Both X‑Cart and WooCommerce are self‑hosted, highly customizable eCommerce solutions. However, WooCommerce enjoys a significant advantage – it is seamlessly integrated into one of the most powerful content management systems available: WordPress.
Switching your eCommerce platform from X‑Cart to WooCommerce opens a door to enhanced flexibility, modern SEO capabilities, and a more user‑friendly content management system through WordPress. However, this migration goes far beyond a simple export‑import process – it requires a deep understanding of the differences in data structures and a carefully planned, step‑by‑step approach. In this guide, we cover everything from the key data differences to detailed migration instructions using Next‑Cart’s migration tool, along with post‑migration adjustments and a helpful video tutorial.
Understanding the Differences in Data Structure
Products
- Custom Options to Variants: In X‑Cart, products can include custom options in three forms: Select, Text Area, and Yes/No. WooCommerce natively supports only drop-down options as variants. During migration, the default process converts both Select and Yes/No options into variants. However, Text Area options (often used for free‑form inputs such as engravings or personalized messages) cannot be converted automatically since WooCommerce does not support them out of the box. To ensure product integrity, you can use a Product Custom Options plugin to add this functionality to WooCommerce.
- Product Attributes: Similar to custom options, product attributes are also stored in the three aforementioned formats. Although WooCommerce only supports storing product attributes as text, this is sufficient to cover all three types of data mentioned above, ensuring that detailed product information, such as specifications, materials, or custom descriptions, remains intact after migration.
- Subscription Products: X‑Cart offers native support for subscription products, whereas WooCommerce only enables this feature through the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. Before migrating, identify all subscription products so you can install and configure the appropriate plugin to maintain your recurring revenue model.
Customers
- Address Management: X‑Cart enables customers to store multiple addresses, a handy feature for businesses catering to wholesale buyers or those with varied shipping needs. In contrast, WooCommerce supports only one billing and one shipping address by default. When migrating customer accounts, you will need to decide whether to consolidate customer addresses or implement a third‑party solution to manage multiple addresses.
- Membership and Customer Roles: X‑Cart provides built‑in membership functionalities, allowing you to segment customers as Wholesalers, Retailers, etc. WooCommerce does not include this feature out of the box. To compensate for this shortfall, you can use plugins such as WooCommerce Memberships to recreate membership‑based features and maintain differentiated pricing or exclusive benefits.
Orders
- Order Status Mapping: In X‑Cart, orders have two separate status fields to track payments and shipments independently: Payment Status and Fulfillment Status. WooCommerce, however, simplifies this with a single order status field. During migration, you will need to map these two fields of statuses into a unified WooCommerce field based on your order management approach. Additionally, you might consider using third‑party plugins that allow you to add custom order statuses to your Woo store.
- Display of Custom Options in Orders: Since X‑Cart products may include Text Area options, such details can appear on orders. Given WooCommerce’s lack of native support for Text Area options, you must either capture this information via a custom solution (such as additional order fields) or rely on the aforementioned Product Custom Options plugin.
SEO and URL Structures
- Meta Data Support: X‑Cart provides native fields for meta titles, meta keywords, and meta descriptions. WooCommerce, on the other hand, manages these SEO elements through plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath -> they are essential plugins you must have on your WooCommerce website.
- URL Customization and Redirection: Both platforms allow URL customization for products and categories. However, WooCommerce uses distinct URL prefixes (e.g.,
/product/for products and/product-category/for categories) compared to X‑Cart. Therefore, setting up proper URL redirects to map your old X‑Cart URLs to the new WooCommerce URLs is absolutely crucial. The URL Redirects plugin by Next‑Cart can automate this process, preserving your SEO equity and preventing broken links.
Migrating from X‑Cart to WooCommerce with Next‑Cart
Next‑Cart’s migration tool eliminates the hassles of moving from X‑Cart to WooCommerce, paving the way for a seamless transition. Below, you’ll find an in-depth breakdown of every step involved in the process.
1. Setting Up the Connection
X-Cart to WooCommerce – Setup Connection
First, you need to establish a connection between the migration tool and your stores:
- X‑Cart (Source Store): Download the kitconnect package from the migration tool and upload it to the root directory of your X‑Cart website via cPanel or FTP.
- WooCommerce (Target Store): Download the kitconnect package from the migration tool and upload it to the root directory of your WooCommerce (WordPress) website via cPanel or FTP.
Once both connections are established, click “Next Step” in the migration tool to proceed.
2. Configuring the Migration
X-Cart to WooCommerce – Configuration
In the configuration step, you will find three sections to customize the migration based on your needs.
Entities Selection
In the first section, you will need to select the types of data you want to migrate. These include:
- Products
- Categories
- Taxes
- Manufacturers
- Customers
- Orders
- Reviews
Additional Options
In the second section, you can configure additional options such as:
- Preserving IDs: Retain original customer and order IDs for continuity.
- Migrating SEO URLs: Transfer SEO Clean URLs to WooCommerce. These URLs will then be redirected accurately via our URL Redirects plugin.
Advanced Attributes Mapping
In the third section, you will need to map order statuses as mentioned earlier. Make sure the order statuses are properly aligned from X‑Cart to WooCommerce to fit your order management workflow.
3. Starting the Migration
X-Cart to WooCommerce – Migration Process
Once configured, initiate the migration by clicking “Next Step”. The duration will depend on the volume of data, it can be from a few minutes to several hours. You can monitor the process in real time or let it run in the background if you’re migrating a large dataset.
Video Tutorial
For a comprehensive visual walkthrough, Next‑Cart offers a detailed video tutorial that guides you step‑by‑step through the entire migration process—from establishing connections to configuring settings. This resource is invaluable for clarifying complex steps and ensuring you execute every part of the migration correctly.
Post‑Migration Adjustments
After migration, it’s essential to fine‑tune your WooCommerce store to ensure all data and functionalities work as expected.
1. Verify and Organize Data
- Products and Categories: Ensure that all product details—including descriptions, variants, pricing, and images—have been accurately transferred. Additionally, verify that products are correctly assigned to their respective categories and that the store’s navigation aligns with your intended structure.
- Orders and Customers: Review order histories, customer information, and mapped order statuses to confirm accuracy. If your store includes membership tiers or multiple customer addresses, check that these features have been properly migrated and are functioning as expected.
- SEO and URL Redirects: Test all URL redirects to ensure that old X‑Cart URLs are properly redirected to the new WooCommerce URLs, preserving your SEO rankings.
2. Set Up WooCommerce Features
- Theme and Customization: Choose a WooCommerce‑compatible theme and adjust your store’s design to align with your brand identity.
- Payment, Shipping, and Tax Settings: Configure payment gateways (e.g., PayPal, Stripe), set up shipping methods and zones, and verify that tax settings reflect your business model.
- Email Notifications: Test and configure transactional emails (order confirmations, shipping updates, etc.) to ensure seamless communication with customers.
3. Test and Optimize Your Store
- Run Test Orders: Place sample orders to confirm that checkout, payment processing, and shipping calculations work flawlessly.
- Performance Optimization: Enhance site speed with caching, image compression, and potentially a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
- Analytics Integration: Set up Google Analytics and WooCommerce reports to monitor store performance, sales trends, and customer behavior.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from X‑Cart to WooCommerce is a strategic move that modernizes your eCommerce operations while opening up new possibilities for customization and growth. With careful planning – understanding the nuances in product options, customer data, order management, and SEO configurations – you can ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption.
Utilizing our X‑Cart to WooCommerce migration tool, combined with the appropriate plugins (such as Product Custom Options, WooCommerce Subscriptions, WooCommerce Memberships, and Next-Cart’s WooCommerce URL Redirects), will help you preserve your store’s integrity and maintain SEO rankings. Remember, thorough testing and continuous optimization post‑migration are key to a successful, long‑term transition.
Happy migrating, and here’s to building a more robust and future‑ready WooCommerce store!