What Happens if I Skip the Product Import?
Many store owners prefer to migrate all products from WooCommerce to Shopify first, when using Ablestar WooCommerce Importer.
Some though, have already recreated products manually in Shopify, which means you can skip the product import process.
There are some drawbacks if you only import orders and/or customers, so learn more about pros and cons before starting.
URL Redirects
Your customers and search engines have already bookmarked and saved links to your previous WooCommerce store. When you switch your store over to Shopify, many of these links will break because Shopify has a different URL format than WooCommerce did.
Ablestar Link Manager can create the necessary URL redirects for your products, but only for products that have been imported.
Skipping the product import step will prevent Ablestar WooCommerce Importer from being able to generate URL link reports. For most cases, we recommend a product migration as the first step and our Ablestar Link Manager to assist with URL redirects.
Product Reviews
You may also have Product reviews to transfer while migrating, which unfortunately, Shopify is unable to support. Since they have no product reviews feature built-in, they do make some third-party app recommendations to help.
Once your Ablestar WooCommerce Importer has completed your product migration, you can download a formatted CSV file. The CSV file will include all product reviews from your WooCommerce site and will link them to the correct products on your Shopify store.
This file could then be uploaded to the third-party Product Reviews app.
Skipping the product import step will prevent Ablestar WooCommerce Importer from being able to generate a product reviews CSV file. For most cases, we recommend a product migration as the first step.
Linked Orders vs. Un-Linked Orders
In order for our app to display images and create links between your products and orders, products must be imported via the app first.
Skipping the product import step will cause only products to be visible, without product images or links. For most cases, we recommend a product migration as the first step.
During migration, the app has to keep track of the exact WooCommerce variant that matches each Shopify variant to link them up properly. In some cases, other apps require the orders to be linked to products to function, and skipping the product import could cause problems within these apps.
✅ Tips and Troubleshooting
- Learn more about the recommended steps for migration
- See FAQs about the migration process
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