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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning Your Store from Wish to Volusion

Steering your e-commerce business from one platform to another is a strategic move that can unlock new growth opportunities. If you're currently operating on Wish and considering a shift to Volusion, you're looking for a platform that offers more robust features, greater customization, and enhanced control over your online storefront. This guide will walk you through the entire process of migrating your valuable store data from Wish to Volusion, leveraging a reliable migration solution to ensure a smooth transition. Due to Wish's marketplace nature, your migration will involve exporting your data into CSV files and then importing it into Volusion.

Prerequisites for a Successful Migration

Before you embark on your e-commerce platform replatforming journey, a few critical preparatory steps are necessary to ensure data integrity and a seamless transfer of your online store assets.

Preparing Your Wish (Source) Store:

• Data Export: As Wish operates as a marketplace, you'll need to meticulously export all your essential store data. This includes your product listings (SKUs, descriptions, images, variants), customer information, order history, and any other relevant content into CSV files. Ensure these files are well-organized and complete.
• Data Cleanup: Take this opportunity to review and clean your Wish data. Remove any outdated products, duplicate customer entries, or irrelevant information. Clean data translates to a cleaner Volusion store.
• Backup: Always create a full backup of all your data from Wish before initiating any migration process. This provides a safety net against any unforeseen issues.
• For more detailed guidance, refer to our How to prepare Source store for migration? FAQ.

Preparing Your Volusion (Target) Store:

• Volusion Account Setup: Ensure you have a fully functional Volusion store set up. This will be the destination for all your imported data.
• Access Credentials: You will need administrative access to your Volusion store. This includes your admin login, password, and the store URL.
• FTP Access: Volusion requires a bridge connection for data transfer. This means you'll need FTP access to your Volusion store's root folder to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. This module facilitates the secure connection between the migration tool and your new Volusion store. You can learn more about securing your access details in The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.
• For comprehensive preparation steps, visit our How to prepare Target store for migration? guide.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, you're ready to commence the data transfer using a migration wizard. Follow these steps carefully to ensure a smooth transition of your e-commerce assets.

Step 1: Initiate Your Migration

Your journey begins by logging into your migration tool account and selecting the option to start a new data transfer. This will launch the intuitive setup wizard.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (Wish via CSV Files)

In this crucial step, you'll specify where your existing store data is coming from. Since Wish does not support direct API connections for migration tools, you will select the 'CSV File to Cart' option from the list of supported platforms. You will then upload the CSV files you exported from your Wish store containing your product, customer, and order data.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Store (Volusion)

Now, it's time to connect your new Volusion store. From the dropdown menu, select 'Volusion' as your target platform. You will then be prompted to enter your Volusion store's URL. As Volusion utilizes a 'Bridge only' connection method, you will need to install the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module. This involves downloading a connection bridge, uploading it via FTP to the root directory of your Volusion store, and verifying the connection. Provide your Volusion admin credentials to complete the setup.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you wish to move from your Wish CSV files to your Volusion store. You can select all available entities or handpick specific ones. The migration tool typically supports the transfer of the following entities:

• Products (including SKUs, variants, attributes)
• Product Categories
• Product Manufacturers
• Product Reviews
• Customers (including customer groups)
• Orders (including order statuses, invoices)
• Taxes
• Stores (multi-store data, if applicable)
• Coupons
• CMS Pages (static content)

Ensure you select all the data points critical for your business operations and customer experience.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options and Map Data

This is where you fine-tune your migration to match your specific requirements and ensure data consistency. You'll find two key sections here:

Additional Migration Options:

These options allow you to customize the data transfer. For Volusion, you might consider:

• Migrate Images in Description: Essential for preserving product visuals within your content.
• Clear Target: Use this option if you want to remove any existing data from your Volusion store before migration. Learn more about the Clear current data on Target store before migration option.
• Preserve Product IDs, Orders IDs, Customers IDs: Highly recommended for maintaining historical data and SEO. Understand How Preserve IDs options can be used?.
• SEO URLs & 301 SEO URLs: Crucial for preserving your existing search engine rankings and link equity. This option helps automatically create 301 redirects from old URLs to new ones.
• Password Migration: Allows customers to log in with their existing credentials on your new Volusion store.

Data Mapping:

This section ensures that data fields from your Wish CSVs correctly align with the corresponding fields in Volusion. You will map entities like customer groups and order statuses from your source data to their equivalents in Volusion. This step is vital for data integrity and ensuring that all information is categorized and displayed correctly on your new platform.

Step 6: Run a Demo Migration & Proceed to Full Migration

Before committing to the full data transfer, it's highly recommended to perform a free demo migration. This will move a limited number of entities, allowing you to review the results and ensure everything is transferring as expected. After verifying the demo, you can proceed with the full migration of all your Wish store data to Volusion. Consider adding a Migration Insurance Service to your plan, which offers additional remigrations and support. You can read more about How Migration Insurance works?.

Post-Migration Steps

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

1. Thorough Data Verification: Rigorously check your Volusion store. Verify product listings, including images, SKUs, prices, and variants. Ensure customer accounts, order history, and product reviews have transferred accurately.
2. Functionality Testing: Conduct comprehensive testing of all store functionalities. This includes the checkout process, search filters, customer login, contact forms, and any custom features.
3. SEO Configuration & Redirects: If you enabled 301 redirects during migration, verify that they are working correctly to preserve your SEO rankings and link equity. Update your Google Search Console with your new sitemap and monitor for any crawl errors.
4. Update DNS Settings: Once satisfied with your Volusion store, update your Domain Name System (DNS) records to point your domain to your new Volusion platform. Plan this during a low-traffic period to minimize downtime.
5. Configure Store Settings: Set up your payment gateways, shipping methods, tax rules, and any third-party app integrations within Volusion.
6. Review Design and User Experience: Make sure your Volusion theme and design elements are visually appealing and provide an excellent user experience. Adjust as needed.
7. Monitor and Refine: Keep a close eye on your store's performance, traffic, and sales in the initial weeks. Address any issues promptly. If new orders or customer data appeared on your Wish store during the migration period, consider using a Recent Data Migration Service to sync this new information.

Migrating from Wish to Volusion is a transformative step for your e-commerce business. By following this detailed guide and utilizing the power of automated migration tools, you can ensure a smooth, efficient, and secure transfer of your online store, paving the way for enhanced control and growth on your new Volusion platform.