How to Migrate Your Store from BigCommerce to WooCommerce

As your online store grows, it’s essential to ensure that your eCommerce platform can keep up with the demand. While BigCommerce is a popular choice for many eCommerce businesses, some store owners may find it limiting in terms of flexibility and customization. If you’re looking for a more versatile platform, WooCommerce might be the perfect option for you.

However, the idea of migrating your entire online store can seem overwhelming, but the process can be much more straightforward than you think.

In this post, we’ll provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to seamlessly move your store from BigCommerce to WooCommerce. From migrating your products, customers, and orders to importing them into WooCommerce, we’ll cover all the necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition.

What are the benefits of switching from BigCommerce to WooCommerce?

Because it is maintained by a large and active community of developers from all over the world, WooCommerce has an abundance of functionality, is continually being developed, and is constantly updated. In addition, it is based on WordPress, which is the platform that runs 30% of the websites on the whole internet.

As a result of the extensive support for WooCommerce, a multitude of other options have already been pre-built. Your shop will have access to the best available themes, templates, and plugins that are part of a whole ecosystem.

You will only be required to make investments in custom development on an ad hoc basis, and only when doing so would give a substantial competitive advantage for your business.

You can quickly improve the search engine rankings of your shop with the help of WooCommerce, which already comes geared for use with search engines.

BigCommerce gives you just a limited amount of control over your search engine optimization (SEO), and some more sophisticated SEO capabilities cost extra. So, whether you’re a seasoned eCommerce veteran or just starting out, read on to discover how to migrate your store to WooCommerce effortlessly.

1. Pre-migration checklist

Before starting the BigCommerce to WooCommerce migration process, it’s essential to have a pre-migration checklist. This will ensure that you don’t miss any important steps and that the migration process runs smoothly.

Firstly, you need to ensure that your BigCommerce store is up to date, and all the data is backed up. This is essential as it ensures that you don’t lose any data during the migration process.

Next, you need to make sure that your WooCommerce store is set up correctly and is ready to accept the migrated data. This includes ensuring that the necessary plugins are installed, and the store’s settings are configured correctly.

It’s also important to ensure that your WooCommerce store is compatible with your theme, and that there are no conflicts with any existing plugins.

Another important item on the pre-migration checklist is to verify that all the necessary data will be migrated. This includes products, customers, orders, and any other relevant data that you want to transfer from BigCommerce to WooCommerce.

Finally, you need to test your WooCommerce store after the migration to ensure that everything is working correctly. This includes testing the checkout process, the payment gateway, and any other functionality that you need to ensure is working correctly before going live with your new store.

By following this pre-migration checklist, you can ensure that your BigCommerce to WooCommerce migration is seamless, and your new store is up and running smoothly.

2. Select a web hosting service that is compatible with WordPress

Be careful you choose an ecommerce hosting service that is adequate and is compatible with both WordPress and WooCommerce. Because WordPress is already so well-known, there are a great deal of hosting services that are compatible with it. Using solid-state drives (SSDs) may boost the speed and performance of your shop.

Integrated caching that improves performance (Object Cache Pro) helps speed up stores while simultaneously lowering the burden on the database. Add-on for Cloudflare Enterprise designed to guard against DDoS attacks and improve the delivery of content

• Free SSL certificates provided by Let’s Encrypt
• Firewalls that are dedicated only to the purpose of protecting your server against intrusions
• Support available through live chat around the clock to assist you keep your WooCommerce business running smoothly.
• A cloning feature that just requires one click to replicate your WooCommerce shop
• Free staging URLs

3. Set up a new WooCommerce store

Setting up a new WooCommerce store can be an exciting but daunting task. The first thing to do is to choose a hosting service and domain name for your online store.

Once you have done that, you can install the WooCommerce plugin on your website. After you have installed the plugin, you will be guided through a setup wizard that will help you with the basic configuration of your online store.

You will need to add your payment gateway and shipping options, as well as set up your products and categories. You can customize the design of your store by choosing a theme and uploading your logo.

Once you have completed these basic steps, your online store will be ready to go! Of course, you will have to continue to add products, update prices and descriptions, and optimize your website for search engines to maximize your success.

4. Choose your Strategy for Migration

Now that you have a fresh new WooCommerce site up and running, you need to decide which technique of product transfer from BigCommerce to WooCommerce would be the most effective for your particular situation.

Automated Migration through LitExtension

The most straightforward approach to moving your items to the new store of your choice is to use automated migration. This may be accomplished with the assistance of a number of different technologies, such as LitExtension, Cart2Cart, and NextCart.

Source set-up

You will need to provide BigCommerce API information in order to set up a source cart before beginning the conversion from BigCommerce to WooCommerce. Simply put the URL of your BigCommerce shop where it asks for your source cart’s URL.

At this point, you need to add the route to the API. To do this, access the dashboard for your BigCommerce store and click the option labeled Advanced Settings. Now, choose ‘API Accounts’ from the menu.

Target cart setup

Complete the required fields with the specifics of your Target Cart type and Target Cart URL. Get the LitExtension Connector by downloading it. Unpack the zipped package, and then upload the individual files to the root folder of the shop you’re targeting.

Configure your migration settings

You’ll need to choose which entities will be migrated to your new store at this step in the process. You are free to choose any number from one to all. LitExtension is another tool you may use to broaden the scope of your migration options. In the meanwhile, you may also take use of language mapping and order status mapping, both of which will be visible in your new shop.

Start migration

You are now able to begin the migration process. You will also be presented with the ‘Demo Migration’ option, which you are free to ignore.

5. Migrating your design and theme

Migrating your design and theme is a crucial part of the migration process. Your store design is what sets the tone for your brand and can greatly impact customer engagement and sales.

To migrate your design and theme from BigCommerce to WooCommerce, you’ll need to consider a few things. First, you’ll need to choose a theme that is compatible with WooCommerce. You can browse through the themes available on WooCommerce or purchase a premium theme from a third-party provider.

Next, you’ll need to customize the theme to match your brand’s look and feel. This can include changing the color scheme, adding your logo, and adjusting the layout to fit your products. If you have any custom design elements or functionality on your BigCommerce store, you’ll need to recreate them on your new WooCommerce store. This may require the help of a developer or designer.

Once you’ve completed the design and theme migration, be sure to test your site thoroughly to ensure that all elements are working properly and look as expected. It’s also a good idea to get feedback from your customers to ensure that they find the new design and layout user-friendly and engaging.

Overall, migrating your design and theme may take some time and effort, but it’s well worth it to ensure that your brand’s identity and customer experience are preserved during the migration process.

6. Configuring your products and categories

When you are in the process of establishing an online shop, there are a great many things that might thrill you, including the design of your website, the production of entertaining product videos, the formulation of a social media marketing strategy, and the selection of product categories.

Yes, your product categories. Once you have successfully migrated your store from BigCommerce to WooCommerce, it is time to configure your products and categories. This is a crucial step to ensure that your customers can easily navigate through your store and find the products they are looking for.

Firstly, you need to create your product categories in WooCommerce. This can be done by navigating to the Products tab and clicking on Categories. You can then add the categories that are applicable to your store and assign each product to the relevant category.

Next, you need to configure your products in WooCommerce. This involves adding the product details such as name, description, price, and images. You can also add product variations such as size and color options, and set the inventory levels.

It is important to ensure that your product descriptions and images are optimized for search engines. This will help to increase the visibility of your products in search results and attract more customers to your store.

There are several companies that can assist you in making the switch from BigCommerce to WooCommerce, including reviews. You’ll have the ability to move them once you reach the setup phase of the BigCommerce to WooCommerce transfer.

Simply selecting “Reviews” from the list of migration entities will cause those reviews, along with any other chosen entities, to be migrated to your new shop automatically.

Best practices for maintaining a successful WooCommerce store

Maintaining a successful WooCommerce store requires ongoing effort and attention to detail. Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

1. Keep your store updated: Make sure to keep your WooCommerce and WordPress version updated along with your themes and plugins. This will ensure compatibility and security.
2. Optimize your site speed: Slow loading sites can lead to a high bounce rate. So, keep your website optimized for speed by minimizing code, compressing images, and using a caching plugin.
3. Regularly test your site: Run regular tests to ensure your site is functioning properly. This includes testing the checkout process, product pages, and any other functionality on your site.
4. Provide excellent customer service: Customers are the lifeblood of any business. So, make sure to respond promptly to customer queries, concerns, and complaints. This helps to build trust and loyalty.