Switching from OpenCart to Magento: process and risks

1. Why merchants switch from OpenCart to Magento

OpenCart is freely available shop software that is simply built and runs on simple hosting. That makes it a cheap entry for smaller shops. With growing requirements it turns out, however, that simple structures also have limits: with large catalogs, many variants, several warehouses and complex price rules.

Typical reasons to move from OpenCart to Magento are the search for a solution that grows with the business, B2B requirements, the connection to merchandise management and the wish for a larger extension market. In addition there is often concern about security and care if the version in use is no longer current.

Many OpenCart shops were provided with customizations over the years that lie directly in the system files. That is another reason to examine the situation honestly: the more adapted, the more elaborate every update and the sooner a clean rebuild pays off.

2. When the switch from OpenCart to Magento pays off and when not

The switch pays off if your shop reaches the limits of the software or security and care of the old version become a risk. It does not pay off if your shop is small, runs reliably and you miss nothing. Then Magento is more than your business needs today.

Check whether your version is still maintained. If your shop runs on an old version, a switch can also make sense for security reasons.

3. How data is transferred from OpenCart to Magento

The standard installation of OpenCart does not offer a complete export of all data. That is why we usually read the data directly from the database, whose tables usually carry a common prefix, or use an extension. The structure is manageable, which eases the analysis, but customizations of the shop can change it.

A clean-up before the transfer is worthwhile: discontinued articles, duplicate categories and customers without an order, as far as legally and commercially appropriate. This speeds up the test migration and makes the new shop clearer.

4. SEO and addresses when switching from OpenCart to Magento

Many OpenCart shops still use addresses with parameters, for example with the ID of the product, because the setting for readable addresses is not active. Then rankings hang on these addresses. They too must be redirected to the new pages by a 301 redirect, and the ID of the product helps with the assignment.

In the move from OpenCart to Magento you also check titles, meta descriptions, structured data, sitemaps and canonical tags. These values must be present again in the new shop, because they are often only patchily maintained in OpenCart. What we do for this is described on the page on SEO optimization.

The switch is a good opportunity to improve addresses, titles and descriptions. Do that, however, in a second step, not on the day of the switch.

5. Extensions and customizations: what becomes of them in Magento

OpenCart shops contain extensions and often changes that intervene directly in the files of the system. In the switch you go through every extension and every customization: is it still needed? Is there a basic function, a module or an individual development in Magento for it? The customizations themselves cannot be transferred, only their effect.

We implement the frontend with Hyvä, see Hyvä theme. For the connection to merchandise management and shipping read the guide to ERP integration, for B2B functions the guide to the [B2B shop](b2bshop).

Define early which functions must run on day one. Payment, shipping and legal texts are mandatory, additional functions can follow. This keeps the move from OpenCart to Magento manageable.

6. The process: how you switch from OpenCart to Magento

A switch from OpenCart to Magento runs in five steps. First the inventory: which products, customers, orders and content exist, which functions do you really use and which addresses bring visitors? Then the test migration, in which part of the data is transferred and checked. After that the build of the shop with design, payment methods, shipping and legal texts.

In the fourth step you check the shop with us on a test system that search engines cannot see and place trial orders. In the fifth step the switch happens: the data is compared one last time, the redirects are activated and the domain is pointed to the new shop. In the first weeks afterwards we check errors and rankings. You keep the previous shop for a while until everything runs safely.

How you protect your ranking in the process is described in the guide to shop relaunch without SEO loss.

7. Effort and costs when switching from OpenCart

When moving from OpenCart to Magento the effort depends above all on the number of options, the data quality, the scope of customizations and the functions that have to be replaced. A lean shop with clear data is transferred quickly, a heavily adapted one needs more analysis.

A flat figure would be unreliable. After the inventory we estimate in writing, the hourly rate is 30 euros net, see pricing. General hints on costs are in the guide Magento costs.

8. How we support you with the switch

We are a web agency in which fixed freelancers work together, all from home offices. We take over the data migration, build the shop with the fast Hyvä frontend and take care of redirects and start. Source code and access stay with you, and ongoing care can be regulated through a maintenance contract.

This guide gives general orientation and does not replace a check of your shop. For a first conversation a short message through our contact page is enough.

9. Summary

The switch from OpenCart to Magento pays off if growth or the security situation of the old version force it. Data is usually taken from the database, customizations must be rebuilt, and with 301 redirects the ranking is largely kept.

Note: This article offers general orientation. Statements about OpenCart can change with new versions, check them in the individual case.

10. FAQ on switching from OpenCart to Magento