Businesses, big and small, rely on technology to function on a day-to-day basis. This is particularly the case with online stores that work using tools like Shopify. The platform is massive as it currently powers more than a million online stores in 175 countries.

From the moment you launch an eCommerce business, your customers are interacting with your Shopify website. So what happens if something goes wrong with your technology? 

Your business could be in trouble.

That’s why it’s important to have a Backup plan in place for your Shopify store. In this article, we’ll discuss some ways you can back up your store and protect your business from potential disaster.

What Is a Website Backup?

A website backup is a copy of your website’s files and database that you can use to restore your website if something goes wrong. Your website’s files and database are important, so it’s a good idea to back them up regularly in order to restore your website if something goes wrong. 

In addition, by keeping a recent backup of your website’s data, you can minimize the amount of data that needs to be restored in the event of a disaster. Some hosting providers offer free website backups, while others charge for this service.

Main Reasons to Back Up a Shopify Store

Nobody ever thinks about a problem until it actually occurs. However, you have to be proactive – reports show that websites currently experience an average of 94 attacks every day and receive over 2.6 thousand bot visits per week. But Shopify backups go well beyond cybersecurity. 

There are critical reasons you should back up your Shopify store:

• To restore your website if something goes wrong: If your website’s files or database are corrupted, you can use a backup to restore your website to its previous state.
• To manage multiple stores in different locations: If you have multiple Shopify stores, you can use backups to copy store data between stores.
• To migrate your website to a new host: If you decide to switch hosts, you can use a backup of your website’s files and database to migrate your website to the new host. 
• To view or edit your website’s files offline: If you need to make changes to your website’s files, you can download a backup of your website’s files and edit them offline. 
• To export your products and customer data: If you decide to leave Shopify, you can use a backup of your website’s files and database to export your products and customer data. 
• To protect your eCommerce business: By regularly backing up your Shopify store, you can protect your eCommerce business from potential data loss or website downtime.

These and many other reasons should make you think about backing up your Shopify store as soon as possible.

3 Ways to Back Up Your Shopify Store

Backing up your Shopify store is essential to protecting your business data. There are a few different ways you can back up your store, and we’ll discuss them below.

1. Do It Manually – A website owner can back up and export data manually. This solution is a bit limited because you can only export data about the products, customers, orders, gift cards, discount codes, and your Shopify theme. Whatever you choose to export as a CSV file, you should go to your Admin board. After that, go to the designated part of your store (Products, for instance) and click Export. That way, you’ll get a CSV file of your eCommerce products. Key drawbacks to this method:
   • The ability to export and download product images must be done manually.
   • You’ll need to backup the site frequently to ensure you have all the data you need.
   • Restoration of data can be complex and cause a lot of data integrity issues.
2. Create a Backup System for the Entire Site – You can also protect the entire website by building a dedicated backup system. This solution is more comprehensive because it backs up all of your website’s files and the database. In this case, you’ll need to follow a few steps:
   • Make use of Shopify APIs to start building a backup program
   • Secure your backup process by using encryption and keeping multiple copies of the site
   • Build a backup platform and test it (including restoration) until it becomes flawless
   • Use the backup platform to identify possible issues and figure out what went wrong 
   • Develop a scheduling methodology to automatically backup the site.

Keep in mind that these steps are simplified big time. After all, building a unique backup system for your Shopify store requires a lot of resources such as time, programming skills, and effort.

3. Use a Dedicated Shopify Backup App – Shopify also allows you to back up the store using a dedicated app. This solution is great because it’s easy to use and it doesn’t require any programming skills. All it takes is to pick the tool that suits your needs the best and use it for periodical automatic backups and simple restores. In this case, you’ll probably run into apps like Vault – Free Backup & Restore, Rewind, or Automatic Backups. The best thing about this solution is that you can find free backup apps that do not contain any hidden fees or costs. That way, Shopify backups become cost-free as well as hassle-free. 

Which Backup Solution Should You Choose?

With so many different methods at your disposal, it is natural to ask yourself which backup solution you should choose. The answer to this question depends on your needs and resources. However, we strongly believe that most eCommerce just want to set it and forget it. 

In such circumstances, the best option is to take advantage of a Shopify backup app. Shopify backup apps offer an easy way to automate the process of backing up your online store data. This can be helpful in ensuring that your data is safe and secure, in case of any issues or accidents.

One of the benefits of using a backup app is the ability to schedule backups on a regular basis. Besides that, automatic backups are stored off-site in case of server failure or other disasters. apps are also easy to use since you can typically restore your data with just a few clicks.

Peace of Mind On Your Ecommerce Investment

Backing up a Shopify store is like securing your home – if anything goes wrong, you won’t lose everything. That’s why we encourage you to back up your eCommerce store on Shopify. It will give you that much-needed peace of mind and help you to overcome problems in the case of an emergency. 

Disclosure: Martech Zone is using affiliate links in this article.

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