Introduction
You have heard that WordPress is the best platform to use when you are building an e-commerce website, but you are hesitant to switch from osCommerce because it is been working fine so far. Don’t worry! Migrating from osCommerce to WooCommerce with this step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of switching your site to WordPress and give you tips along the way on how to prepare your existing data and products before starting the migration.
Why You Should Make a Switch?
Certainly, one of the best platforms is osCommerce, which was introduced in 2000 and has had enormous success for many years. It is an open-source platform that provides a ton of opportunities for launching the web store with no work. However, as more platforms appeared, business owners began to have more options and were aware of some osCommerce limits. While many platforms, like WooCommerce, have a few free plugins available, it does not offer any free plugins. Additionally, it lacks features like wish lists and discount coupons and instead requires third-party applications to use them. Additionally, because you must seek assistance from technical professionals, it is not a user-friendly tool. The fact that it is challenging to secure your data using osCommerce is another massive concern.
Convert osCommerce Website To WooCommerce
Benefits of Transferring to WooCommerce
One of the e-commerce systems with the quickest growth, WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that quickly became well-known.
1. WordPress’s limitless content management potential and its potent SEO opportunities have been the main drivers of its steadily increasing market dominance.
2. Unlike WooCommerce, which has a user-friendly interface and is relatively simple to install, build a store with, pick templates for, and add products without professional assistance, osCommerce is a complex program.
3. Despite being open-source, the solution does provide the necessary scalability and robustness to compete with other well-known rivals like Shopify, Magento, and Drupal.
4. There are numerous third-party security plugins, so you do not have to worry about your digital store’s security.
5. Even the premium WooCommerce plugins are affordable, and many of them are free.
6. Finding a skilled developer to work with well-known programs like WordPress and its plugin WooCommerce is not too difficult. They won’t cost much either.
7. It includes marketing resources like price reductions, couponing programs, and layout designs.
8. A wide variety of attention-grabbing and niche-specific themes are the biggest draw.
10. WooCommerce is constantly changing and has become the platform of choice for many business owners thanks to its frequent update releases, extensions, and add-ons.
11. WooCommerce is also simple to integrate with social media platforms, allowing you to focus on the most recent marketing campaigns rather than more conventional ones.
Switch From osCommerce Website To WooCommerce
Best Way to Switch from Oscommerce to Woocommerce?
1. Backup your current site
Before you begin a website transfer, it is always best to back up your current site, or at least your important pages. If possible, also manually backup your site.
2. Export Your Data
Firstly, you need to export your products from osCommerce into a CSV file. You can do so by going to Admin>Products and clicking on Export Products. This will take you through a series of steps where you can select which products you want to export, and then choose where these files are saved. Your product CSV files will be saved in whichever directory is selected.
3. Export Customer Accounts
The most important step in moving from an older e-commerce platform to a new one is migrating your customer accounts and order history over. If you do not, you risk losing track of all your customers and their orders, which could lead to large sums of money not being accounted for. The best way to make sure that does not happen is through export/import tools built into both platforms. So, make sure you have access to these before starting. Then follow these steps
4. Import Into Woocommerce
One of your goals may be to migrate your existing products into WooCommerce. The process is relatively simple, and you can do it yourself if you follow a few guidelines. The method you choose will depend on how much data needs transferring and what kind of platform you’re using for your website. A quick Google search for osCommerce import WooCommerce will turn up many different resources, but as a general rule of thumb, here are some methods
- If you are looking to transfer just a handful of items over, the most efficient method is to manually copy and paste them one by one into the database in WooCommerce.
- Alternatively, there are services like ImportFeed or Oscom2Woo which automate the process by parsing your osCommerce database for you and then automatically updating all necessary information in the new database at once.
Conclusion
As a result, online businesses are switching from osCommerce to WooCommerce. Many e-commerce business owners choose it because of its popularity, adaptability, and scalability in addition to its powerhouse of advantages.