If you are searching for a way to completely and securely transfer data from your Volusion store to Shopify, this article is for you. I’m going to share why it is beneficial to transfer your online store from Volusion to Shopify and how the migration process is carried out.
With LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert, you can easily re-platform from Volusion to Shopify within only a few simple steps:
- Backup your Volusion store’s data.
- Create a Shopify store.
- Migrate data from Volusion to Shopify.
- Check migration results.
- Perform post-migration activities to set up your new store.
Why should you migrate from Volusion to Shopify?
The most important reason is that Volusion has recently filed for bankruptcy. As a result, eCommerce merchants on this platform will have to face some risks, such as getting fewer updates, losing customers or even their businesses.
On the other hand, Shopify offers store owners better experiences than Volusion in many aspects, including ease of use, customization, extensions and plugins, payment methods, and support. More importantly, Shopify comes with a high level of scalability for enterprise-level businesses to expand their customer base with Shopify Plus plan. Please read our Shopify vs Shopify Plus comparison for more details.
For instance, in terms of extensions and plugins, Volusion currently lists only 21 applications, excluding payment processors. In the meantime, Shopify has one of the most extensive app ecosystems with over 3,500 add-ons and counting. Although Volusion allows users to connect with Zapier to integrate multiple third-party solutions beyond the listed applications, you will have to pay an additional monthly fee.
For further information regarding how Shopify is better than Volusion, visit our comprehensive comparison between Volusion vs Shopify.
How to perform Volusion to Shopify migration?
Step 1: Backup data
Typically, the first thing you need to do before a data migration is backing up your data from Volusion into a CSV file to avoid any distortions of your important data.
However, if you decide to use LitExtension’s service, you will not have to perform this task. We are committed to protecting all your data on your source store. In case you still want to backup your data, these are 5 easy steps to do that:
- Go to the Volusion admin, and then choose the ‘Inventory’ tab.
- From the drop-down menu, select the ‘Import/Export’ function.
3. Select the “Standard Export” button.
4. At the “Export from” section, please choose which kinds of entities you want to export, and also the necessary column below.
5. Choose the file format as CSV, then click “Export” and download your files.
You would need to put the store into maintenance mode to inform your website visitors to come back another time during the backup. After creating the backup, the system will turn the maintenance mode off automatically.
Step 2: Create a Shopify store
After successfully backing up your files on Volusion, you have to set up a new Shopify store. Shopify offers users a 14-day trial, and you needn't provide any credit card information until you go live. All you need to do is fill in some information about your store and your payment address.
In case you are looking for a quick Shopify tutorial video that guides you through primary steps to create a Shopify store from scratch, check out this video:
Step 3: Migrate data from Volusion to Shopify
To begin with, you need to register an account or sign in on the LitExtension website. You are able to use your existing Google or Facebook account for this process.
Fill in information
After registration, click the “Create new migration” button at the top right on the screen. After that, you can select Volusion as your source cart. Besides, you will have to provide the source store’s URL into the blank bar.
Next, select Shopify as the Target cart type and provide us with the target cart URL, API key, and password.
Then, select entities that you want to migrate
LitExtension supports almost all types of data you want. Make sure to read and tick on the entities (products and product categories, customers, orders, etc.) you wish to migrate carefully. You can select either all of them together or only some certain data.
LitExtension also provides Additional Options here to extend your migration possibilities. For example, after you migrate your store from Volusion to Shopify, the additional option “Create the 301 redirects on your target store after migration” will help eliminate the case of meeting 404 page not found errors.
Users can also benefit from some other free additional services such as Strip HTML Tags from Category and Product Names or Preserve Order IDs on Target Store…
Also, you can map your order status or language right on this step so that they will be displayed correspondingly on the Shopify site. You can select Order status on Shopify to fit your needs – either exactly the same or in a different way as in Volusion’s store. Whatever variant you choose, you can control how your orders will be migrated to avoid any confusion after the migration.
Step 4: Extension migration
If you want to transfer extensions from Volusion to Shopify, you have to export its data into CSV files. It depends on the requirements of each extension that you can directly export data from your store or you have to contact its supplier to get the CSV file.
You also have to access Shopify Apps to find and install extensions that are similar to your old ones. After that, LitExtension will help you migrate data from your old extension to the new one on Shopify.
Step 5: Run the migration from Volusion to Shopify
LitExtension allows you to try the demo migration first or run the full migration immediately.
You can start the demo with a limited number of entities. It will show you how the migration process works. However, you can immediately carry out Full Migration by clicking on the “Skip Demo Migration” button.
Because the migration process is cloud-based, it will still continue after you turn off your PC. When the process finishes, we will send you an email to let you know!
Step 6: Check migration results
After the migration is finished, you may want to check whether the process ran well or not. You should check both the back-end and front-end of your new Shopify store.
Follow our guide on How to check migration results after re-platforming from Volusion to Shopify.
Step 7: Perform post-migration activities
Here are some post-migration steps you should take before your store can go live!
- Install new themes
- Add new extensions
- Recent data migration
- Change DNS and switch domains
- Testing
If you’ve just finished Volusion to Shopify migration with LitExtension, have a look at this article for the checklist to set up your new store on Shopify.
Conclusion
In summary, there has been an increasing trend where merchants migrate their online stores away from Volusion, and Shopify is absolutely an ideal alternative.
Rather than performing the migration from Volusion to Shopify manually and having to spend tons of effort and time, using LitExtension’s service is definitely a wiser decision.
With the experience of migrating more than 280,000 stores with over 160,000 customers worldwide, LitExtension guarantees accuracy and the highest level of security to your data with a 30-day money-back guarantee and dedicated support.
For people who aren’t tech-savvy, our All-in-One Migration Package is an optimal option because LitExtension personal assistant will take care of every task regarding the migration for you.
I hope that this article helps you and good luck with your migration! Let's read our LitExtension blog or join our community to get more eCommerce knowledge.
