Migrating PrestaShop without interrupting sales
A well-run PrestaShop migration doesn’t take the shop offline. The real difficulty isn’t the code itself: it’s the data gap that builds up between preparing the new version and switching over to it.
Working on a copy, never on the live shop
The starting rule is simple: I make a full copy of the shop, files and database, on a separate test environment. All the preparation, testing and fixing happens on that copy. The live site keeps running normally the whole time, with no changes made to it. That removes the main risk of a poorly prepared migration: breaking the live shop while still hunting for the right configuration.
This separation also buys the time actually needed. A migration can take several days of checks, module fixes or theme adjustments. None of that has to affect visitors or in-progress orders while the work is under way.
The real risk: the data gap at cut-over
Once the copy is made, the live shop keeps going: new orders come in, new customer accounts get created, stock moves. Between the moment the copy was taken and the moment the new version goes live, a gap inevitably opens up. That gap, not the migration itself, is the real problem: ignore it, and the shop switches over to a database missing every order placed in between.
Two approaches handle it. The first is to freeze orders right before the final switch: a short window, announced in advance, during which checkout is briefly disabled while the switch happens. The second is to replay a diff of orders and accounts created during the final test phase, feeding them into the new database before opening to the public. Which one fits depends on daily order volume and how much a brief checkout pause is tolerable.
How I prepare the switch
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Full copy on a test environment
Files and database duplicated on a separate environment, with no work touching the live site.
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Migration and checks on the copy
The entire version migration, theme adaptation and replacement of incompatible modules happens on that copy, at my own pace, without cut-over pressure.
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End-to-end checkout test
Before opening to the public, I check adding to cart, going through checkout, a test-mode payment where the payment method allows it, and that the confirmation email actually arrives.
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Picking a low-traffic window
The final switch is scheduled for the lowest order-volume window, to minimise how many orders are caught in the data gap.
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Switch and verification under real conditions
The original site stays readable or on standby while I confirm the new version works correctly, before permanently retiring the old one.
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