OpenCart Migration Checklist

Success is in the details. Moving your eCommerce business to OpenCart is a major step toward a powerful, open-source platform with unlimited products and full customization, but it requires precision. To ensure you don't lose a single order, customer, or SEO ranking, we have compiled this comprehensive, step-by-step checklist. Use this to track your progress from your current platform to your new OpenCart store.

Phase 1: Pre-Migration Preparation

Before you move a single piece of data, you must secure your assets and prepare the environment. A messy preparation leads to a messy migration.

1. Audit Your Current Store

• Clean up data: Delete test orders, spam customers, and obsolete products. Don't pay to migrate data you don't need.
• Audit apps/extensions: List every app or extension you currently use (e.g., Rewards, Subscriptions) and find their OpenCart extension equivalents.
• Record SEO benchmarks: Note your current organic traffic, domain authority, and keyword rankings to compare after the move.

2. Secure Your Data (Backups)

• Data Backup: Export your full database (CSV, XML, or platform-specific export).
• Media Backup: Download all product images, banners, and digital assets.
• Design Files: Keep a copy of your old design for reference, even though OpenCart uses a different theme system.

3. Prepare the Target Environment (OpenCart)

• Hosting Setup: Ensure you have PHP hosting (PHP 7.4+) with MySQL database (MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.2+).
• OpenCart Installation: Download and install the latest stable version of OpenCart.
• Database Creation: Create a MySQL database and user for your OpenCart installation.
• Migration Bridge: Install the migration bridge extension on your OpenCart store (required for automated migrations).
• Disable Public Access: Use .htaccess or hosting control panel to password-protect your OpenCart installation during setup to prevent Google from indexing your unfinished site.
• Custom Domain: If using a custom domain, prepare to connect it later (don't point DNS yet).
• SSL Certificate: Install an SSL certificate for your OpenCart store (most hosting providers offer free SSL via Let's Encrypt).

Phase 2: The Data Migration (Using Shopping Cart Mover)

This is the core of the process. Using an automated tool like Shopping Cart Mover reduces weeks of manual entry into a few hours of processing.

4. Connect Your Stores

• Source Cart Credentials: Gather your current store's URL and API details (or install the Connector Bridge).
• Target Cart Credentials: Input your OpenCart store URL and ensure the migration bridge extension is installed and activated.

5. Select Entities to Migrate

Check the boxes for the data you want to transfer:

• Products: Names, SKUs, prices, quantities, and unlimited product options.
• Product Categories: OpenCart uses "Categories" terminology. Structure and hierarchy.
• Customers: Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses. Note: Passwords can be migrated with the bridge extension.
• Orders: History, status, transaction IDs, dates.
• Coupons: Codes and discount rules.
• CMS Pages: "About Us," "Contact," and Blog posts.
• Reviews: Customer feedback and ratings.

6. Configure Advanced Options

• Migrate Images in Descriptions: Ensure images embedded in HTML descriptions are downloaded to OpenCart's image directory.
• Preserve Order IDs: Keep your order numbers the same (e.g., Order #1001 remains #1001) if possible.
• Product Options Mapping: OpenCart supports unlimited product options. Map complex variants from your source platform to OpenCart's option system.
• Create 301 Redirects: (Highly Recommended) Automatically map old URLs to new OpenCart URLs.
• Password Migration: Enable password migration if using the bridge extension (recommended for customer continuity).

7. Run Demo & Full Migration

• Run Demo Migration: Transfer a limited number of entities to verify the data structure.
• Review Demo Results: Check if product options and images are displaying correctly on the front end. Verify category structure.
• Launch Full Migration: Start the process and let it run in the background. OpenCart's MySQL database efficiently handles large catalogs.

Phase 3: Post-Migration Configuration

The data is there, but the store isn't functional yet. Now you must build the "house" around the furniture.

8. Design and Customization

• Choose Theme: Select an OpenCart theme that matches your brand. You can customize it later.
• Homepage Setup: Set up your sliders, featured products, and banners using OpenCart's admin panel.
• Navigation Setup: Go to Design > Menus and organize your navigation (header and footer).
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your OpenCart theme is responsive and looks great on mobile devices.

9. Store Functionality

• Payment Gateways: Configure PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.Net, etc. in Extensions > Payments. (Credentials are never migrated for security).
• Shipping Zones: Go to Extensions > Shipping to set up flat rates, free shipping, or weight-based rates.
• Taxes: Configure tax rates manually in Extensions > Taxes or use automated tax calculation extensions if available in your region.
• Email Notifications: Customize the "Order Received" and "Order Shipped" email templates in OpenCart's email settings to match your branding.

10. Customer Access

• Password Migration Verification: If you enabled password migration, test customer login to ensure passwords were transferred correctly.
• Customer Communication: Prepare an email campaign to notify customers about the migration and any changes to the login process (if passwords weren't migrated).

Phase 4: Testing and QA

Do not go live until you have acted as a customer.

11. Functional Testing

• The Purchase Funnel: Add a product to the cart, go to checkout, and complete a purchase using a test gateway or sandbox mode.
• Guest vs. Registered Checkout: Test both scenarios.
• Discount Codes: Try applying a migrated coupon code to ensure logic is preserved.
• Contact Forms: Test your contact page and ensure emails land in your inbox (check spam folders).

12. SEO Preservation

• Check Redirects: Click on an old URL from your previous store (e.g., from a Google search result) and ensure it redirects to the new OpenCart product page.
• 404 Monitor: Use OpenCart's SEO extensions or Google Search Console to monitor for broken links.
• Generate Sitemap: OpenCart has built-in sitemap generation. Verify it's accessible at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml.

Phase 5: Go Live

The finish line. It's time to switch the traffic flow.

13. Recent Data Migration (The Bridge)

Since your old store was live while you were setting up OpenCart, new orders may have come in.
Action: Run the Shopping Cart Mover "Recent Data Migration" service to fetch only the data added since the Full Migration started. This prevents duplicate data and ensures no order is left behind.

14. Domain Switch (DNS)

• Connect Custom Domain: If using a custom domain, update your DNS records (A Record or CNAME) to point to your OpenCart hosting.
• Propagate: Wait for DNS propagation (can take 1-24 hours).
• Remove Password Protection: Remove the .htaccess password protection to make your store publicly accessible.

15. Post-Launch Activities

• Submit Sitemap: Upload your new sitemap (generated by OpenCart) to Google Search Console.
• Monitor Performance: Use OpenCart Analytics and Google Analytics to monitor traffic and sales.
• Terminate Old Store: Only cancel your old store subscription once you are 100% sure the new store is stable (usually wait 1-2 weeks).