The BigCommerce product experience underwent an upgrade in 2019 to better cater to the growing needs of eCommerce store owners. This upgrade included the addition of various features such as omnichannel sales, API accessibility, SKU-level attributes, improved options, and variants management.   While most stores are currently using the current version, v3, there are stores still on the legacy product experience, v2.  BigCommerce is encouraging store owners on legacy products to upgrade to the latest version, v3.

Upgrading from v2 to v3 in BigCommerce can be a complicated process, which many store owners prefer not to handle themselves. This is because all items that have options, modifiers, and rules are affected by the migration process, requiring the removal of v2 attributes and replacing them with the v3 version. Not only is this time-consuming, but it can also be overwhelming.

Fortunately, Your Store Wizards has extensive experience in managing and migrating BigCommerce data and has developed a 10-step process to simplify the v2 to v3 migration for store owners. By choosing our service, you can upgrade your store to the latest BigCommerce product experience with ease and receive white-glove service throughout the entire process which is done entirely by one of our skilled developers – not with an app!

Unlike using an app to complete the upgrade, we manually review, test, and quality check your product data to ensure a successful migration. Although this is a more labor-intensive process, it guarantees that all your items will have valid options, modifiers, and rules correctly applied post-upgrade.

Our 10-Step v2 to v3 Process:

1. Store owner installs our v2 to v3 access tool from the BigCommerce app store.

2. We review current data and look for any anomalies or issues, or things that may be unsupported. We will provide a report listing any issues and a breakdown of the items that may require changes.

   After resolving all data issues, we perform another review and a test migration. If there are still issues we will provide another report. If not, we will provide access to a staging store so you can review how the data will look post migration in your store.

3. After the data in the staging store is reviewed and approved we’ll outline the full schedule of events on upgrade day and give an estimate on downtime.

4. A few hours before the scheduled upgrade, adding or updating products should be paused. Customers can still place orders while we perform last-minute tests before the upgrade which includes downloading all products from the store into our database and staging store for one final review.
5. When it’s time to close off the store to visitors, we will post a message about the store being down for maintenance with an expected re-open time, which is based on our estimates as to how long the entire process will take.
6. Once closed we begin removing all options, modifiers, and rules from existing items. If inventory is set at a variant level, we back that information up.
7. After all options, modifiers, and rules are removed, we will begin the process to upgrade to the v3 product experience.
8. Once complete, we inject options and modifiers into products. Existing rules will be converted, as needed, to modify the appropriate variants. Options will be split to options or modifiers depending on if they create variants. Finally, variant level inventory is reinjected into the store.
9. Once all options, modifiers, and rules have been injected, we run a validation check to see if there are any issues or errors that need to be resolved, then make adjustments where needed.
10. Store is made live and the migration to the v3 product experience is complete!

During the upgrade process, we’ll communicate with you as each step is completed. Post-update, we’re here to assist with any questions you may have with v3 and your data. We’re committed to making sure you have the smoothest transition possible.

Resources from our Blog:

• BigCommerce V2 to V3 Product Experience Upgrade: What You Need to Know
• Understanding the Differences Between the v2 and v3 BigCommerce Product Experience
• Why Do I Need to Upgrade From V2 to V3 Products in BigCommerce?
• BigCommerce V2 to V3 Product Upgrade: App vs. Manual Update

Service Notes:

This service is priced based on the number of SKUs in your store which includes variant SKUs.  To determine the number of SKUs, perform a product export by going to Products > Export. Use the default Bulk Edit Built-in Template and export your products to a .csv file.  Once the file has been downloaded, open it and sort the sheet by Product Code/SKU. Find the last SKU in the column and the line number will correspond with how many SKUs are in your store.

One-Time Charges:

• Up to 500 SKUs: $499
• 501 to 2,500 SKUs: $999
• 2,501 to 5,000 SKUs: $1999
• 5,001 to 30,000 SKUs: $3999
• 30,001 to 50,000 SKUs: $5999
• 50,001+ SKUs: Contact Us

* See service notes for details on how to determine the number of SKUs in your store.

Recurring Charges:

• None

Before engaging Your Store Wizards, LA Police Gear considered using an app and the app developer’s add-on option for additional migration support. While the app offered a solution to migrate using a combination of automation and additional fee hands-on support, the client was seeking a more white-glove solution.  Learn more by downloading our case study.

Having site backups is important, not just for the BigCommerce v2 to v3 upgrade, but for peace of mind. If you don’t already have the Rewind Site Backup app for your store, we highly recommend you install the app and purchase one of their affordable store backup plans. This not only adds an extra layer of protection during this process but in the future as well.