How to move from WooCommerce to WhatsMenu

WooCommerce gives you full control — at the cost of hosting, plugins, updates, and security patches. If you're tired of the maintenance bill and want a managed storefront that just works, moving to WhatsMenu takes an afternoon. This guide walks through what to export, how to clean it, and how to import.

Your WooCommerce store keeps running until you're ready to cut over.

Before you start

Budget an hour for a small catalog, half a day for a larger one. Have ready:

• WordPress admin login with access to WooCommerce.
• Your logo and brand colors.
• The list of payment gateways you actually use (Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay, Billplz, and so on).
• Your shipping zones and rates.
• Optional: a spreadsheet of any customer data you want to keep.

Two ways to import your products

Path A — WooCommerce's built-in CSV export (available today). Works on any WooCommerce store, no extra plugins needed.

Path B — One-click import via the WhatsMenu WooCommerce integration. WhatsMenu has a direct WooCommerce import that pulls products straight from your store via the WooCommerce REST API — no CSV juggling. Once connected, you can run incremental re-syncs whenever your WooCommerce catalog changes.

Path B is faster if your WooCommerce store is reachable over HTTPS and you have admin access. Path A is the universal fallback. Both paths end up at the same place.

Path A: Export as CSV

1. In your WordPress admin, open Products → All Products.
2. Click Export at the top of the page.
3. Choose which columns to export (leave them all to be safe) and which product types (Simple, Variable, Grouped).
4. Click Generate CSV. The file downloads directly.

Open the CSV in Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets. You'll see columns like Name, Regular price, Sale price, Short description, Description, Categories, Images, Attribute 1 name, Attribute 1 value(s), and more.

Clean the file

Two things usually need attention:

• HTML in descriptions. WooCommerce's Description column contains HTML (<p>, <strong>, <img>). WhatsMenu stores descriptions as plain text or Markdown. Strip the tags or run the text through a free online HTML-to-Markdown converter.
• Variable products. WooCommerce exports each variation as its own row, linked to the parent by the Parent column. WhatsMenu expects one row per product with variants as sub-options. Group rows by parent SKU or product name, then consolidate variations into a single row per product.

Save the cleaned file as CSV or XLSX.

Path B: Use the WhatsMenu WooCommerce import

1. In your WhatsMenu dashboard, open Settings → Apps, find WooCommerce Import, and turn it on.
2. In WordPress, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → REST API and create a new key with read access. Copy the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.
3. Back in WhatsMenu, paste your WooCommerce store URL, Consumer Key, and Consumer Secret.
4. Click Import and WhatsMenu pulls your catalog in one pass. After the first import, incremental re-syncs only pick up products that changed.

This path skips the CSV cleanup entirely — descriptions, variants, images, and categories come across automatically.

Set up your WhatsMenu account

1. Sign up at whatsmenu.page/new (7-day trial).
2. Fill in company info, address, working hours in Settings.
3. Upload your logo in Settings → Logo.
4. Set language, currency, and time zone in Settings → Localization before importing.
5. Connect your payment gateway in Settings → Payment.

Then run the import (Path A or Path B).

Rebuild what the import doesn't carry

• Categories — created automatically by the import, but review the tree and reorganize if needed.
• Coupons — recreate your active discount codes in WhatsMenu's built-in Coupons module.
• Shipping zones — set up delivery and pickup in Settings → Ordering.
• Tax configuration — enter your tax rules in Settings → Apps → Default Tax.
• Payment gateways — connect them directly in Settings → Payment. WhatsMenu doesn't sit between you and your gateway, so fees stay between you and Stripe/PayPal/Razorpay/etc.
• Theme / branding — WhatsMenu's default template is mobile-first and clean. Upload your logo, pick a color, done.

Point your customers to your new store

Every WhatsMenu account gets a storefront at https://your-name.whatsmenu.page/. You can also connect your existing WooCommerce domain (e.g. shop.yourbusiness.com) in Settings — that's the cleanest cutover for SEO.

Keep WooCommerce live while you settle in. Once you're confident, cancel hosting and retire the WordPress install.

What you gain

• No more updates, plugins, or security patches. WhatsMenu is fully managed.
• No hosting bill. No SSL renewal. No database backups to worry about.
• One subscription, all features. Most WooCommerce store owners pay for 5–15 plugins on top of hosting. WhatsMenu's modules are built in.
• Multi-industry out of the box — retail, food, services, clinics, auto, real estate, digital business cards. No need to buy a niche plugin for each.
• WhatsApp order notifications built in, not a paid add-on.
• Your own subdomain at yourbrand.whatsmenu.page, or your custom domain.

What you lose

WordPress gives you full code control. If your store has custom PHP, custom plugins, or unusual content types (blog + shop + forum on one domain), WhatsMenu's managed platform will feel more constrained. For standard e-commerce — catalog, checkout, marketing, delivery — that tradeoff is usually worth it.

FAQ

Can I keep WordPress for my blog and move only the store?

Yes. Keep your WordPress site for content and point product/shop pages to your WhatsMenu storefront. Many merchants run both: WordPress for blog/SEO content, WhatsMenu for the catalog and checkout.

What happens to product URLs?

Old WooCommerce product URLs won't exist on WhatsMenu. If SEO from those pages matters, set up 301 redirects from WordPress to the matching WhatsMenu product URLs before you decommission WooCommerce. Your webmaster or an SEO plugin like Redirection can do this.

How do I migrate customer accounts?

WhatsMenu doesn't require customer accounts for checkout — contact details travel with each order. If you use loyalty, set up the module in WhatsMenu and let points accrue from the first new order. Export your WooCommerce customer list for records.

Do I lose my order history?

Old orders stay in WooCommerce. Export them for records (WooCommerce → Orders → Export) before decommissioning. New orders go to WhatsMenu.

What about WooCommerce extensions I rely on?

Check WhatsMenu's module list before switching: Coupons, Loyalty, Bundles, Pop-ups, Reviews, Reservations, POS, Inventory, Lalamove and third-party delivery, Stripe/PayPal/Razorpay/Billplz and 14+ gateways, Shopify and WooCommerce import, Facebook/Google/TikTok pixels, and more are built in. If you rely on a highly specific plugin, verify the equivalent exists before committing.

How long does the migration take?

Under 100 products: an hour. Up to 1,000 products: half a day. Thousands: a full day. Path B (direct API connect) is always faster than Path A (CSV cleanup).

Can I get help with the migration?

Yes. For larger catalogs or complex setups, contact us first and we'll help you plan the move. Reach out at contact@whatsmenu.my.