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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from WiziShop to Volusion

Embarking on an e-commerce platform migration is a significant undertaking, offering the opportunity to enhance your online store's capabilities and reach. If you're looking to move your existing WiziShop store to the robust and scalable Volusion platform, this guide will walk you through every essential step. Volusion, known for its comprehensive feature set and extensive customization options, can provide a powerful new foundation for your business growth.

This article will detail the process of transitioning your store's valuable data, including products, customer information, orders, and more, using an efficient migration tool. We'll cover everything from crucial preparatory steps to the final configurations, ensuring a smooth data transfer and minimal downtime for your online business.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating the data transfer from WiziShop to Volusion, a few critical preparatory steps are necessary to ensure a seamless and successful replatforming. Addressing these prerequisites will safeguard your data and streamline the entire process.

• Backup Your Data: Always create a complete backup of your WiziShop store's data, including databases, images, and any custom files. This is a crucial safety measure before any major system changes. For more details, refer to our guide on how to prepare your source store.
• WiziShop API Credentials: As WiziShop uses an API-only connection method, you will need to gather the following API credentials: clientId, clientSecret, refreshToken, storeId, adminEmail, and adminPwd. Ensure your WiziShop store is accessible via HTTPS, as this is a requirement for API connections. You'll also need the Cart2Cart WiziShop Migration App installed on your WiziShop store for the migration tool to connect. Be aware of potential API rate limits that could affect migration speed for very large stores.
• Set Up Your Volusion Store: Ensure your new Volusion store is fully installed and operational, even if it's currently empty. You'll need access to your Volusion admin panel credentials (adminLogin, adminPwd, adminUrl) and FTP access to your Volusion store's root folder to install the necessary migration bridge. The Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module is required for connecting to your Volusion target store.
• Sufficient Hosting Resources: Verify that your Volusion hosting environment has adequate resources (disk space, memory, etc.) to accommodate all your transferred data, including product images, customer data, and order history.
• Security of Credentials: Understand that providing access details to a migration service is secure. Read more about the safety of your access details.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

Utilizing a specialized migration service simplifies the complex process of data transfer. Follow these steps within the migration wizard to move your WiziShop store to Volusion efficiently.

Step 1: Get Started with the Migration Wizard

Begin your migration by navigating to the dedicated migration service portal. Here, you'll choose to start a self-service migration, request expert assistance, or estimate your migration cost.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (WiziShop)

In the migration wizard, select WiziShop as your current (source) e-commerce platform. You will then be prompted to enter your WiziShop API connection details, including the clientId, clientSecret, refreshToken, storeId, adminEmail, and adminPwd. These credentials, along with the installed Cart2Cart WiziShop Migration App, allow the migration tool to securely retrieve your store's data.

Step 3: Connect Your Target Store (Volusion)

Next, select Volusion as your new (target) e-commerce platform. Provide your Volusion store's complete URL and the necessary admin login credentials (adminLogin, adminPwd, adminUrl). Since Volusion connects via a bridge, the migration tool will guide you through uploading the Cart2Cart Volusion Migration module to your Volusion store's root folder via FTP access. This bridge facilitates the secure data exchange.

Step 4: Select Data Entities for Transfer

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which data types, or 'entities', you wish to transfer from WiziShop to Volusion. WiziShop supports the migration of entities such as Products, Product Categories, Product Reviews, Customers, Orders, CMS Pages, Gift Cards, Coupons, and Blog Posts. Volusion as a target supports Products, Product Categories, Product Manufacturers, Product Reviews, Customers, Orders, Invoices, Taxes, Stores, Coupons, and CMS Pages. You can choose to migrate all entities with a single click or select specific items like product SKUs, customer data, historical orders, and metadata to tailor your data transfer.

Step 5: Configure Additional Migration Options

Enhance your migration with a range of additional options designed to preserve data integrity and SEO rankings. Consider selecting options such as:

• Migrate Images in Description: Essential for maintaining visual content within product descriptions and CMS pages.
• Clear Target: This option allows you to remove any existing data from your Volusion store before the migration, ensuring a clean transfer.
• Preserve Product IDs, Orders IDs, and Customers IDs: Maintain original IDs for seamless integration with existing systems and records.
• SEO URLs, 301 SEO URLs, Create 301 SEO URLs: Critically important for preserving your existing search engine rankings and link equity by automatically redirecting old WiziShop URLs to their new Volusion counterparts.
• Password Migration: Allows customers to log into their new Volusion accounts with their existing WiziShop passwords.
• Migrate Invoices: Transfer your complete invoice history.

Step 6: Map Data Fields

Ensure data consistency by mapping WiziShop customer groups and order statuses to their corresponding fields in Volusion. This step is vital for accurate reporting and maintaining a familiar user experience for your customers. For example, map 'Pending Payment' in WiziShop to 'Awaiting Payment' in Volusion.

Step 7: Run Demo or Full Migration

Before committing to the full data transfer, we highly recommend running a free demo migration. This allows you to preview a limited set of data transferred to Volusion, enabling you to verify settings and ensure data integrity. Once satisfied, you can proceed with the full migration. Consider opting for Migration Insurance to gain additional remigrations and peace of mind during your transition. You can learn more about how Migration Insurance works.

Post-Migration Steps

After your WiziShop data has been successfully transferred to Volusion, a few crucial steps remain to fully launch your new store and ensure optimal performance.

• Thorough Data Review: Meticulously check your Volusion store. Verify that all products, categories, customer accounts, orders, reviews, and CMS pages have migrated correctly. Pay close attention to product SKUs, variants, images, prices, and descriptions to ensure data integrity.
• Configure Volusion Store Settings: Set up essential aspects of your new Volusion store, including payment gateways, shipping methods, tax rules (Volusion supports multi-tax), and store currency. Install any necessary Volusion apps or plugins that enhance functionality.
• Customize Your Storefront: Tailor your Volusion theme and design to align with your brand identity and provide an excellent user experience. Update navigation menus, footer links, and static content.
• SEO & 301 Redirects Verification: If you opted for 301 redirects during migration, verify their functionality to preserve your search engine rankings and link equity. Update your sitemap in Google Search Console and monitor for any crawl errors.
• Perform Test Transactions: Conduct several test purchases, from customer registration to checkout, using various payment and shipping methods. Ensure all functionalities, including order processing, email notifications, and inventory management, are working as expected.
• Update DNS Records: Once you're confident in your new Volusion store, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new platform.
• Inform Your Customers: Send out an announcement to your customer base regarding the platform change, highlighting any new features or improvements.
• Ongoing Maintenance: Consider utilizing services like Recent Data Migration Service to capture any new orders or customer registrations that occurred on your WiziShop store during the final stages of the migration. If you encounter any unique requirements, explore Migration Customization Service for tailored solutions.