BigCommerce Migration Checklist

Success is in the details. Moving your eCommerce business to BigCommerce is a major step toward a powerful, SaaS platform with unlimited products and Stencil themes, 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 BigCommerce 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/integrations: List every app or integration you currently use (e.g., Rewards, Subscriptions) and find their BigCommerce app 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 BigCommerce uses Stencil themes.

3. Prepare the Target Environment (BigCommerce)

• BigCommerce Account: Sign up for a BigCommerce trial or plan.
• Store Setup: Complete the initial BigCommerce store setup wizard.
• API Credentials: Generate API credentials in BigCommerce Admin (Settings > API Accounts) for migration tools.
• Migration App: Install the migration app on your BigCommerce store (required for automated migrations).
• Disable Public Access: Use BigCommerce's password protection or maintenance mode 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: BigCommerce provides free SSL by default.

Phase 2: The Data Migration (Using Big Migration)

This is the core of the process. Using an automated tool like Big Migration 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 BigCommerce store URL and API credentials. Ensure the migration app 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 product options.
• Product Categories: BigCommerce uses "Categories" terminology. Structure and hierarchy.
• Customers: Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses. Note: Passwords can be migrated with the migration app.
• Orders: History, status, transaction IDs, dates.
• Coupons: Codes and discount rules.
• 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 BigCommerce's media system.
• Preserve Order IDs: Keep your order numbers the same (e.g., Order #1001 remains #1001) if possible.
• Product Option Mapping: BigCommerce supports flexible product options. Map complex variants from your source platform to BigCommerce's option structure.
• Create 301 Redirects: (Highly Recommended) Automatically map old URLs to new BigCommerce URLs.
• Password Migration: Enable password migration if using the migration app (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 storefront. Verify category structure.
• Launch Full Migration: Start the process and let it run in the background. BigCommerce's infrastructure 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 a BigCommerce Stencil theme that matches your brand. You can customize it later.
• Homepage Setup: Set up your sliders, featured products, and banners using BigCommerce's Admin.
• Navigation Setup: Go to Storefront > Navigation and organize your navigation (header and footer).
• Mobile Optimization: Ensure your BigCommerce theme is responsive and looks great on mobile devices.

9. Store Functionality

• Payment Gateways: Configure PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.Net, etc. in Settings > Payments. (Credentials are never migrated for security).
• Shipping Methods: Go to Settings > Shipping to set up flat rates, free shipping, or weight-based rates.
• Taxes: Configure tax rates manually in Settings > Tax or use automated tax calculation apps if available in your region.
• Email Notifications: Customize the "Order Received" and "Order Shipped" email templates in BigCommerce's mail 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 BigCommerce product page.
• 404 Monitor: Use BigCommerce's SEO apps or Google Search Console to monitor for broken links.
• Generate Sitemap: BigCommerce 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 BigCommerce, new orders may have come in.
Action: Run the Big Migration "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 BigCommerce store.
• Propagate: Wait for DNS propagation (can take 1-24 hours).
• Remove Password Protection: Remove any maintenance mode or password protection to make your store publicly accessible.

15. Post-Launch Activities

• Submit Sitemap: Upload your new sitemap (generated by BigCommerce) to Google Search Console.
• Monitor Performance: Use BigCommerce 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).