As its name suggests, OpenCart is an open-source eCommerce platform. It is a powerful and flexible solution for online selling, but it lacks a key feature that has become increasingly important in modern eCommerce, that’s Blog. WooCommerce, on the other hand, may not include a built-in blogging system either, but it operates as a plugin within WordPress, one of the most powerful content management systems available. This makes WooCommerce a well-rounded solution for all types of online stores.
Migrating from OpenCart to WooCommerce can be a strategic move for your business. Not only will you gain unlimited expansion possibilities for your store’s functionality, but you’ll also be able to supercharge your marketing efforts with the support of WordPress and its renowned SEO plugins. Of course, despite its flexibility, WooCommerce cannot fully replicate every aspect of OpenCart’s data structure. In this article, we’ll explore the key differences between OpenCart and WooCommerce data structures and guide you through an efficient migration process using Next-Cart’s OpenCart to WooCommerce migration tool.
Understanding the Differences in Data Structure
Products
OpenCart provides extensive product customization through custom options and attributes, offering flexibility beyond standard product variations. A notable feature is tier pricing, which allows merchants to set quantity-based discounts directly within product settings. Since WooCommerce does not natively support tier pricing (only offering a special price mechanism), an additional plugin may be required to maintain this functionality after migration.
- Custom Options: OpenCart products can include custom options such as size, color, or material, which do not function as individual SKUs. These options are converted into WooCommerce product variations during migration to maintain accurate pricing and stock management.
- Tier Pricing: OpenCart’s tier pricing system enables automatic bulk discounts based on quantity. WooCommerce lacks this feature by default, so merchants switching to WooCommerce may need a third-party plugin to replicate tier-based discounts.
Categories
Both OpenCart and WooCommerce support hierarchical categories for organizing products.
- OpenCart allows multi-level categories with a structured hierarchy.
- WooCommerce follows the same hierarchical structure, but the way categories are displayed on the storefront is managed through WordPress’s navigation menu system, allowing greater flexibility in organizing the store layout.
After migration, ensure that your WooCommerce store is effectively structured and takes advantage of WordPress’s menu system for a seamless shopping experience.
Customers
OpenCart provides more flexibility in managing customer information, while WooCommerce follows a more simplified approach.
- OpenCart allows customers to store multiple addresses and offers built-in support for customer groups, enabling store owners to categorize customers for targeted pricing, promotions, or access restrictions.
- WooCommerce, by default, supports only one billing address and one shipping address per customer and does not natively support customer grouping.
To maintain a smooth transition, merchants migrating from OpenCart to WooCommerce may need to adjust their customer data handling or use third-party plugins to enable multiple addresses and customer group segmentation.
Orders
Both OpenCart and WooCommerce use a single order status field to track order progress. However, there are key differences:
- OpenCart allows merchants to define custom order statuses beyond the predefined ones.
- WooCommerce offers a limited set of predefined statuses but can be extended with third-party plugins to support custom statuses.
During migration, it’s crucial to carefully map OpenCart’s custom order statuses to WooCommerce’s equivalent ones or use plugins to retain the necessary workflow.
Blog Posts
OpenCart does not offer a built-in blogging feature. Most OpenCart stores that use blogs rely on third-party modules or themes like Journal. WooCommerce, being built on WordPress, has native blog functionality, allowing seamless content creation and management. Blog content from OpenCart can be fully migrated into WooCommerce to take advantage of WordPress’s powerful blogging capabilities.
SEO and URL Handling
Both OpenCart and WooCommerce allow store owners to customize URL paths for individual products and categories. However, WooCommerce structures URLs differently; by default, product URLs follow the format /product/product-name/, and category URLs follow /product-category/category-name/. This means that after migration, URL structures may not be identical, requiring proper redirection to maintain SEO rankings.
Regarding meta tags, OpenCart provides built-in support for meta titles and meta descriptions on product and category pages. In WooCommerce, these elements are managed through third-party SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath, which offer additional optimization features.
Maintaining SEO performance after migration requires attention to key areas:
- URL Redirects: OpenCart’s SEO URLs can be preserved using Next-Cart’s WooCommerce URL Redirects plugin, ensuring that old URLs remain functional and redirect correctly to their new counterparts, preventing broken links.
- Meta Tags: OpenCart’s meta titles and meta descriptions can be transferred seamlessly and managed using SEO plugins like Yoast SEO or RankMath on WooCommerce, helping maintain search engine visibility and rankings.
Migrating from OpenCart to WooCommerce with Next-Cart
Next-Cart’s OpenCart to WooCommerce migration tool simplifies the entire migration process. Here’s how it works:
1. Set up the connection
OpenCart to WooCommerce – Setup Connection
The first step involves establishing a connection between your OpenCart store, your WooCommerce store, and the migration tool.
- Source Store (OpenCart): Download the kitconnect package from the migration tool and upload it to your OpenCart website’s root directory via cPanel or FTP.
- Target Store (WooCommerce): Download the kitconnect package from the migration tool and upload it to your WooCommerce/WordPress website’s root directory via cPanel or FTP.
Once connections are established, click “Next Step” to proceed.
2. Configure the migration
During the migration configuration step, you can adjust settings across three sections to customize the migration to fit your needs.
Entities Selection
OpenCart to WooCommerce – Entities Selection
In the first section, you can select the data types you wish to migrate, such as:
- Products
- Categories
- Manufacturers
- Customers
- Orders
- Coupons
- Reviews
- Taxes
- CMS Pages
Additional Options
OpenCart to WooCommerce – Additional Options
In the second section, you can customize the migration with these features:
- Preserve Customer IDs: Retain OpenCart’s original customer IDs for consistency in WooCommerce customer management.
- Preserve Order IDs: Keep the original OpenCart order numbers intact for easy order tracking.
- Migrate SEO URLs: Move OpenCart URLs to WooCommerce using Next-Cart’s URL Redirects plugin to maintain SEO rankings (install the plugin after migration if necessary).
- Continue the previous migration: Migrate any new data (such as products, customers, orders, reviews, etc.) that has been added since you completed your initial migration.
Advanced Attributes Mapping
OpenCart to WooCommerce – Attributes Mapping
In the last section, you can map specific attributes between OpenCart and WooCommerce:
- Specify Order Tax Settings: Choose whether the order tax is included, excluded, or use the default for accurate financial tracking.
- Map Order Statuses: Align the order statuses from OpenCart with those in WooCommerce so they match your store’s order management workflow.
3. Start the migration
OpenCart to WooCommerce – Migration Process
Click “Next Step” to begin. The migration process duration depends on the amount of data being transferred, it may take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. You can keep the migration window open to monitor progress in real time. If you have a large dataset, you can minimize the window and let the migration run in the background. You can check the status anytime by reopening the migration tool.
Post-Migration Adjustments
After migration, you need to review and optimize your WooCommerce store to ensure everything functions correctly.
1. Verify and organize data
Before launching your new WooCommerce store, verify that all data has been transferred accurately.
- Products and Categories: Check that product descriptions, variations, pricing, and images are correct. Ensure products are assigned to the right categories and that your store’s navigation reflects the expected structure.
- Orders and Customers: Verify order histories, customer details, and ensure that previous customer groups from OpenCart are properly tagged in WooCommerce.
- SEO and Redirects: Test URL redirects to confirm that previous OpenCart URLs correctly map to their WooCommerce equivalents, preventing SEO disruptions.
2. Set up WooCommerce features
Once your data is in place, configure essential WooCommerce features for seamless store operations.
- Themes & Customization: Select a WooCommerce-compatible theme and adjust store design settings to align with your brand.
- Payment, Shipping, & Tax Settings: Configure payment gateways (PayPal, Stripe, etc.), set up applicable tax rates, and define shipping zones and methods.
- Email Notifications: Ensure transactional emails – such as order confirmations and shipping updates – are correctly configured and tested.
3. Test and optimize your store
Conduct thorough testing to optimize store performance and user experience.
- Place Test Orders: Run test purchases to verify checkout functionality, payment processing, and shipping calculations.
- Optimize Performance: Improve store speed by enabling caching, compressing images, and using a content delivery network (CDN).
- Use Analytics Tools: Integrate Google Analytics and WooCommerce reports to track visitor behavior, sales trends, and overall store performance.
By completing these steps, your WooCommerce store will be fine-tuned for optimal performance, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for your customers.
Video Tutorial
In this video tutorial, we provide a step-by-step walkthrough of migrating data from OpenCart to WooCommerce.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from OpenCart to WooCommerce provides greater flexibility, scalability, and control over your eCommerce operations. With the Next-Cart migration tool, you can streamline this process while preserving key store data, SEO rankings, and customer experience.
Ready to make the switch? Explore Next-Cart’s OpenCart to WooCommerce Migration Service today!