Are you running a business on WooCommerce and spending countless hours on tracking the details of customer on your website for decision making? This might be because you have not been exporting your data. You can easily export your WooCommerce order data that will help you with your data analysis, decision making, consumer behaviour understanding, data integration with other platforms, and maintaining secure backups to avoid data loss.
In this guide, we will help you understand the process of exporting WooCommerce orders, the benefits of export, and the best practices to ensure a smooth data export without any loss of data.
Why Export WooCommerce Orders?
Exporting orders from WooCommerce offers several benefits for your business. Some common advantages of data export are detailed below:
- Data Analysis and Reporting: Helps in making informed decisions by analyzing sales performance, customer trends, and more. It will also help you in decision making for sales, business expansion and targeting new audience.
- Integration with Other Platforms: Facilitates data sharing with CRM, ERP, and other accounting tools.
- Backup and Compliance with data regulations: Ensures you have secure backups of transaction records to avoid the customer data loss. Loss of data or breach of customer data may entail heavy penalty in different countries.
- Transfer of data: In case you are creating a new store or website and wants to transfer your existing customer database to the new store or website, exporting your WooCommerce order data becomes a must.
- Targeted marketing: Analysis of customer order data help you in devising better marketing strategies for your targeted audience.
Methods to Export WooCommerce Orders
There are several ways to export WooCommerce orders, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
A. Using built-in WooCommerce Tools
WooCommerce support two types of formats for exporting the data by user – CSV format or XML format and provides built-in tools to export orders in CSV (Comma-Separated Value) or XML (Extensible Markup Language) format:
For download in CSV format
- Go to WooCommerce > Orders from your WordPress dashboard.
- You can put a set of filters to customize the data you want to export such as by date or product etc.
- Select the timeline for which you want to download the data.
- Click on the Download CSV / Export CSV button.
For download in XML format
- Access the Dashboard andgo to ‘Tools’ option.
- Click on ‘Export’ and select ‘Orders’.
- Click on ‘Download Export File’.
B. Using Plugins
Plugins offer more flexibility and features for exporting orders data from one ecommerce store to another or offline for your data analysis. When you download and install a plugin on WooCommerce store, it overrides the primary export feature inbuilt in your WooCommerce store. The plugins offer you a wide range of features as compared to the in-built tools of WooCommerce.
One such commonly used plugin for WooCommerce store order data is WP All Export.
This plugin allows you to export your orders to a variety of formats, including CSV, Excel, and XML. It’s drag and drop feature makes the export process easy to execute for users.
Source – WordPress.org
WP All Export even allow users automate their export task through scheduling options. The user can also buy the WP All Export Pro version with advanced features at a discounted price of $99.00 per year.
Follow the below steps to download the WooCommerce store data using WP All Export plugin:
- Go to All export and click on New Export.
Source – wpallimport.com
2. Select WooCommerce Orders for export. Click on the Customize Export file button.
3. The drag and drop user interface of the plugin will open with all relevant fields and tables appearing under Available data section.
4. The major field head for downloading the data include the options such as Order, Customer, Items, Taxes and Shipping, Fees & Discounts, Notes, Refunds, Custom Fields and Other.
You can select various sub-fields out these major field options.
Source – wpallimport.com
5. To include any field option as a part of your export data, simply select that particular field option and drag and drop that option in the column selection are.
6. Similarly, to remove any field option, simply drag the field option out of the selection are and drop it anywhere else.
7. You have the option to add all the fields by simply clicking on ‘Add All’ or remove all the fields by clicking on ‘Clear All’.
8. Once you have selected the fields, click on ‘Continue’ to open the export settings.
Source – wpallimport.com
9. You get various options such as splitting large data files into multiple files, downloading only the modified data since last export etc.
10. Once you have updated the settings, click on ‘Confirm and Run Export’.
11. Once the export run is complete, you will get the option to the download the data in either CSV format or a bundle of zip file.
Source – wpallimport.com
12. The zip file has both export file as well an import template. The import template will allow you to transfer your data from WooCommerce store to another online store site using WP All Import.
Best Plugins for Exporting WooCommerce Orders
A. Advanced Order Export For WooCommerce: Allows exporting orders in various formats such as CSV, XML, JSON, XLS, PDF and offers advanced filtering options.
Algoplus.com
The plugin is well known amongst the user base for its advanced features and ease of use such as filtering the data by product, coupon, customer, billing, shipping etc. The export data includes number of items, discounts, taxes, shipping and billing details of the customer, coupon details, if any etc.
The plugin supports a minimum WordPress version 4.7 or higher and PHP version of 5.4.0 or higher.
It has both free versions as well a paid version starting at $30 per year for 1 website with 1 year plugin updates. Further, you can use the exported data to update your accounting records, consumer analysis and sharing data with your vendors.
Source – WordPress.org
B. Order Export & Order Import for WooCommerce: This plugin provides easy export and import functionality with a user-friendly interface and functionality to transfer your data from one store to another.
Source – WordPress.org
It is particularly useful if you want to export and import bulk data from your ecommerce store with a variety of filter options.
This plugin even allows you to export and import orders from an ecommerce store on a different platform to your WooCommerce store.
Source – WordPress.org
Some of the common features of this plugin are –
- Export orders in csv format.
- Import order to WooCommerce store.
- Import or export coupons.
- Number of filter options for order export.
- Import or export data in batches etc.
C. Import Export Suite for WooCommerce: A comprehensive solution for exporting and importing orders, products, reviews and more. This plugin is ideal for businesses looking for a comprehensive export or import solution for their large customer data.
Source – WooCommerce.com
Some of the features of this plugin are:
- Allows you to schedule the export using FTP / SFTP profiles.
- Allows you to export images and custom metadata.
- Download data in XML or CSV format.
Source – WooCommerce.com
Common Issues and Troubleshooting
When you are exporting orders data from WooCommerce store, you might encounter several issues in doing so. Some of the common issues faced by users and their solutions are detailed below:
- Incomplete exports: Ensure you have selected the correct date range and order status for export. Failure to do so may result in incomplete data being exported.
- Format errors: Verify that the export format i.e., CSV or XML is compatible with your data tools and targeted software for use of export data. You can test the data to be exported with a small batch size to ensure its compatibility for data processing and usage.
- Large file sizes: Split the export into smaller batches if you have a large number of orders. This will result in faster export of data and help avoiding memory errors during export. You can even make use of plugins that do the backend processing of order data for routine exports. Additionally, try using XML format for large dataset as it is more suitable for structured information processing as compared to the CSV format.
- Incompatible plugin: Check the version supported by the plugin before buying a pro version. If the plugin is not compatible, it may result in incorrect data export.
- Data mapping errors: These errors are related to the non-alignment of export fields with the requirements of the target system.
Tips for Exporting WooCommerce Orders Data
- Choose the right file format: The file format you choose will depend on how you plan to use the exported data. If you plan to import the data into another application, you should choose a format that is compatible with that application.
- Filter your orders: You can filter your orders by date, status, and other criteria. This can help you narrow down the data you need to export.
- Schedule your exports: You can schedule your exports to run automatically on a regular basis. This can save you time and ensure that your data is always up to date.
Conclusion
Exporting your WooCommerce orders data is important for running a successful online store. Whether you use built-in tools, plugins, or custom code, the ability to export the data and analyze it to better understand consumer preferences can significantly enhance your business operations.
By following this guide, you can streamline the workflow of your WooCommerce store, download critical order data, make data-driven decisions for your business, and ensure your store runs successfully.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I automate the order data export process?
Yes, many plugins such as WP All Export allow you to schedule automatic export of your WooCommerce data at regular intervals.
What formats can I export orders in?
You can export orders in CSV, XML, JSON and XLS formats amongst others.
How can I handle large data exports?
For large exports, you can use plugins that support batch processing of data to be exported. Alternatively, you can split the order data export into smaller batches for export.
Are there any free plugins for exporting orders?
Yes, there are free plugins available. However, they come with limited features compared to the premium ones which offer advance features like integration with third party apps and custom field selection for data export.
Can I export WooCommerce orders to Google Sheets?
Yes, you can export WooCommerce orders to Google Sheets using plugins such as WP All Export.
Can I edit the data download in CSV or XML files?
Yes, you can edit the data downloaded using software’s like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets for CSV files. For XML files, you might have to use the XML editor tools.
