How to migrate from EKM to Bluepark 12 October 2020  |  Cate

Get started with Bluepark

If you're looking to transfer your online shop from EKM to Bluepark, the first thing you'll need to do is take out a 14-day free trial. This will give you the tools you need to start building your new, fully-featured website with all the benefits that the Bluepark platform has to offer. Just click on the button below to get started.

Migrating your products from EKM to Bluepark

Your products are the backbone to your online shop, so if you're wanting to migrate over to Bluepark, it's imperative to port these over as seamlessly as possible. It's easy to transfer your products across from EKM in just a few easy to follow steps by using our built-in 'Import From' feature.

Along with creating your products, this process will automatically create your category structure and the assign products accordingly. It will also pull over a copy of all your product images and assign them to the relevant products.

Step 1: Export your product data from EKM

1. If you haven't exported your product data before, go to Features in your EKM Dashboard and install the Import/Export System
2. Select Export to File and then Export Products
3. Make sure all fields are ticked on the next pages, so you export all product data
4. Select the CSV (Comma Separated Values) file option and click to download
5. Save the file to your computer

Step 2: Import your product data into Bluepark

1. In your Bluepark admin panel, go to Products > Import and click on the Import From Another Platform button
2. Click on the Browse button and choose the file from your computer
3. Select EKM from the FROM drop-down and click Go
4. Click on the OK button on the pop-up and then click on Save
5. In the preview window, select the tick boxes at the bottom left to automatically create Categories, Brands and so on
6. Click on the Continue Import button and the import process will begin

When importing, if you get a warning such as "Action" column is required in header row, open your EKM file and check the first cell of the first column. This cell should just have the word Action in it, but we've had reports of it also including odd characters. If this is the case for your file, just delete the odd characters, and just leave the word Action in the cell, save and repeat Step 2 above.

Step 3: Review your products

Once your import has completed successfully, you can review your products and category structure within the Products menu and make any necessary changes.

If a product hasn't imported, then it can be added manually by clicking the Create New button in the Product Manager. Alternatively, you can import any missing products by using our comprehensive How to: Import and Export Products using a CSV guide.

Please note: the import process will use the Code column for the SKU (the unique identifier). If there are any blank spaces or duplicates codes in this column, the system will ignore this column and will create the SKUs for you. Therefore, if you wish to retain the codes for your products, it is imperative to check and amend this column as necessary. All SKUs, including parent product and variants must be unique.

Updating your category information

Your category structure will have been created during the product import process. However, you can update the data on your categories, such as the Category Description, URL, Meta Title and Description and so on, with our Category Data feature.

Step 1: Export your category data from EKM

1. Select Export to File and then Export Categories
2. Make sure all fields are ticked on the next page, so you export all category data
3. Select the CSV (Comma Separated Values) file option and click to download
4. Save the file to your computer

Step 2: Import your category data into Bluepark

1. In your Bluepark admin panel, go to Products > Categories and click on the Brown Download button at top right and save the file to your computer
2. Copy and paste the relevant data from your EKM file into the corresponding columns in the Bluepark file and save
3. Click on the Import from CSV file button at the top of the Categories area and import the file using the Update data (BROWN) field

Please note: the column headers must remain the same in the Category Data file exported from your Bluepark site. Any changes to these will result in the data being imported in incorrectly.

Creating redirects from your old URLs to your new URLs

When moving your website to a new platform, it is common for the URLs of the pages on your site to change. Therefore, if you have good ranking in Google, it is vital that you create 301 redirects. These are pieces of code that sit in the background of your site and tell Google where your pages are now residing. Without these the URLs of your pages will be seen as dead links.

Create your redirects

1. On your EKM site, click into the first category and copy its URL in the address bar
2. In your Bluepark admin panel, go to Settings > Settings > Website tab > 301 Redirects for URL Changes section
3. Paste the copied URL into the Add redirect from (URL) field
4. Click into the same category on your Bluepark site and copy its URL in the address bar
5. Paste the copied URL into the To (URL) field
6. Click on the Save icon
7. You will now see the 301 redirect code that's been created for this within the Redirects for .htaccess field

You will need to repeat the above for all category, product and page URLs on your site. As this is easy, but time consuming if you have a lot of URLs to do, you have two options. You can either create redirects just for your highest ranking URLs (you can find this data within your Google Analytics account, if you use it) or we provide a service to create these for you in bulk. Please get in touch if you'd like to find out more.

Please note: 301 redirects must be done correctly by only redirecting a URL to another URL with the same content on it. Any URLs that you aren't migrating across, such as discontinued products, shouldn't ever be redirected to another page, such as the homepage or its overarching category page. If you do this, Google will start to penalise you for it, causing you to drop in their rankings.

You can find out more about how to do 301 redirects correctly in our Setting up 301 redirects the correct way guide.

Migrating your customer data from EKM to Bluepark

Step 1: Export your customer data from EKM

1. Select Export to File and then Export Customer Details
2. Make sure all fields are ticked on the next page, so you export all customer data
3. Select the CSV (Comma Separated Values) file option and click to download
4. Save the file to your computer

Step 2: Import your customer data into Bluepark

1. In your Bluepark admin panel, go to Customers > View and click on the Yellow Download button at top right and save the file to your computer
2. Copy and paste the relevant data from your EKM file into the corresponding columns in the Bluepark file and save
3. Click on the Import from CSV file button at the top centre of the Customers area and import the file

Please note: the column headers must remain the same in the Customers file exported from your Bluepark site. Any changes to these will result in the data being imported in incorrectly.

If the site is already live, make sure the 'Send Emails' option at the top right is unticked before doing your import. This will stop unnecessary welcome emails being sent out.

Need help?

If you have any questions or concerns about migrating any of your product, category or customer data from EKM, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our knowledgeable Support Team. We're always on hand if you need help.

Recommended Reads

Migrate your online shop to Bluepark

Find out more about transferring your online shop to the Bluepark platform and how we can help, if you don't have the time or knowledge to do it yourself.

How to: Import and Export Products using a CSV

If you'd like to import your products using another online shop platform, then our comprehensive Import/Export guide will tell you everything you need to know.