How to Migrate from Magento to BigCommerce
Are you considering a Magento to BigCommerce migration because the current platform is no longer working for your business? Re-platforming an enterprise eCommerce store to BigCommerce will save money, time and improve the overall customer experience. It requires a new design, development, and a few third-party tools to enhance user experience and security protocols. Ultimately, the store or stores will be scalable and run smoother for both customers and key stakeholders.
Between daily maintenance, custom development work, licenses and hosting fees, we were spending tens of thousands of dollars in unforeseen costs [with Magento] just to keep the store running.
Gary Pellegrino Jr., President of Bulk Apothecary
The Right Choice For Enterprise
Here are some of the reasons enterprise stores move to BigCommerce:
- Cloud-Based Means Unlimited Scalability – Automatic software upgrades, no need to purchase extra server capacity.
- Plug and Play Simplicity – Out-of-the-box apps integrate with only a few clicks or minimal coding. Expect a 50% faster launch time.
- Easier Customization – If the available apps don’t fill your requirements, the open APIs make it easy for a BigCommerce development agency to customize whatever you need.
- High Security - BigCommerce integrates a comprehensive security system including a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service Attack) defense system on the platform, integrated fraud protection tools, and automated PCI compliance.
- Low Cost of Ownership – Eliminate costs associated with hosting, server maintenance, equipment, software upgrades, and repairs. Owners report reducing expenses by up to 75%.|
These are a few of the reasons merchants are switching to BigCommerce, now let’s see the process. Here are the necessary steps to migration.
6 Steps to a Successful BigCommerce Migration
Without getting into the minutia, there are six steps that BigCommerce migration experts follow to make a successful store migration.
1. Planning and Pre-Migration
Before you begin moving the product catalog and store settings, you will need to take inventory of what will go and what won’t. Create a list of all the data like categories, customers, and products. Items that won’t go would be bundled software, outdated content, store settings, and legacy apps.
BigCommerce provides several base template themes from which to choose, each having several design variations.
2. Provide the Source and Information
Provide the current Magento store URL and login information. To launch the website effectively, keep the most linked-to URLs and pages with their native structure in place and carry them over from Magento.
3. Select the Data to Migrate
Select everything you want to bring over to the new store and omit the data you wish to delete. Migration is the perfect time to remove outdated content, consolidate the URL structure, and streamline the way the website works.
4. Set Up a Test Migration
Before jumping into the boat, be sure it floats. It’s a good idea to try a demo migration by using a small sample of your shopping cart data. Verify that the population of products, images, descriptions, etc. will work correctly before shifting the entire contents of your server.
5. Start Full Migration
After a successful test, it’s time to migrate all assets. Your data will likely fall into one of the following categories:
- Product information, SKUs, and assets (like images)
- Product categories
- Customer data
- Orders (historical, pending, completed, etc.)
- 301 redirects
It is an involved task, but there are solutions for streamlining it. For instance, BigCommerce has a free Magento data migration tool and a host of third-party tools, like Cart2Cart, that simplify the data migration process.
6. Launch New Store and Begin User Testing
After you have completed the primary task of store set-up and data migration, it’s time to troubleshoot and configure integrations from within your staging area.
It’s vital to check that all third-party APIs are functioning without issues.
BigCommerce recommends you check the following features before launch:
- Checkout, Payment Processing, and Shipping in the Form of a Test Order
- Third-Party Integrations (CMS, shipping solutions, email marketing app, and other software)
- SSL Certificate
- Design Elements and Mismatches on Product Pages
- SEO Settings (like metadata) and Link Redirects
- Email Confirmations
- Loyalty Point Accruals
- Navigation Menus
- Responsive Testing
To launch the new store after a BigCommerce migration, with the same functionalities as before, they combine built-in core functionality with some third-party apps. Beyond universal apps, developers here can create customizations specific to your store’s needs. Check out our eCommerce Apps page and fill out a form; we'll show you the custom Apps we have built.
In the period immediately after migrating to BigCommerce, it’s quite common for unforeseen issues to arise. Begin continuous user testing to ensure the proper functioning of the site. Users will quickly pinpoint any bugs or bottlenecks related to hosting, product catalogs, or checkout.
BigCommerce offers extensive documentation to help ensure a smooth migration.
Planning is Essential to a Successful Migration
Most of the issues associated with migration arise because of a lack of understanding of all the necessary steps involved.
The key to a successful migration is developing a thorough plan. If you don’t have an in-house team of experts, consider outsourcing the job to the Eventige team. As an Elite BigCommerce partner, we have handled many Magento to BigCommerce migrations. We’ll help reduce the time, costs, and potential problems of migration and launch.
Should you choose to undertake the migration in-house, consult with us during the troubleshooting or quality assurance stage.
