WooCommerce Upgrade: Changes in the Mapping

What is changing?

Previously, in older versions, to create product variants in WooCommerce, you had to:

• set the attributes based on that you wanted to create variants,

• create the appropriate rules in the mapping in DataFeedWatch.

This process caused product URL issues, leading to the rejection of the variants from our customers' feeds by the channels. That’s why we decided to find another way to improve this process.

The latest version:

• Lets you create variants from your WooCommerce Dashboard. This way of creating the variations in WooCommerce is more intuitive and gives you more control over the variants you want to display. 

• Allows us to fetch this data automatically. You won’t need to create complex rules in mapping anymore.

Unfortunately, we can’t automate the migration process, and we need you to go ahead and complete the migration process. 

How to prepare for migration?

1. Create all the variants of the products in your WooCommerce store (if you haven’t done it already).

2. Upgrade Your Shops.

3. Check what's changing in the mapping below, and adjust your mapping to the new changes if necessary. 

 Changes in the mapping:

1. We’re removing the fields: 

• image_alt_* - We no longer download this field.

• image_thumbnail_url -  We no longer download this field.

• parent_price - We no longer download this field. 

• parent_special_price - We no longer download this field. 

• variant_special_price - We no longer download this field.  

2. We’re replacing the following fields with the others: 

• attr_*, and the values that derive from it, e.g. attr_pa_isbn, attr_pa_alt-title, attr_pa_alt-short-description, etc. - This value will be replaced by product_option_*. where the * stands for the product attribute name, such as size, color, etc.

To map this field, include product_option_* in the source, and then insert all the values of the product attribute names separated by a pipe "|" in one field.

• NEW: product_option_field_* is replaced by product_custom_field_*, e.g product_option_field_size should be now product_custom_field_size.

Let’s look at an example:

Let’s assume you have three product colors: red, blue, and white.

To map the color of the product attribute, include a field in your source feed: Product_option_color, and then insert (all together) red|blue|white as the product attribute values in one field.

• image_url (and related image_url_1, image_url_2, etc.) - After migration, each product and variant will have a separate image,  so we’re splitting this field into product_image_url and variant_image_url. So if you have this field in your mapping, we’ll migrate its data automatically, and you don’t need to change anything. 

• Parent_sku - After migration, the u_sku field replaces it. 

• variant_name -  We no longer download this field. Since a product and its variant will have its name, it will be replaced by a name.

• parent_short_desc - We don’t divide the product description between products and their variants' descriptions. Now there are just description, short_description, and full_description fields for a product and each variant. 

3. We’re adding new fields:

• tax_rate:  

You may need to introduce different tax rates, when you sell in different countries.

We can download this information automatically if you provide it in your WooCommerce shop.

To be able to download it, we have added the following fields for which we can fetch the value from your WooCommerce shop:

• • Tax_rate - it’s a default value for all countries

  • tax_rate_ISO 3166 alpha-2 code (e.g. tax_rate_gb for England, tax_rate_us for the United States, etc.) -  This field will enable you to adjust the taxes to country-specific requirements. 

    It is not mandatory to provide this information, so if you do not provide it in your WooCommerce store, this field will be empty in the mapping.

• When you want to run a promotional campaign and give a special price for your products during some period, you can do so using the following fields:

  • Special_price_value - You can use this field to add the special price for your items. We assign the value of 0 to this field by default. When changing it, just adjust the value by inserting it in the mapping or source. 

  • Special_price_avail - This value allows you to let us know whether the special promotion price is active or not. It’s a boolean value, meaning that its value should be as follows: TRUE when the special price is active and FALSE when the special price is disabled.

  • Special_price_expired_at - indicates when the special offer should be stopped and the regular price applied.

  • Special_price_created_at - indicates when the special price should be applied.

  • Special_price_modified_at- allows you to indicate when you want to change the value of the special price.

• NEW: variant_custom_field_* - after migration, each product and variant is treated separately, so we also had to add this field to fetch data about your product variants.