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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Sylius to Volusion

In the dynamic world of e-commerce, businesses often find themselves needing to adapt and evolve their online platforms. Whether driven by the pursuit of enhanced features, greater scalability, or a more streamlined operational experience, migrating your online store can be a pivotal step for growth. This guide focuses on assisting merchants looking to transition their e-commerce operations from Sylius, a flexible and open-source platform known for its customizability, to Volusion, a robust, all-in-one SaaS solution that offers comprehensive e-commerce tools and hosting.

Replatforming can seem daunting, involving the intricate transfer of vast amounts of data, from product catalogs and customer information to order history and reviews. Our aim is to demystify this complex process, providing a clear, step-by-step methodology to ensure a seamless data transfer, minimal downtime, and the preservation of your crucial SEO rankings and link equity. By leveraging an automated migration solution, you can safely and efficiently move your e-commerce store, setting the stage for renewed success on the Volusion platform.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your Sylius to Volusion migration journey, it's essential to prepare both your source (Sylius) and target (Volusion) stores. Proper preparation is key to ensuring a smooth transfer and maintaining data integrity.

For Your Sylius (Source) Store:

• Data Export: As Sylius is not directly supported by standard bridge connections, your migration will rely on exporting your store's data into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. You will need to export all critical entities, including products (with their SKUs, variants, descriptions, images), product categories, customer records, order history, manufacturers, product reviews, and any relevant CMS pages or blog posts. You may need to utilize Sylius's export functionalities or a custom script/extension to generate these files in a structured format compatible with CSV import tools. For more details on preparing your source store, refer to our guide on How to prepare Source store for migration?.
• Data Integrity: Ensure that all exported CSV files are complete and free of errors. This is crucial for accurate data transfer and preserving the quality of your existing customer data and product information.

For Your Volusion (Target) Store:

• Volusion Account Setup: Make sure you have an active Volusion store account. This will be the destination for all your e-commerce data.
• Disable Add-ons: To prevent potential conflicts during the migration process, temporarily disable any non-essential plugins or apps that might be active on your new Volusion store.
• Install Cart2Cart Volusion Migration Module: Volusion requires a specific module for the migration process. You will need to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module on your Volusion store. This module facilitates the connection and data transfer.
• FTP Access: You'll need FTP access credentials for your Volusion store to upload a connector (bridge) file. This file facilitates secure communication between the migration tool and your store. Understanding what a root folder is and how to find it will be helpful here.
• Secure Credentials: Have your Volusion admin login URL, username, and password readily available. For best practices on securing these, consult The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.
• Target Store Preparation: Familiarize yourself with how to prepare your new Volusion store by reading How to prepare Target store for migration?.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these steps to successfully migrate your data from Sylius (via CSV) to Volusion using an automated migration wizard.

Step 1: Get Started

Begin your migration by accessing the automated migration wizard. This is typically the starting point where you initiate the data transfer process.

Step 2: Configure Source Store (Sylius via CSV)

This critical step involves connecting your Sylius store's data. Since Sylius is not directly integrated for an automated bridge connection, you will use the CSV file import method.

1. From the 'Source Cart' dropdown menu, select "CSV File to Cart."
2. Upload the prepared CSV files containing your Sylius store data. Ensure you upload all necessary files for products (including their SKUs and variants), categories, customers, orders, reviews, and any other relevant entities. For more information on this process, refer to our CSV.File Data Migration service page.

Step 3: Configure Target Store (Volusion)

Next, you'll set up your Volusion store as the migration's destination.

1. Choose "Volusion" from the 'Target Cart' dropdown menu.
2. Enter the full URL of your Volusion store.
3. Provide the necessary access credentials: your Volusion admin login URL, username, and password.
4. Ensure that the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module is installed on your Volusion store, and upload the bridge file via FTP to your Volusion store's root directory. The system will then validate the connection, allowing the data transfer to proceed securely.

Step 4: Select Data Entities

At this stage, you'll specify which data entities you wish to transfer from your Sylius CSV files to your new Volusion store.

• Review the list of available entities such as Products, Product Categories, Customers, Orders, Product Reviews, Manufacturers, Invoices, Taxes, Stores, Coupons, and CMS Pages.
• You can select all entities with a single click or pick specific ones based on your migration strategy.
• Important Note: While Sylius (via CSV) supports the migration of blog posts, Volusion's standard integration may have limitations. Specifically, SEO options for blogs might be excluded, and the platform's native capabilities for blog management might differ from Sylius. You may need to plan for manual transfer or alternative solutions for your blog content to ensure content continuity and preserve link equity.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

This step allows for fine-tuning your migration settings and ensuring data consistency between your source and target platforms.

Additional Migration Options:

Enhance your data transfer with various optional features that help customize the migration to your specific business needs:

• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product images embedded within product descriptions are transferred to Volusion.
• Clear Target: Opt to Clear current data on Target store before migration if you want to remove any existing demo products or data in your Volusion store before the transfer.
• Preserve IDs: Choose to Preserve Product IDs, Order IDs, and Customer IDs from your source store. This can be crucial for maintaining historical data links, existing integrations, and record-keeping.
• SEO URLs & 301 SEO URLs: Migrate existing SEO URLs from your Sylius store and automatically create 301 redirects on Volusion. This is vital for preserving your search engine rankings and link equity, minimizing the impact on your SEO performance.
• Password Migration: Transfer customer passwords securely to ensure a smooth transition for your existing customer base without requiring them to reset their credentials immediately.
• Migrate Invoices: Move your invoice data along with orders.
• Skip Custom Attributes: If certain Sylius custom attributes or fields aren't needed in Volusion, you can choose to skip their migration, streamlining your new store's data structure.

Data Mapping:

Accurately match your Sylius customer groups and order statuses to their corresponding equivalents in Volusion. This ensures consistent customer data segmentation and proper order processing workflows are maintained in your new store.

Step 6: Initiate Migration

With all settings configured, you're ready to commence the migration process.

1. Run a Free Demo Migration: It's highly recommended to run a free demo migration first. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your Volusion store. This provides an invaluable opportunity to review the results, identify any potential issues with data mapping or transfer, and ensure everything looks as expected before committing to the full transfer.
2. Full Migration: Once you're satisfied with the demo results and confident in your settings, proceed with the full migration. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Service to provide peace of mind and access to additional remigrations if needed, offering a safety net for your data transfer.

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the data transfer is a significant achievement, but the process doesn't end there. Several crucial post-migration steps are necessary to ensure your new Volusion store is fully operational, optimized, and ready to welcome customers.

• Thorough Data Review: Meticulously check all migrated data in your Volusion store. Verify product details, SKUs, inventory levels, pricing, product variants, descriptions, images, customer accounts, order history, and reviews. Ensure all metadata is correctly displayed and that product categories are properly structured.
• Test Store Functionality: Conduct extensive testing of your new Volusion store's core functionalities. This includes placing test orders, verifying payment gateways, checking shipping calculations, ensuring search functions work correctly, and testing customer account features and user experience.
• Configure SEO & Redirects: While the migration tool can handle 301 redirects for basic SEO URLs, it's vital to perform a comprehensive SEO audit. Identify any missed or changed URLs and manually set up additional 301 redirects to preserve your hard-earned SEO rankings and link equity. Update your sitemap in Google Search Console and other webmaster tools.
• Update DNS Settings: Once satisfied with your new Volusion store's performance and data integrity, update your domain's DNS settings to point to the new platform. This will officially switch your live store from Sylius to Volusion. Plan this step carefully to minimize downtime for your customers.
• Install Essential Apps/Plugins: Volusion offers a wide array of apps and integrations in its App Store. Identify any functionality from your Sylius store that needs to be replicated (e.g., marketing tools, analytics, customer support, ERP integrations) and install the corresponding Volusion apps or integrations to maintain your operational efficiency.
• Update Analytics & Integrations: Reconnect your Google Analytics, marketing automation platforms, CRM, ERP systems, and any other third-party integrations to your new Volusion store to ensure continuous data collection and business processes.
• Backup Old Store: It's always a good practice to retain a complete backup of your old Sylius store for an extended period after the migration. This serves as a safety net in case any historical data needs to be referenced or retrieved.
• Monitor Performance: After going live, continuously monitor your Volusion store's performance, user experience, and SEO rankings. Pay close attention to traffic, conversions, and customer feedback, addressing any issues promptly to ensure a smooth transition for your customers.