Storenvy to PrestaShop Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Storenvy to PrestaShop

As your e-commerce business grows, the need for a more robust, feature-rich, and scalable platform often becomes apparent. Migrating from Storenvy, a platform primarily designed for emerging brands and individual sellers, to PrestaShop, an open-source solution renowned for its flexibility and extensive customization options, is a strategic move for long-term success. This transition can unlock advanced functionalities, greater control over your store's design and features, and improved performance. This guide will walk you through the entire process of moving your valuable store data, including products, customer information, and order history, from Storenvy to PrestaShop, ensuring a smooth and efficient replatforming journey.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before embarking on your data transfer, adequate preparation is key to a successful and uninterrupted migration. Taking these steps will help minimize potential issues and ensure data integrity.

• For Your Storenvy Store (Source Data Export):

  Since Storenvy does not offer a direct API or bridge connection for automated data migration, the process requires you to manually export your store's data into CSV (Comma Separated Values) files. This will be your primary method for moving information out of Storenvy. Ensure you export all critical entities:

  • Products: Include all product details, SKUs, variants, images, descriptions, prices, and stock levels.
  • Categories: Your product categories and their hierarchical structure.
  • Customers: Customer names, email addresses, shipping/billing information, and account details.
  • Orders: All order history, order statuses, customer associations, product details within orders, and payment information.
  • Reviews/Testimonials: If Storenvy allows export of these, include them.
  • Other Content: Any blog posts, CMS pages, or coupon data you wish to retain.

  Thoroughly review and clean your exported CSV files. Remove any obsolete products, incomplete customer records, or redundant data. This is an excellent opportunity to refine your data before importing it into your new PrestaShop store. Always create a complete backup of your Storenvy store data before beginning any export process.

  For more detailed preparation guidelines, refer to How to prepare Source store for migration?

• For Your PrestaShop Store (Target Setup):

  Your PrestaShop store will be the destination for all your valuable e-commerce data. Ensure it's ready to receive this influx:

  • Fresh PrestaShop Installation: It's highly recommended to perform the migration on a fresh installation of PrestaShop. This avoids conflicts with existing data or configurations.
  • Reliable Hosting: PrestaShop can be resource-intensive. Ensure your hosting environment meets or exceeds PrestaShop's requirements for optimal performance.
  • FTP/SFTP and Admin Access: You will need full FTP/SFTP access to your PrestaShop server's root directory and administrative access to your PrestaShop back office. These are essential for installing the connection bridge and managing your store.
  • Required Plugin: To facilitate the connection for the migration, the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module is required on your PrestaShop store. This module will enable the data transfer.
  • Theme and Basic Configuration: While design can be finalized post-migration, consider installing a basic theme and configuring essential settings like currency and language if you haven't already.

  For additional information on preparing your target platform, see How to prepare Target store for migration?

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your data exported from Storenvy and your PrestaShop store ready, you can now begin the migration process using a migration wizard. Follow these steps carefully:

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Navigate to the migration wizard interface. Here, you'll begin by initiating the data transfer process.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (Storenvy via CSV)

In the migration wizard, select "CSV File to Cart" as your source shopping cart. Since Storenvy data is exported into CSV files, this option allows the migration tool to read your Storenvy data. You will then be prompted to upload your prepared CSV files for products, product categories, customers, orders, and any other entities you wish to transfer. This method offers great flexibility, allowing you to map custom fields from your Storenvy exports.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Store (PrestaShop)

Now, select "PrestaShop" as your target shopping cart. You will need to provide your PrestaShop store's Admin URL. The connection method for PrestaShop is primarily via a Connection Bridge. This involves installing the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module and then uploading the `bridge2cart` folder, which is part of this module, to the root directory of your PrestaShop installation via FTP/SFTP. This bridge acts as a secure conduit for data transfer between the migration service and your PrestaShop store.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This crucial step allows you to specify exactly which data entities you want to move from your Storenvy CSV files to PrestaShop. You can choose to migrate all available data by selecting "All entities" or pick specific items such as products, product categories, customers, orders, reviews, manufacturers, and CMS pages. Carefully review your selection to ensure all necessary data, including product SKUs, variants, customer data, and order history, will be transferred.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

This stage is vital for tailoring the migration to your specific needs and ensuring data consistency.

• Additional Migration Options: Select from various options to enhance your data transfer. Key options include:
  • Clear Target Store Data: This option will remove any existing data in your PrestaShop store before the migration, ensuring a clean slate. Learn more about clearing target store data.
  • Preserve IDs: Options to preserve product IDs, order IDs, and customer IDs from your Storenvy data, which can be important for external systems or existing integrations. Find out how Preserve IDs options can be used.
  • Migrate Customer Passwords: Securely transfer customer passwords, ensuring a seamless login experience for your returning customers.
  • Create 301 Redirects: Essential for maintaining your SEO rankings and link equity. This option automatically creates redirects from your old Storenvy URLs to the new PrestaShop URLs, preventing broken links and preserving search engine visibility.
  • Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product images embedded within descriptions are transferred correctly.

• Data Mapping Setup: You will map various data fields from your Storenvy CSV files to their corresponding fields in PrestaShop. This includes matching customer groups and order statuses. For products, if you have custom attributes in Storenvy, you'll map these to PrestaShop's attribute structure to ensure product variants and metadata are correctly transferred. This step is critical for maintaining data integrity and ensuring your new store functions as expected.

Step 6: Run a Demo Migration (Optional but Recommended)

Before committing to a full data transfer, performing a demo migration is highly recommended. This allows you to transfer a limited number of entities (e.g., 10 products, 10 customers, 10 orders) to your PrestaShop store. You can then review the migrated data, check for any inconsistencies, and ensure that the process works as expected without affecting your live store. This is a valuable step for identifying and resolving potential issues early. Consider utilizing a Migration Preview Service for this.

Step 7: Initiate Full Migration

Once you are satisfied with the demo migration results and have reviewed all your settings, proceed with the full migration. This will transfer all selected data from your Storenvy CSV files to your PrestaShop store. During this final stage, you may also consider adding Migration Insurance, which offers options for remigrations if any issues arise or if you need to transfer new data added to your source store post-migration. For more details on this, please refer to How Migration Insurance works?

Post-Migration Steps

Congratulations! Your data has been transferred to PrestaShop. However, the migration process isn't truly complete until you've performed these crucial post-migration tasks:

1. Thorough Data Verification: Rigorously check your new PrestaShop store.
   • Products: Ensure all products, including SKUs, variants, images, descriptions, and pricing, are correctly displayed.
   • Customers: Verify customer accounts, addresses, and order histories.
   • Orders: Confirm all orders have been transferred with correct statuses and details.
   • Other Content: Check CMS pages, blog posts, and reviews (if migrated) for accuracy.
2. Test All Store Functionalities: Perform extensive testing of your PrestaShop store.
   • Placing Test Orders: Go through the entire checkout process as a customer.
   • Account Creation and Login: Test new customer registrations and existing customer logins.
   • Payment Gateways: Ensure all integrated payment methods are working correctly.
   • Shipping Options: Verify shipping rates and methods.
   • Search and Filtering: Check that your product search and category filters function as expected.
3. SEO Configuration and 301 Redirects: Even if 301 redirects were created during migration, it's crucial to verify them. Update your sitemap in Google Search Console and monitor for any crawl errors. Re-evaluate your SEO strategy for PrestaShop to maintain and improve your search rankings and link equity.
4. Design and User Experience (UX) Refinement: Customize your PrestaShop theme to align with your brand identity and optimize for user experience. Ensure your site is responsive and mobile-friendly.
5. Configure Payment and Shipping Gateways: Set up and thoroughly test all your preferred payment methods (e.g., PayPal, Stripe) and shipping carriers within PrestaShop.
6. Install Essential PrestaShop Modules: PrestaShop has a vast ecosystem of modules. Install and configure any necessary extensions for features like SEO, marketing, analytics, or advanced inventory management.
7. Update DNS and Go Live: Once you are completely satisfied with your new PrestaShop store, update your domain's DNS records to point to the new platform. Plan this during off-peak hours to minimize downtime.
8. Deprecate Storenvy: After successfully going live with PrestaShop and confirming everything is stable, you can safely decommission your Storenvy store.

Migrating from Storenvy to PrestaShop is a significant undertaking that, when executed carefully, can provide a powerful foundation for your e-commerce growth. By following this detailed guide, you can ensure a smooth transition, preserving your valuable data and setting the stage for future success on your new, feature-rich PrestaShop platform. Should you require expert assistance at any stage, do not hesitate to Contact Us for support.