Switching e-commerce platform: best practices for changing the import in an active project

Is your webshop going to change from the e-commerce platform it is running on? This will also impact your Channable account if you import directly from your e-commerce platform to Channable. Even though you will import the same products, it can still cause problems because every e-commerce platform is different.

This article will give you some recommendations and 'best practices' we give to customers who are switching from e-commerce platform in Channable:

• To start, create a test project and use it to add the import connection with your new e-commerce platform. This way, you can see how your products are imported without directly impacting your active export channels. You can keep this test project inactive, so it won't impact your subscription usage. Only when you are sure the new import connections works properly and you are ready to make the switch, go to your live project(s) and delete the old/add new import there.
• Before making the switch in your live projects, take a look at the mapping of both your old and your new imports. Especially be aware that fields may have a different name in the mapping of your new import, even though they might contain the same information. This can result in a lot of errors in your feeds/API's in the Rules, Build, Finalize and Attributes steps because the 'old' fields that are used there don't exist anymore after switching to the new import.
• You can solve this by either adjusting the mapping of your new import, so the internal Channable fields will keep the names of the old fields that are used in the project, or by changing the fields used in your export channels to the new fields (it will show errors where fields are used that do not exist anymore). Be sure to go through all of your export channels to check for any errors after you have switched the import in your live project.
• Also pay attention to fields that may have the same name in the mapping, but different values. For example, a field called visibility might be in both your old and your new import. However, for the old import it has the value 'true' or 'false', and for the new import the values are 'yes' or 'no'. If you have a rule in one of your export channels that excludes all products with visibility='false', these won't be excluded anymore with the values of the new import. Be sure to check if you are still sending the correct amount of products in your feeds and API's after you make the switch.
• Also make sure to take over any custom fields you have manually added in your old import mapping to your new import connection. You can make a screenshot of the custom fields in your old import for example, so you can easily re-add them to the new import after you have made the switch.
• Check the categorization of your export channels as well. In your new e-commerce platform, the categories of your products can be structured or named differently. They will probably still be imported in standard fields like 'categories', 'category', or 'category_path', but this can result in some of your products not being categorized correctly anymore. Make sure you check if your products are still categorized correctly after you make the switch.

Next to these general tips, if you have one or more order connections, pay attention to the following:

• You will need to contact us when you are switching or have just switched your imports. We will remove the old order connections and setup the new order connections for you.
• The product ID's in the 'id' field are most likely different in the new import, as this an identifier generated by the e-commerce platform. The order connection identifies products on ID, so orders to your new back-end will fail if the products contain the old ID as 'Unique ID per item'. The 'Unique ID per item' can be found in the Settings of an API export or the Finalize step of a feed export (it can be named differently in the feed exports). You need to make sure the new ID's are sent to all of the marketplaces you have an order connection with.
• To make sure you send the ID's from your new import to all of the API's you have an order connection for, follow this order when switching imports:
  1. Clear the API's so all listings with the old ID as 'unique ID per item' are removed (go to API's > Settings > [gear icon] > Clear API).
  2. After clearing your API's, switch the import(s) in the project to the new import.
  3. Check the project and make sure everything is setup correctly using the general tips above.
  4. If everything looks good, run your API's again so all of your listings will re-appear with the correct unique ID per item.