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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from HelcimCommerce to Volusion

Embarking on an e-commerce platform migration can feel like a daunting task, but with the right guidance, moving your store from HelcimCommerce to Volusion can be a smooth and rewarding experience. This detailed guide is designed for merchants like you who are looking to upgrade their online presence, enhance functionality, and tap into Volusion's robust feature set. We'll walk you through each critical step, ensuring your valuable customer data, product listings (including SKUs and variants), and order history are securely transferred, preserving your SEO rankings and providing a seamless user experience.

Since HelcimCommerce is not directly supported by most automated migration tools as an API-connected source, this guide will focus on a highly effective method: exporting your data from HelcimCommerce into CSV files and then importing it into Volusion. This approach, facilitated by a powerful migration solution, ensures that no critical information is left behind during your replatforming journey.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating the data transfer, a thorough preparation of both your source (HelcimCommerce) and target (Volusion) stores is crucial for a successful transition. This minimizes potential downtime and ensures data integrity.

• HelcimCommerce (Source) Preparation:

  Since HelcimCommerce data will be migrated via CSV files, your primary task is to export all necessary data. This typically includes:

  • Products: Product names, descriptions, images, SKUs, prices, stock levels, variants, and categories.
  • Customers: Customer names, email addresses, billing and shipping information.
  • Orders: Order details, statuses, product information within orders.
  • Reviews: If applicable, export customer reviews.
  • CMS Pages: Essential static content, blog posts, or informational pages.

  Thoroughly review your HelcimCommerce data for any outdated, duplicate, or incorrect information. Cleaning up your data now will save significant time and effort post-migration. For more details on preparing your source store, read our How to prepare Source store for migration? guide.

• Volusion (Target) Preparation:

  Your Volusion store needs to be ready to receive the incoming data:

  • Set Up Your Volusion Store: Ensure your new Volusion store is fully installed and accessible. You don't need to add any products or customers manually, as the migration process will handle this.
  • Install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration Module: Volusion, as a target platform, requires a connection bridge. This is facilitated by the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. You'll typically need FTP access to your Volusion store's root folder to upload this bridge. This module allows the migration service to connect securely and transfer your data. Refer to What is a root folder and where can I find it? for assistance.
  • Consider Clearing Target Data: If your Volusion store already contains dummy data or previous migration attempts, you may wish to use the "Clear current data on Target store before migration" option to ensure a clean slate. Learn more about this option here.

  For additional insights into preparing your target platform, consult our How to prepare Target store for migration? article.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, it's time to initiate the data transfer. We'll outline the process using an automated migration wizard.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the migration service dashboard. Here, you'll start the guided wizard.

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

In this step, you'll specify your source platform. Since HelcimCommerce is not a direct API integration, you will select 'CSV File to Cart' as your Source Shopping Cart. You will then upload the CSV files containing your HelcimCommerce data, such as products, customers, and orders.

Step 3: Set Up Your Target Volusion Store

Next, select 'Volusion' as your Target Shopping Cart from the dropdown menu. You'll then need to provide the URL of your new Volusion store. The system will prompt you to ensure the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module (bridge) is installed on your Volusion store, which enables the secure data connection.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you want to transfer. For your HelcimCommerce to Volusion migration, you can typically migrate:

• Products (including SKUs, variants, images, descriptions)
• Product Categories
• Customers
• Orders
• Product Reviews
• CMS Pages (for static content)

You can opt to select all entities or pick specific ones based on your needs. Review the available options carefully.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

This section offers powerful choices to tailor your data transfer and maintain vital aspects like SEO rankings. Consider selecting:

• Preserve Product IDs, Preserve Orders IDs, Preserve Customers IDs: These options are vital for maintaining data consistency across platforms, especially if you rely on external systems that reference these IDs. Find out more about How Preserve IDs options can be used?
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensures all product images embedded within descriptions are transferred.
• Create 301 SEO URLs: Absolutely critical for preserving link equity and preventing drops in SEO rankings. This option creates redirects from your old HelcimCommerce URLs to the new Volusion URLs, minimizing broken links.
• Password Migration: Allows customer passwords to be migrated securely, enhancing user experience by preventing login issues.
• Clear current data on Target store before migration: As mentioned in prerequisites, use this if you want to start with a completely empty Volusion store before the import.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

The mapping step ensures that your HelcimCommerce data fields correspond correctly to their counterparts in Volusion. You will typically map customer groups (e.g., 'Wholesale' to 'Business Customer') and order statuses (e.g., 'Processing' to 'Shipped'). This is essential for maintaining data integrity and ensuring your new store functions as expected.

Step 7: Run the Demo Migration

Before committing to a full data transfer, perform a free demo migration. This transfers a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your Volusion store. Use this opportunity to thoroughly review the transferred data, check product details, customer information, and order accuracy. This step is invaluable for identifying and resolving any potential issues before the main migration.

Step 8: Perform Full Data Migration

Once you're satisfied with the demo results, proceed with the full data migration. This will transfer all selected data from your HelcimCommerce CSV files to your Volusion store. During this process, you might consider opting for a Migration Insurance Plan. This plan often provides additional remigrations, allowing you to re-run the process if any issues arise or if you need to transfer recently updated data. Understand How Migration Insurance works?

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the data transfer is a major milestone, but a few critical steps remain to ensure your new Volusion store is fully operational and optimized.

• Thorough Data Review and Verification: After the full migration, conduct a comprehensive audit of your Volusion store. Verify all products (SKUs, variants, images, descriptions), customer accounts, and order histories. Test the checkout process, ensure all payment gateways are configured, and that shipping options function correctly.
• Update DNS Records: Once you're confident in your new Volusion store, it's time to point your domain name to your Volusion hosting. This typically involves updating your DNS records with your domain registrar. This step will make your Volusion store live to the public.
• Configure Payment & Shipping: Set up your preferred payment methods (e.g., credit card processors, PayPal) and shipping carriers with their respective rates within your Volusion admin.
• Install Essential Apps/Plugins: Explore the Volusion App Store for integrations that can enhance your store's functionality, such as marketing tools, accounting software, or customer service platforms.
• Theme Customization and Design: Fine-tune your Volusion store's design to match your brand identity and ensure an optimal user experience across all devices.
• Ongoing SEO Monitoring: Despite creating 301 redirects, it's crucial to continuously monitor your SEO rankings using tools like Google Search Console. Look for any broken links or crawl errors that might impact your visibility.
• Consider Recent Data Migration: If new orders or customer registrations occurred on your HelcimCommerce store after your main migration, you can utilize a Recent Data Migration Service to transfer only these new entities, ensuring all your data is synchronized.

By following these steps, you can confidently transition your e-commerce business from HelcimCommerce to Volusion, leveraging the power of a new platform while maintaining business continuity and preserving your valuable data.