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Export ZenCart products, Import Magento products Part 1

How to import/export products from ZenCart to Magento with a csv file?

Firstly, in ZenCart, export your catalogue using Easy Populate to a CSV file.

Admin>Tools>Easy Populate:

Download Complete tab-delimited .txt file to edit (Attributes Not Included)

In magento I have created a sample product just to see which headings are needed in the CSV file.

Create a category, product and export it to a CSV file in Magento.

System>Import/Export>Profiles>Export all Products>Run Profile

The file will be located in /var/export/. Now open the csv files from Magento and ZenCart to compare the fields. It’s just a case of copy and pasting in Excel the required columns from the zencart file to the magento file.

Some of these are obvious and can be easily copied and pasted from ZenCart file. For example v_products_model is the same as sku so i simply copy and paste the entire column into the magento file and rename it sku. The same goes for v_products_name_1 and name

NB: for some reason name in the magento file appears twice so needs to be pasted over twice. Mine was at column M name and again at column BM product_name (I’m sure it will be obvious why at some stage).

Some columns need to be copied and some do not – lets worry about that later in part 2. For now just get as much copied and pasted as you can, remembering to change the Magento column names if you paste over them.

Some of the obvious ones:

v_products_price – price

v_products_weight – weight

v_products_description_1 – description

v_products_quantity – qty

There is a strip of rows from AN (min_qty) to BG  (enable_qty_increments) with 1 and 0 values in. For now I am going to copy these values in this row across and then paste it downwards to fill these values in for every product.

Lets leave it there for now. Some columns need to be filled in but we can do it later.

Important Values you must have:

For now the most important column is SKU. Every item needs a unique stock code so ensure there is an sku value for every product.
In the first column store – all values are admin
In the third column attribute all values are Default
In the fourth column type all values are simple

You can change some of these values later if needed but they have to be copied and pasted down to all products otherwise errors will occur and the products will not import.

Save the file in CSV format.

Upload it to Magento using the admin menu: System>Import Export> Profiles>Import all Products>

Upload the file. by browsing and then selecting Save and continue. Mine is called magentoproducts.csv .This uploads it to the server.

Now select the Run Profile menu on the right and in the file pull down menu should be your CSV file. Run the profile and wait – it is quite slow.

How did you do? I hope you got few errors. Mine worked pretty well and only rejected a few SKUs. I was pretty impressed at how straightforward this was.

In part 2 I will look at exporting, editing and re-importing the products file.

store websites attribute_set type category_ids sku has_options status tax_class_id is_recurring visibility enable_googlecheckout name meta_title meta_description image small_image thumbnail url_key url_path custom_design page_layout options_container gift_message_available price special_price cost weight description short_description meta_keyword custom_layout_update news_from_date news_to_date special_from_date special_to_date custom_design_from custom_design_to qty min_qty use_config_min_qty is_qty_decimal backorders use_config_backorders min_sale_qty use_config_min_sale_qty max_sale_qty use_config_max_sale_qty is_in_stock low_stock_date notify_stock_qty use_config_notify_stock_qty manage_stock use_config_manage_stock stock_status_changed_automatically use_config_qty_increments qty_increments use_config_enable_qty_increments enable_qty_increments product_name store_id product_type_id product_status_changed product_changed_websites

Moving to Magento

Your competitor has a new website with a modern, individual look and many useful functions. You have an open source 2 or 3 column standard layout that looks like any other shopping site available and offers only basis functions  Which website is a customer going to browse?

While osCommerce and ZenCart are not difficult to use or to understand how they work, are they rather dated and unable to do what customers require of a modern shopping website? I think its time to move on and I have chosen Magento.

It is a challenge. Magento works very differently and offers many more functions  with more ways to customise than either ZenCart or osCommerce could hope to offer. The downside? It’s complicated.

Rather than go live, I have installed it at home on my own server in order to test and understand how to manage the front and admin side.

My aim: to run 3 websites using one installation of Magento with one database, offering a selection of products through sites that look and feel different.

I am starting with the free 1.4.1 version and I’ll keep you updated on how i get on. Hopefully if you are a Magento beginner like me it will help you too.

In addition, the importance of SEO cannot be emphasised enough for any website. As well as marketing and promoting your online store, your cart software has to have great SEO compatibility and I think Magento is over and above ZenCart and OsCommerce.

Zen Cart Error: A network error occurred loading an XSLT stylesheet

If you have upgraded to Zen Cart 1.3.9 and use the sitemap module to create a sitemapindex file then you may be getting the above error.

Fix:

  • Delete the old sitemap files from the root directory.

  • Edit the file includes\modules\pages\sitemapxml\header_php.php
  • Delete the line that reference sitemap css 119/120:

$tpl_dir = $template->get_template_dir(‘gss\.xsl’, DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base, ‘css’);
$zen_SiteMapXML->setStylesheet($tpl_dir . ‘/gss.xsl’);

Looking for Inspiration? Need Motivation? Try this.

I never really got in to Web 2.0, twitter or facebook until now.

I hadn’t posted on this blog for some time but am revisiting it with a passion and once again am feeling motivated to do so.

So what motivated this renewal?

It was Gary Vaynerchuck talking about doing what you love.  Do take a look.




Get Serious About SEO: 2 Word Length and Relevancy

Again it is basic but have you checked the length of your descriptions, meta descriptions, key words and their relevancy to your content?

Try this meta tag analyser and have a look at your own website.

In my own example, before working on it, word length is fine but word relevancy needs some work.

Get serious about SEO and do it.

In the next article I will talk meta descriptions in Zen Cart. I changed mine manually and Google noticed the improvement.

Get Serious About SEO: 1 The Meta Description

Its time to get serious about SEO.

This is basic but has been on hold for too long so lets get down to it.

  • Set up your meta description

While of only little use to search engine placement or result, the meta description appears beneath your web site title on the results page.

Image shows google result with meta description (before work begins)

It can therefore be used to:

  1. explain in a nutshell what your site is about
  2. persuade potential visitors to click through to you
  3. give potential customers confidence about your business
  4. stand out from competitors
  5. build a brand

Check out this article for  more in-depth examples of branding using the meta description.

3 Reasons not to shop online

Top 3 reasons I refuse to do business with some companies:

  • Lying: when the trust goes my custom goes with it.

Real example: after buying from a company I received an email to say sorry but they are unable to supply due to flooding and damaged goods. I noticed the items were still advertised but at a higher price. Using a different ID  I enquired if the items were available. Yes, they had plenty of stock at the newly advertised higher price. I went elsewhere.

  • Sending something else – without asking first.

Not even an explanation: due to being discontinued we have substituted this item with… That is annoying enough but simply sending something different without any explanation is so frustrating and enough to make me go elsewhere. I know what I want so if you don’t have it please at least let me know. I went elsewhere.

  • Slow Delivery – As long as you tell me.

On its own, not a reason not to shop – if more time is needed I can cope with that. As long as you tell me.

I hope listing them here helps you avoid them.

  • be honest
  • keep people informed

Simple yet why do so many business fail to do this? Do you?

NB: if you are looking for examples of what type of language to use to communicate difficult situations check out this article about professional languagee.

 

In addition please ensure your customer service skills are top notch.

Google Base no longer works with eBay shops

Google no longer accept ebay feeds or ebay items on google shopping from individual sellers.

If your google base account displays ‘disapproved‘ there is nothing you can do.

Google stopped submission to ensure listings were not duplicated. Only the feed provided by eBay is accepted.