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

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Shopee to PrestaShop

Steering an e-commerce store through a platform migration can seem daunting, but it's often a strategic move to unlock greater control, customization, and growth potential. If you're looking to transition your online business from the marketplace environment of Shopee to the robust, open-source flexibility of PrestaShop, you're embarking on a journey towards enhanced scalability and a more personalized customer experience.

This guide serves as your authoritative roadmap, detailing a step-by-step process for a seamless data transfer from Shopee to PrestaShop. Due to Shopee's nature as a marketplace, the migration will leverage a CSV file export approach, ensuring that all your valuable product data, customer information, and order history are meticulously moved to your new PrestaShop storefront.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating the data transfer, thorough preparation of both your source (Shopee) and target (PrestaShop) platforms is crucial for a smooth and successful migration. This helps maintain data integrity and minimizes potential downtime.

Preparing Your Shopee (Source) Store

• Data Export: Systematically export all necessary data from your Shopee store into CSV files. This typically includes products (with SKUs, variants, descriptions, images), product categories, customer records, and order history. Ensure your export is as comprehensive as possible.
• Data Cleansing: Take this opportunity to review and clean your exported CSV files. Remove outdated products, duplicate customer entries, or any irrelevant data to ensure only high-quality information is transferred.
• Backup Your Data: Always create a full backup of your current Shopee data before any major operational change. While Shopee is a marketplace, having your exported CSVs securely stored provides a vital safety net.

For more insights on preparing your source store, read our How to prepare Source store for migration? guide.

Preparing Your PrestaShop (Target) Store

• Install PrestaShop: Ensure you have a fresh installation of PrestaShop on your chosen hosting environment. Verify that your hosting meets all PrestaShop's technical requirements for optimal performance.
• Install Migration Module: PrestaShop requires the installation of the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module. This module facilitates the connection and data import process.
• Ensure FTP/SFTP Access: You will need FTP or SFTP access to your PrestaShop store's root directory to upload a Connection Bridge, which enables secure communication between your migration tool and your PrestaShop instance. If you're unsure about the root folder, consult What is a root folder and where can I find it?.
• Backup Your Empty Store: Even a fresh PrestaShop installation should be backed up before any data is imported. This provides a clean slate to revert to if needed.

To learn more about setting up your target store, check out How to prepare Target store for migration?.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your stores prepared, let's walk through the migration wizard to transfer your data from Shopee to PrestaShop.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Begin by accessing the migration wizard. This is your starting point for configuring the transfer process.

Step 2: Source Store Setup (Shopee via CSV)

Since Shopee operates as a marketplace, your data will be migrated via CSV files. Select CsvToCart as your source platform in the migration wizard. You will then be prompted to upload the CSV files containing your Shopee data, which you exported in the prerequisite stage.

Note that this method is specifically designed for file-based data transfer and does not require a plugin for the source side. For comprehensive details on this approach, refer to our CSV.File Data Migration service.

Step 3: Target Store Setup (PrestaShop)

Next, select PrestaShop as your target e-commerce platform. Provide your PrestaShop Admin URL. The connection method for PrestaShop is primarily via a Connection Bridge.

You will need to download the Connection Bridge file, extract the 'bridge2cart' folder, and upload it to the root directory of your PrestaShop installation via FTP/SFTP. This bridge acts as a secure conduit for data transfer. Remember, the Cart2Cart Universal PrestaShop Migration module is required for this connection to function correctly.

For more information on providing secure access details, see The Short & Essential Guide to Access Credentials for Cart2Cart.

Step 4: Select Data Entities

This critical step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you wish to transfer from your Shopee CSV files to your PrestaShop store. You can select individual entities or opt to migrate all available data.

• Products: Including SKUs, product categories, manufacturers, product images, and descriptions.
• Customers: All customer records, including customer groups.
• Orders: Complete order history, order statuses, and invoices.
• Reviews: Product reviews and ratings.
• CMS Pages & Blogs: Essential static content and blog posts.
• Coupons & Taxes: Your promotional coupons and tax rules.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

This stage is crucial for fine-tuning your migration and ensuring data consistency.

Additional Options

Review and select additional migration options that enhance the transfer process:

• Migrate Images in Description: Essential for retaining rich product descriptions.
• Clear Target: Opt to remove all existing data from your PrestaShop store before migration (be cautious with this option). Learn more: Clear current data on Target store before migration option.
• Preserve Product IDs, Orders IDs, Customers IDs: Maintain original IDs from your Shopee data in PrestaShop. This is highly recommended for historical data consistency. See How Preserve IDs options can be used?.
• SEO URLs & 301 SEO URLs: Crucial for preserving your search engine rankings and link equity. This option helps create redirects from your old URLs to your new PrestaShop URLs.
• Password Migration: Securely transfer customer passwords.
• Migrate Invoices: Ensure all invoice data is moved across.
• Skip Custom Attributes: If you have specific custom attributes that are not needed in PrestaShop.

Data Mapping

Map your customer groups, order statuses, and other custom fields from your Shopee CSV data to their corresponding fields in PrestaShop. This ensures that your customer segmentation and order fulfillment processes seamlessly transition.

Step 6: Run a Demo Migration (Highly Recommended)

Before committing to a full transfer, perform a demo migration. This moves a limited number of entities (e.g., a few products, customers, orders) to your PrestaShop store. It allows you to:

• Verify the accuracy of the data transfer.
• Check image migration and display.
• Confirm data mapping works as expected.
• Identify and resolve any potential issues without impacting your full dataset.

Step 7: Full Migration

Once you're satisfied with the results of your demo migration, proceed with the full data transfer. During this phase, all selected data will be moved to your new PrestaShop store.

Consider adding a Migration Insurance Service to your plan. This offers peace of mind with options for re-migrations, should you need to adjust or re-run the transfer. Learn more about How Migration Insurance works?.

Post-Migration Steps

Completing the full migration is a significant milestone, but the process isn't over. Several crucial post-migration steps are essential to ensure your new PrestaShop store is fully functional, optimized, and ready for customers.

• Verify Data Integrity: Thoroughly check your PrestaShop store. Confirm that all products, categories, customer accounts, order histories, images, and other data have been transferred accurately. Pay close attention to product variants, pricing, and stock levels.
• Configure Store Settings: Set up essential store configurations in PrestaShop, including shipping methods, payment gateways, tax rules (PrestaShop supports multi-tax), currency settings, and general store information.
• Install & Customize Theme: Choose and customize a PrestaShop theme that aligns with your brand identity. Optimize it for responsive design and user experience.
• Install & Configure Modules (Plugins): Integrate any necessary modules for functionalities like SEO optimization, caching, security, marketing, and analytics.
• Set Up SEO Redirects: If you opted for 301 SEO URLs during migration, verify they are working correctly. If not, manually implement 301 redirects for your old Shopee URLs to their corresponding new PrestaShop URLs to preserve your SEO rankings and link equity. Be aware that SEO options for blogs are typically excluded in PrestaShop migrations.
• Test All Functionality: Conduct comprehensive testing. Place test orders, register new customer accounts, test contact forms, search functionality, and ensure all payment and shipping options work flawlessly.
• Update DNS Records: Once you are confident that your PrestaShop store is fully operational, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new PrestaShop hosting. Schedule this during a low-traffic period to minimize potential downtime.
• Communicate with Customers: Inform your customers about the transition and any new features or changes they might experience.
• Deactivate/Remove Old Shopee Store: Once your PrestaShop store is live and stable, you can gradually deactivate or remove your old listings on Shopee.

By meticulously following these steps, you can achieve a successful transition from Shopee to PrestaShop, positioning your e-commerce business for future growth and greater operational control. Should you require expert assistance at any stage, do not hesitate to Contact Us for tailored support.