How to Migrate WooCommerce Store Data to Another Site

Migrating WooCommerce store data to a new site is a tedious process. It involves transferring a substantial amount of data to ensure your business continues to operate smoothly. This article provides an in-depth guide on WooCommerce migration and some handful tools to facilitate the transition.

Migrating a WooCommerce store to a new website is a crucial task that demands thorough planning and execution. Your WooCommerce store contains vital information, including customer data, product listings, orders, and detailed settings like tax configurations and shipping rules. Safeguarding these elements during the migration is essential to ensure that your new store functions seamlessly, providing a smooth user experience.

A successful migration involves more than just transferring product details and images; it also involves maintaining all related data, such as customer purchase histories, order statuses, and inventory levels. Overlooking any aspect of this process could lead to downtime, broken links, or a loss of customer trust due to discrepancies.

In this article, we will guide you through the complete WooCommerce migration process, step by step. We will highlight best practices, tools, and tips to help you achieve a seamless transition without any issues.

Following a structured and systematic approach is crucial to avoid common pitfalls in WooCommerce data migration and ensure a smooth and successful transfer. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the critical steps you should take:

1. Create a Backup

Before you start, you must back up your current WooCommerce store. This backup should encompass your database, media files (like product images), themes, and plugin settings. A backup gives you a safety net if anything goes wrong during the migration.

Consider using trusted backup and data migration plugins like WebToffee’s Import Export Suite for WooCommerce.

2. Choose a Reliable Migration Tool

Migrating to WooCommerce can be challenging because of the intricate relationships among different data types, such as products, orders, and customer details. Therefore, it is crucial to select a trustworthy migration tool that can handle the complexities of WooCommerce data structures, including variations, attributes, and categories.

Look for tools that provide automation, can manage large data sets, and offer smooth import/export capabilities.

3. Check Data Integrity Post Migration

After completing the migration, it’s essential to check that all data has been transferred correctly and that the connections between various data sets are preserved. This involves ensuring that all products, variations, images, customer information, and order history are properly placed.

By following these structured steps, you can ensure a smooth WooCommerce data migration with minimal risk and downtime, preserving the integrity of your store’s data and relationships.

When moving a WooCommerce store to a new website, you typically have two main options for transferring your store data: utilizing WooCommerce’s built-in export/import tools or using specialized plugins that offer more advanced features.

The ideal choice will depend on how complex your store is and how much data you need to migrate.

Method 1: Using WooCommerce’s Built-in Export/Import Tools

The best and easiest way to migrate these data is to export it to a CSV file and then import it to the target site.

WooCommerce has an inbuilt feature that allows you to export products, orders, coupons, subscriptions, etc., from your existing site and then import the CSV file to the target site.

To export your products and product data using the built-in WordPress export tool,

• Navigate to Products > All Products from your WordPress dashboard.
• Choose the Export option.
• Select Columns, Product Types, and Product Category.
• Choose whether to Export custom meta.
• Once done, click Generate CSV.

However, the options it provides are limited. When importing using the WooCommerce plugin, there is less flexibility and control over the product data that are exported or imported into a CSV file.

This is where dedicated plugins are preferred. For larger stores with thousands of products and their variations, customers, orders, custom fields, and datasets, dedicated migration plugins are the best option. They automate the process, save time, and ensure that all relationships between data elements are preserved.

Now, let’s examine how plugins can migrate WooCommerce store data.

The order in which the data are imported is key when importing and exporting to a new or existing site.

Follow the steps and the order while importing the data to a newly created site.

Step 1: Import and Export WordPress Users

Read the documentation on setting up WordPress Users and WooCommerce Customers Import Export Plugin to help you get started.

Export Users

Using the WordPress Users Import Export Plugin, export the user data from the source website in a CSV file to the destination site where they will be imported.

• Install and activate plugin on source and target website.
• Select Users as the post type to export.
• Choose the Advanced import method.
• Filter user data for export.
• Map and reorder user export columns.
• Configure advanced export options.
• Download the exported CSV file.

Import Users

On the destination site, import the CSV file and map the CSV fields to the corresponding fields in the WooCommerce store.

• Select User as post type for import.
• Choose Advanced import method.
• Map import columns.
• Set up advanced import options.

Since no other posts exist for a new website, the user data will retain the original user ID. You don’t have to worry about users being imported to be assigned a different ID or skipped from importing.

Step 2: Import and Export WooCommerce Products

The Product Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce is ideal for a smooth product migration between WooCommerce sites. This robust plugin simplifies exporting products and their associated data easily and accurately.

Export WooCommerce Products

You can export all your products into a CSV file with just a few clicks. The plugin provides numerous customization options, allowing you to specify exactly which product data you wish to include.

• Install and activate the plugin.
• Select Product as post type to export.
• Choose Advanced export method.
• Filter product data for export.
• Map and reorder product export columns.
• Set up advanced export options.
• Download the exported CSV file.

Import WooCommerce Products

After all the required products and their metadata have been exported to a CSV file, they can be imported to the other site. Install and activate the Product Import Export Plugin on the site where the CSV will be imported.

• Select Product as post type to import.
• Choose Advanced import option.
• Upload the CSV file.
• Reorder product import columns.
• Configure advanced import options.

After importing the file, you will get all the products and their metadata in the new WooCommerce store.

Step 3: Import and Export WooCommerce Orders

After all the users and products have been imported into the new WooCommerce store, it is safe to transfer the orders to the store. The Order/Coupon/Subscription Export Import for WooCommerce plugin will help you export and import orders from one site to another.

Export WooCommerce Orders

Export all the required orders from one site to another. The plugin allows you to export orders depending on their status and start or end date. You can also specify the number of orders you want to export to CSV or XML format.

• Install and activate the plugin on the source and target websites.
• Select Orders as post type for export.
• Choose an export method: Quick or Advanced export.
• Filter order export data.
• Map and rearrange export columns.
• Configure advanced export options.
• Download exported orders as a CSV file.

Importing WooCommerce Orders

Next, install and activate the Order Import Export plugin in the new site into which the orders must be imported. Then, import the CSV with the order details.

• Select Order as post type to import.
• Choose Advanced import method.
• Map order import columns.
• Set import options and begin importing.

This will create all the orders on the new site and connect with the corresponding products and users if they already exist on the new website.

You can also use the same plugin to migrate your WooCommerce subscriptions and coupons from your store. 

WebToffee’s WooCommerce Import Export plugins enable seamless, efficient bulk transfer of products, users, customers, orders, coupons, and subscriptions across stores, with options for advanced filtering, automated mapping, and support for CSV, XML, TSV, and Excel formats.

• Product Import Export Plugin For WooCommerce

The WooCommerce Product Import Export plugin allows for easy transfer of different product types such as simple, variable, grouped, and affiliate between stores. It supports multiple formats, including CSV, XML, TSV, and Excel. This plugin simplifies bulk tasks like importing images, reviews, categories, and tags, featuring advanced filtering and automatic column mapping for more efficient data management.

• WordPress Users & WooCommerce Customers Import Export

The WordPress Users & WooCommerce Customers Import Export plugin allows for easy transfer of user and customer data between sites. It allows batch processing and filtering by roles, emails, and dates. In addition, the plugin also offers support for CSV, XML, and Excel formats, advanced filtering options, field mapping, and bulk updates for better data management.

• Order, Coupon, Subscription Export Import for WooCommerce

Order, Coupon, Subscription Export Import for WooCommerce allows you to easily migrate orders, coupons, and subscriptions in bulk, along with any custom metadata, using formats like CSV, XML, TSV, and Excel. It provides various import/export methods, advanced filtering options for selecting custom data, and the ability to perform bulk updates during the import process.

Even the thought of migrating a WooCommerce website can be challenging. There’s a chance that something will go wrong, potentially ruining your website and making all your hard work in vain.

An average store owner might need a WordPress expert for site migration. However, with the correct set of plugins and proper steps, website migration can be done without the help of an expert.

We hope this article has given you a detailed understanding of performing WooCommerce store migrations using a plugin. Please share any queries or feedback as comments, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.