Commerce: Log into your Aero Commerce admin panel. Navigate to sections like Products, Customers, Orders, Categories, etc., and look for export functionalities. Export all relevant data into CSV files. Ensure that the files are well-structured and include all necessary fields such as product SKUs, variant details, descriptions, customer addresses, order statuses, and any associated metadata.
2. Select 'CSV File' as Source Cart: On the migration wizard, you'll select 'CSV File to Cart' as your source platform. This indicates that your data will be provided via files.
3. Upload Your CSV Files: Upload the exported CSV files containing your Aero Commerce data to the migration platform. The system will then process these files to prepare for transfer. You can learn more about this service here: CSV.File Data Migration.

Step 3: Connect Your Target WIX Store

Next, you'll establish a connection to your WIX target store. This typically involves providing your WIX store's URL and API credentials, which grant the migration tool permission to import data into your new storefront.

1. Select WIX as Target Cart: In the migration wizard, choose 'WIX' from the list of target platforms.
2. Provide Connection Details: Enter your WIX store's URL and obtain the necessary API keys or access tokens from your WIX dashboard. This ensures a secure and authorized connection for the data transfer.

Step 4: Select Data Entities to Migrate

This crucial step allows you to specify exactly which types of data you wish to transfer from your Aero Commerce CSV files to WIX. Most comprehensive migrations will include all available entities to maintain full historical data and functionality.

The data entities supported for migration via CSV typically include:

• Products: Including product SKUs, descriptions, images, pricing, variants, and stock levels.
• Product Categories: The structure and details of your product organization.
• Product Manufacturers: If applicable to your products.
• Product Reviews: Crucial for social proof and customer trust.
• Customers: Customer accounts, billing, and shipping addresses.
• Orders: Complete order history, statuses, and associated customer details.
• Invoices: Billing records.
• Taxes: Tax settings and rates.
• Stores: If you operate multiple storefronts within Aero Commerce.
• Coupons: Discount codes and promotions.
• CMS Pages: Static content like About Us, Contact Us, and policy pages.
• Blogs & Blog Posts: Your content marketing assets.

You can choose to migrate all entities with a single click or select them individually based on your specific requirements.

Step 5: Configure Data Mapping

Data mapping is where you match the fields from your Aero Commerce CSV files to the corresponding fields in your WIX store. This ensures that information like customer groups, order statuses, and product attributes are correctly assigned in the new platform, maintaining data consistency and integrity.

Step 6: Choose Additional Migration Options

To further customize your migration, you'll be presented with a range of additional options. These settings can significantly enhance the post-migration user experience and SEO performance:

• Preserve IDs: Options to Preserve Category IDs, Product IDs, Customer IDs, and Order IDs from your source store. This is often recommended for historical data consistency.
• Create Variants from Attributes: Essential for products with multiple options (e.g., size, color).
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensures all embedded product images are transferred.
• Password Migration: Allows customers to log into their new WIX accounts with their existing Aero Commerce passwords.
• SEO URLs: Critical for maintaining your search engine rankings by automatically generating or suggesting 301 redirects for your old product and category URLs to their new WIX counterparts. This preserves link equity.
• Clear Target Data: The option to Clear current data on Target store before migration is useful if you've done previous test migrations and want to start fresh.

Step 7: Perform a Demo Migration (Optional but Recommended)

Before committing to a full migration, it's highly recommended to perform a demo migration. This usually involves transferring a limited number of entities (e.g., 10-20 products, customers, orders) for free or at a minimal cost. This step allows you to:

• Verify data transfer accuracy (SKUs, pricing, customer details, order history).
• Test the functionality of your new WIX store with migrated data.
• Identify and troubleshoot any potential issues with data mapping or formatting.

Step 8: Launch Your Full Migration

Once you're satisfied with the demo migration results and have configured all settings, you're ready to initiate the full data transfer. Review your chosen options and the total migration cost. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Service, which offers additional remigrations if you need further adjustments or new data transfers after the initial move. Read more on How Migration Insurance works?.

Start the full migration, and the tool will transfer all your selected data from your Aero Commerce CSV files to your WIX store. Depending on the volume of your data, this process can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

Post-Migration Steps

The migration isn't truly complete until you've thoroughly reviewed and configured your new WIX store. These post-migration steps are crucial for a successful launch and to capitalize on the potential benefits of a website migration:

• Thorough Data Verification: This is your most critical post-migration task.
  • Products: Check product pages, images, descriptions, pricing, SKUs, and variant options. Ensure all attributes are correctly displayed.
  • Customers: Verify customer accounts, login functionality (if passwords were migrated), and associated order history.
  • Orders: Confirm that all past orders, their statuses, and details are accurate.
• Test Store Functionality: Simulate customer actions. Make test purchases, create a new customer account, test search functions, filters, and all other interactive elements to ensure a smooth user experience.
• Configure 301 Redirects: If you opted for SEO URLs, ensure that 301 redirects are properly set up to guide old Aero Commerce URLs to their new WIX counterparts. This is vital for preserving your SEO rankings and link equity.
• Update DNS Settings: Once you're confident in your WIX store, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new WIX site. Schedule this carefully to minimize downtime.
• Install Essential Apps & Plugins: Explore the WIX App Market for any specific functionalities, marketing tools, or integrations you need that were not part of the core migration (e.g., advanced analytics, loyalty programs).
• Update Internal Links: Audit your WIX site for any internal links that might still point to old Aero Commerce URLs.
• Notify Customers: Inform your loyal customers about your new and improved store. Highlight any new features or benefits they can expect.
• Monitor Performance: Keep a close eye on your WIX store's performance, load times, and error logs in the weeks following the launch to quickly address any unforeseen issues.
• Consider a Recent Data Migration Service: If your Aero Commerce store remained active during the migration, you might have new orders or customer registrations. A recent data migration can capture these last-minute changes, ensuring all your data is transferred.

By diligently following this guide, your transition from Aero Commerce to WIX will be a strategic move, positioning your business for future success on a powerful and scalable e-commerce platform.