Nexternal to WIX Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Nexternal to WIX

Are you looking to enhance your online store's design, functionality, and scalability? Migrating your e-commerce platform from Nexternal to WIX can unlock a world of possibilities, offering a more intuitive user experience, robust design tools, and an extensive app market. While Nexternal has served many businesses, the desire for greater flexibility, modern features, and streamlined management often drives merchants to consider a replatforming move.

This detailed guide will walk you through every essential step of transferring your valuable store data – including products, customer information, orders, and more – from Nexternal to WIX. Given that Nexternal typically requires data export via CSV files, we will outline a process that leverages these files for a smooth and efficient data transfer, ensuring data integrity and minimal downtime for your business.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before you begin the data transfer process, it's crucial to prepare both your Nexternal source store and your new WIX target store to ensure a seamless transition.

Preparing Your Nexternal (Source) Store:

• Data Export: Nexternal does not offer direct API integration for automated migration tools. Therefore, you will need to manually export your essential store data – such as products (including SKUs, descriptions, images, variants), customer records, and order history – into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. Ensure these files are comprehensive and accurately reflect your current store data.
• Data Cleanup: This is an excellent opportunity to review and clean up your existing data. Remove outdated product listings, inactive customer accounts, or redundant information to avoid transferring unnecessary data to your new WIX store.
• Backup Your Data: Always perform a complete backup of your Nexternal store data before initiating any migration. This ensures you have a copy of your information in its original state, offering peace of mind.
• Access Credentials: Ensure you have full administrative access to your Nexternal account to perform data exports.

For more detailed preparation, refer to our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?

Preparing Your WIX (Target) Store:

• Create a WIX Store: If you haven't already, set up a new WIX account and create your e-commerce store. Ensure you have selected a WIX Business & eCommerce plan, as this is necessary for selling products and utilizing advanced store features.
• Basic Setup: Complete the foundational setup of your WIX store, including setting your store's currency, language, and initial shipping zones.
• Theme and Design: While not strictly a prerequisite for data migration, consider the design and layout of your new WIX store. You can choose a template and begin customizing it, but remember that design elements will be separate from your migrated product data.
• No Plugin Required: For the migration process itself, WIX generally does not require a specific plugin on its end to facilitate the data import from a migration tool. The migration tool handles the connection to WIX.

For additional guidance on target store preparation, consult How to prepare Target store for migration?

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your stores prepared, you can now proceed with the data transfer. This guide outlines the typical steps using an automated migration wizard, which will facilitate the import of your Nexternal CSV files into WIX.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Begin by navigating to the migration service platform. You will typically find an option to start a new migration.

Step 2: Connect Your Source (Nexternal via CSV) and Target (WIX) Stores

This critical step involves linking both your existing Nexternal data and your new WIX store to the migration wizard.

• Select Source Cart (Nexternal - CSV File to Cart): From the list of available source platforms, choose 'CSV File to Cart'. This option is used when your original platform, like Nexternal, requires data export into CSV files for migration. You will then upload the CSV files you exported from Nexternal, containing your product, customer, and order data.

• Select Target Cart (WIX): Next, select 'WIX' as your target shopping cart. You will then be prompted to provide the URL of your WIX store and any necessary API credentials (such as an Admin API Key or similar token) to allow the migration tool to connect and write data to your WIX account. Ensure your WIX store is active and accessible.

Step 3: Select Entities for Migration

At this stage, you will specify which types of data you wish to transfer from your Nexternal CSV files to your WIX store. The migration wizard typically presents a checklist of entities.

Common entities available for migration include:

• Products (SKUs, descriptions, images, variants, attributes)
• Product Categories
• Customers (customer data, billing, and shipping addresses)
• Orders (order history, statuses)
• Manufacturers
• Product Reviews
• Invoices
• Taxes
• Coupons
• CMS Pages
• Blogs & Blog Posts

You can choose to migrate 'All entities' with a single click or selectively pick individual items based on your specific requirements.

Step 4: Configure Additional Options and Data Mapping

This is where you can fine-tune the migration process and ensure data consistency.

• Additional Migration Options: The wizard offers a range of supplementary options to enhance your data transfer. Highly recommended options include:
• Preserve Product IDs: Maintain your original product identifiers from Nexternal in WIX. Similarly, options like Preserve Category IDs, Preserve Customers IDs, and Preserve Orders IDs are often available.
• Migrate Images in Product Description: Ensure product images embedded within descriptions are correctly transferred.
• Create 301 Redirects: Crucial for SEO, this option helps maintain your search engine rankings by automatically creating redirects from your old Nexternal URLs to the new WIX URLs. This preserves link equity.
• Migrate Customer Passwords: Allows your existing customers to log in to the new WIX store using their original Nexternal passwords.
• Clear Current Data on Target Store: If you're migrating to an existing WIX store that contains test data, this option (often found under Clear current data on Target store before migration option) can remove it before the new data is imported.
• Create Variants from Attributes: Essential for products with multiple options like size or color.

• Data Mapping: The mapping setup ensures that your Nexternal data fields correspond correctly to the fields in WIX. You will map customer groups, order statuses, and potentially product attributes, ensuring that, for example, a 'Pending' order status from Nexternal correctly translates to the equivalent status in WIX.

Step 5: Run a Free Demo Migration (Highly Recommended)

Before committing to the full migration, it is strongly advised to run a free demo migration. This transfers a limited number of entities (e.g., 10-15 products, customers, orders) to your WIX store. The demo allows you to:

• Test the connection between the migration tool and WIX.
• Verify how your data (SKUs, pricing, customer data) appears in the new environment.
• Identify and resolve any potential mapping issues or data inconsistencies.

This step is invaluable for ensuring a smooth full migration.

Step 6: Initiate Full Migration

Once you are satisfied with the results of your demo migration, you can proceed with the full data transfer. Review all your selections, including the chosen entities and additional options, and confirm the total migration cost.

You may also consider adding a Migration Insurance Plan, which offers a set number of remigrations for a specific duration, providing flexibility if further adjustments or data transfers are needed post-migration.

Initiate the full migration. The process typically runs in the background, allowing you to continue working. You will be notified once the data transfer is complete, usually with minimal impact on your current Nexternal store's operation.

Post-Migration Steps

After your data has been successfully moved to WIX, a few crucial post-migration tasks remain to ensure your new store is fully operational and optimized.

• Verify Data Integrity: Thoroughly check your WIX store. Review product listings, ensuring all images, descriptions, SKUs, pricing, and variants are correct. Verify customer accounts, order history, and any other migrated data for accuracy and completeness.
• Configure WIX Store Settings: Set up your payment gateways, shipping rules, tax settings, and other essential configurations specific to WIX. These are store-level settings and are not typically migrated with product and customer data.
• Design and Customization: Enhance your WIX store's design, customize templates, and ensure branding consistency. Explore the WIX App Market for additional functionalities like marketing tools, accounting apps, or advanced analytics.
• Update DNS and Set Up 301 Redirects: Point your domain name to your new WIX store. If you enabled 301 redirects during migration, test them to ensure old Nexternal URLs correctly redirect to their WIX counterparts. This is vital for maintaining your SEO rankings and link equity.
• SEO Optimization: Review and update your meta titles, descriptions, and alt tags on WIX. Submit your new WIX sitemap to search engines like Google to help them index your new store.
• Test Thoroughly: Perform test purchases, create customer accounts, and test all functionalities, including contact forms, search, and checkout processes, to ensure a smooth user experience.
• Notify Customers: Inform your customer base about your new store, its enhanced features, and any changes they might experience.
• Consider Recent Data Migration: If your Nexternal store remained active during the migration, new orders or customer registrations might have occurred. Utilize a Recent Data Migration Service to transfer any new data accumulated since the full migration, ensuring nothing is missed.

Migrating from Nexternal to WIX is a significant undertaking that, when executed correctly, can lead to substantial improvements in your e-commerce operations and customer engagement. By following this guide and utilizing a robust migration tool, you can achieve a seamless transition and unlock the full potential of your new WIX store. Should you require expert assistance at any point, do not hesitate to Contact Us for support with your replatforming journey.