How to Import & Export WooCommerce Products with Images: An In-Depth Guide

As an experienced webmaster, I know first-hand how valuable your WooCommerce products are to your business. Transferring hundreds or even thousands of products to a new site or store is daunting. This comprehensive guide will give you the knowledge to safely export and import your products while retaining key data – allowing you to focus on running your online business.

Why Import and Export WooCommerce Products?

Whether you‘re moving to a new platform, merging stores, or expanding your catalog, importing and exporting products saves massive amounts of time compared to manually adding products one by one.

Here are some of the most common reasons ecommerce site owners need to export and import products:

• Migrating your WooCommerce store – If you‘re moving hosts or transitioning to a new site, importing your existing catalog is a must.

• Managing multiple stores – Maintain a single product database while managing stores on different domains.

• Backing up your product inventory – Download your entire inventory for backup anytime.

• Onboarding new team members – Give new employees or contractors access to your latest product data.

• Making regular data backups – Export your latest data on a weekly or monthly basis.

• Split testing new platforms – Test a subdomain or staging site with a replica of your live product catalog.

• Satisfying legal requirements – Some jurisdictions require merchants to provide customers with complete data access.

Without built-in import and export tools, the only alternative is manually re-entering hundreds or thousands of products – an incredibly time consuming process.

The Risks of Exporting and Importing

While importing and exporting your products is a huge time saver, it does come with a few risks:

• Data corruption – If the export file gets corrupted or improperly formatted data is imported, you can end up with missing or inaccurate product information.

• Duplicate products – Importing products more than once can clutter up your catalog with duplicates.

• Incorrect pricing data – Pricing details can be overwritten or changed if imports aren‘t handled properly.

• Images not importing – Product images may fail to import due to unsupported file types or renaming issues.

• Loss of sales data – Custom fields like number of sales or conversions can be excluded during export.

With over 15 years of experience managing WooCommerce stores, I‘ve learned how to prevent these issues using the robust import and export tools detailed below.

Prerequisites for Importing and Exporting

Before we get started, you‘ll want to have a few things ready:

• Access to Admin on both WooCommerce sites
• Existing product catalog on original site
• Desired hosting for new WooCommerce install (URL does not have to be live)
• Product Import Export Plugin installed on both sites
• FTP or SFTP client to transfer files between servers

You‘ll likely want to do your first import/export test on a staging site before moving your live products. Please note that any plugins that significantly alter default WooCommerce product fields may impact the import or export.

Now let‘s dive into the step-by-step process for migrating products seamlessly between stores.

Method #1: Native WooCommerce Import and Export

WooCommerce has built-in functionality to import and export CSV product files without requiring any external plugins. For stores with simple products and novariables, this may be the fastest way to move your catalog between sites.

How to Export Products from WooCommerce

1. Log in to your current WooCommerce site‘s admin panel.

2. Go to Products > All Products.

3. Click on the Export button at the top.

4. Choose your export options:

   • Export all products – Leave boxes unchecked
   • Export custom fields – Check this option
   • Filter products – You can optionally apply filters here

5. Click Generate CSV and save the exported file.

This will download a CSV file with all your products, images, custom fields, and other data.

You can even open the CSV in Excel to view your product catalog.

How to Import Products into WooCommerce

1. Log in to the new WooCommerce site where you want to import products.
2. Go to Products > All Products.
3. Click the Import button at the top.
4. Click Choose file and upload the CSV you exported.
5. Map columns from the CSV to WooCommerce fields.
6. Click Run Importer.
7. WooCommerce will now import all products and images!

The native import and export is great for stores with simpler catalogs. But you have limited control and management of exactly what data is being transferred.

Let‘s look at how a dedicated plugin improves the process.

Method #2: Using the Product Import Export Plugin

For more advanced control, the free Product Import Export Plugin is my top choice. With over 300,000 active installs, it‘s a proven solution for managing complex product transfers.

Here are some key benefits:

• Fine-grained control over exported data
• Flexible import options for handling duplicates
• Batch import for large catalogs
• Detailed logs and troubleshooting
• Media file management
• Error handling and troubleshooting
• Taxonomy mapping for categories and tags

The plugin makes the export and import process easy while giving you tools to manage potential issues.

Exporting WooCommerce Products with the Plugin

1. Download and install the Product Import Export Plugin on your current WooCommerce site.
2. Activate the plugin and grant permission to export products.
3. Go to Webtoffee Import Export > Export.
4. Select Product as post type.
5. Choose advanced export for filtering options.
6. Filter the export using categories, tags, custom fields, etc.
7. Click Export to download the CSV file.

With advanced filtering, you have complete control over what data is exported. For example, you can choose to only export products added in the past 30 days.

Importing Products using the Plugin

The plugin makes importing your products into a new WooCommerce store simple:

1. Install and activate the plugin on the destination site.
2. Go to Webtoffee Import Export > Import.
3. Choose Product post type again.
4. Upload the CSV file you exported from the first store.
5. Map columns from the CSV to destination fields.
6. Pick import options like handling duplicates.
7. Click Import to migrate your products.
8. The plugin imports the CSV data along with images.

The detailed logs let you monitor the import progress. You can also re-import specific batches in the case of any errors.

Make sure to verify your imported products and data is accurate on the new store. The plugin also allows importing additional post types like orders and customers.

Practical Tips for Successful Data Migration

Here are some additional tips from my experience migrating WooCommerce sites to ensure a smooth and error-free transfer:

• Use a staging site – Set up a test or staging site to import to first before moving your live products.

• Deactivate plugins – Plugins that modify products and fields can impact import/export. Deactivate them before transferring data.

• Mind the limits – WooCommerce import is limited to 100 products at a time. Use batch importing for larger catalogs.

• Check migrated images – Verify your product images migrated correctly and are associated with the right products.

• Update permalinks – Go to Settings > Permalinks and save to refresh your permalinks after importing.

• Clear caches – Clear your server and plugin caches after import to see accurate site data.

• Review migrated products – Manually review key product details to catch any mapping issues.

• Transfer license keys – License keys for paid extensions normally can‘t be transferred to a new site.

By taking precautions and utilizing the tools covered in this guide, you can seamlessly migrate your WooCommerce catalog without any headaches.

Automating Your WooCommerce Business Operations

As your store grows, more of your time gets tied up in day-to-day management rather than focusing on growth.

Automation tools allow you to streamline repetitive operations like order processing and inventory management.

Uncanny Automator – Workflow Automation for WooCommerce

Uncanny Automator lets you connect WooCommerce to hundreds of other apps with a drag-and-drop workflow builder.

You can automate tedious tasks like:

• Automatically fulfilling orders
• Managing inventory levels
• Importing products
• Email marketing
• Customer segmentation
• Onboarding sequences

It‘s an easy way to leverage automation without learning a single line of code.

FunnelKit – Marketing Automation for WooCommerce

FunnelKit provides designed automation Funnels for critical ecommerce functions like:

• Customer Onboarding
• Win Back Abandoned Carts
• Upsell Existing Customers
• Customer Retention

The pre-built automation Funnels require just a few clicks to implement on your WooCommerce site. Features like behavioral emails and SMS text messaging make it simple to drive repeat sales and loyalty.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

The ability to seamlessly migrate your products between WooCommerce sites is critical for managing your business effectively as you scale.

The two methods covered in this guide will allow you to properly export and import your catalog while retaining key data like images, pricing, inventory, etc.

Here are some final thoughts:

• Utilize the Product Import Export plugin for advanced management and control

• Take precautions like a staging site and reviewing migrated products

• Consider automation tools like Uncanny Automator and FunnelKit to streamline workflows

Finally, don‘t hesitate to leverage the experience of a WooCommerce developer if you run into any snags. Their expertise can be invaluable in ensuring your transition goes smoothly.

I hope you found this guide useful! Please reach out with any import/export questions you come across. I‘m always happy to help fellow ecommerce site owners.