If you’re looking to save your shopify store data for the future, shopify automated backup is a great way to do so. But how and when should you be backing up shopify? In this blog post, we will go over what shopify automated backup is and some ways that it can help your business!
There are numerous ways in which you could be losing your Shopify store, causing a significant setback if you’ve just begun your e-commerce journey.
Now, there are numerous ways to risk your Shopify store! You could be the victim of a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack or could accidentally get involved in a phishing scam and risk the wipeout of your website.
Losing your Shopify store should never be the option. It not only risks your revenues but also sets back your businesses by months, sometimes years.
Depending on the magnitude of damage, you could either lose a part or all of your data, which were sure is any store owners worst nightmare.
However, what if we told you a simple, calculated solution to avoid such risks. Yes, having an automated backup of your Shopify store would ensure that your worst-case scenario wont be that bad.
But, if youre wondering what an automated store is, we have the correct explanation for you. Continue reading as we explore the different aspects of backing up your store and uncover the different ways to do the same. Lets get started!
Table of Contents
What is Shopify Automated Backup?
Setting up backups for your Shopify store is like a thumb rule which you always need to abide by. You cannot simply risk your eCommerce business and the other related data sets. Backups are often referred to as an eCommerce insurance policy as it serves as the last option to get back your store under favorable conditions.
Now, as we know, there are several ways to backup your store. However, most of them are either manual or require a lot of work and resources behind creating the backups. But what if we told you that Shopify automated backup is a reality?
Yes, as the name suggests, automated Shopify backup refers to the automated backup of different data sets of a store. The operation is managed by various applications available in the platforms app store.
Confusing, right?
Lets start over again! But this time, with an example!
Suppose youre the owner of an eCommerce store responsible for running operations at a global level. Now, given such a level of operations, isnt it obvious that you wont be having the time to backup your Shopify store manually? Further, even if youve developed a backup solution, wont it be straining to align your backup with every newly released API?
Yes, this is where Shopify automated backup comes into the picture, where you can ensure automated backups with complete security via different backup applications. Carried out via different applications, automated backup allows Shopify store owners to secure their data while focusing on their sales.
Interestingly, these applications align with proper safety standards and keep running diagnostic tests of your data sets, almost every day.
Now that automated Shopify backup is clear, lets move ahead to why you should choose such an option!
Why should you backup your Shopify store automatically?
Deleting something without having any idea of it is a common incident for most of us in this digital world. Similar is the situation with most Shopify store owners where they delete some critical data set of their store and have to re-work on the entire set to get it running.
In some cases, it could be one blog post or maybe a few data sets around products. On the other hand, you might also lose a massive chunk of data, comprising all the essential data required to ensure the seamless functioning of your Shopify store.
Unluckily, Shopify doesnt allow an automated backup option, making it necessary to manually back up every aspect of your store.
Now, besides the fear of losing your data, there are other striking reasons as to why you should backup your Shopify data without fail!
- The increased risk of malware attack.
- Chances of making a mistake while incorporating a change in your store.
- Access all the information stored around your store, customers, and products.
- Have a safety net, in case your Shopify store is under attack or youve wiped it out via any means.
How can you back up your Shopify store?
When it comes to backing up your Shopify store, there are quite a few methods that can help you overcome that challenge.
Under the different processes, some methods are free, some paid, some very complex, and some are simple.
While youll find numerous ways over the internet to back up your store, this piece simplifies your problems with three simplified tricks for the same. They are:
- The manual way of backing it up
- An automated method of backing it up
- Shopify automated backup
Now, lets understand each of the processes in a detailed manner. Lets get started!
Option 1: Backup and Restore your Shopify Store Manually
Step 1 Convert your existing data sets into CSV format
In the first step of backing up your data manually, Shopify wants users to manually backup their stores using CSV files.
However, before you initiate the process, you should understand that you cannot simply export your entire store in go; the operation needs to be conducted in parts. Here are the mentioned data sets, which can be exported via CSV files from your store:
- Products
- Gift cards
- Discount codes
- Customers
- Orders
- Theme
For each of the items listed above in the list, you need to back them up from your Shopify Admin, followed by the Customers or Products or Customers, then click the Export option.
Step 2 – Copy Paste your item properties
While youre manually backing up your store, you should understand that Shopify allows users to export limited sets of data, limited to what Shopify considers relevant. Unfortunately, the list of data sets doesnt include custom product categories, images, or how your store has indexed and archived items.
Such data sets must be separately copied and pasted into a spreadsheet or document program.
Remember, in a situation where you cannot complete the backup process and are trying to restore a specific product from the suggested CSV files, placed otherwise in the product catalog, Shopify will require you to recreate the desired properties of the CSV data.
For instance, if some random product was deleted, youll have to index and archive it. However, if youve deleted the image of a particular product, that will stay deleted forever.
Step 3 Copy and paste the data which Shopify was unable to export
In the third step, you need to store the left-out data. In order to back up the information that Shopify was unable to export, youll need to manually bring your store to a word document or a spreadsheet using the copy-paste option.
For example, in order to create the backup for a blog post, youll require to copy and paste the category of the content and its images.
Step 4 Organize backed up data
Congratulations, youve successfully backed up all your Shopify store data! The next step here is to organize your data in such a manner that it is easily accessible and can be retrieved as needed.
Step 5 Secure your backup
Now that youve created a backup to your store, its time to safeguard it from the threats of malware, hackers, and employees that can be a threat to the overall security of your stores backup.
Therefore, to ensure that your data is safe, you need to follow some of these steps listed below:
- Use encryption Using encryptions to protect your Shopify data allows you to protect your device or unlock it using a set of different numbers of keys, accessible only to authorized users.
- Follow the 3-2-1 rule This step requires you to create some three copies of your backup. Two of which are to be saved over two different platforms and saved somewhere off-site.
- Test regularly When you test your store almost regularly, youll be able to identify any form of vulnerabilities in your backup before anything happens.
Step 6 Paste the remaining store data from the backup you are created
Once youve covered all the existing data sets from your Shopify store, including the blog posts and the product images, that need to be entered manually to restore the store.
Remember, in a situation where any of the initial information from the Shopify store is missing out from the main CSV file, youll have to recreate the required properties from the raw data.
Option 2: Building a Backup Solution for Your Shopify Store
The second step to backup requires your store to have a bit of resources. When you want to develop a backup tool for your store, you need to consider factors like:
- Is your store GDPR compliant?
- Aligns with the regulations of data storage.
- Applies the measures of data security, among others.
In this step, you can create a backup solution for your store if you have enough resources on your team and develop a backup solution. Follow the steps to get started:
Step 1 Create a backup tool using your Shopifys public APIs
In order to use different APIs in your Shopify store, you need to have a look at the different available APIs of your store. Once youve decided about the type of API you want to proceed with, its time to leverage them in order to secure all the information around your store.
Now, the secured API will allow you to capture all the information required while developing the desired infrastructure to support the API calls to your store.
Step 2 Secure your backup
At this point, we all know and understand how securing a backup works. If not, you may re-read the initial sequence of the first 5 rules from the previous section.
Remember, this is a crucial step as the security of your backup depends on it. Further, if your developing tools are unable to provide such backup in case of an emergency, it might have long-term impacts on the final prospects of your business.
Step 3 Regular maintenance and testing of the developed backup solution
Backing up your Shopify store is one of the most significant challenges that you can face. After all, keeping up with the changing APIs by Shopify is not going to be easy.
Further, in its most recent updates, Shopify announced some tweaks in its APIs, mentioning that versioning will be its most significant change.
To break it down, it means that if you want to develop a backup solution today, it might soon be obsolete later, once your backup solution is unable to support the latest API versions. In such a case, it could have a certain impact on your resources. Therefore, it is critical that you stay updated with the latest API versions and test your solution regularly.
Step 4 In case of a malware attack, Sort and Restore!
Once you are done with the backup, this is going to be one of the most essential steps to pay close attention to!
While youre performing a restore function of your backup, you need to organize and segregate the data which was previously backed up. However, you need to understand that the backup looks different, depending on what youve saved in the CSV format. Additionally, the process also varies, depending on whether youve restored a deleted version or had a previous store.
Option 3 – Using Backup Apps
Going through the same old repetitive manual process of backing up your Shopify store or developing a backup solution isnt a bad idea. However, what if things could get better? What if the entire process could be automated? Yes, certain applications make it possible for Shopify store owners to back up their data automatically.
Shopify automated backup apps allow seamless daily backups of your Shopify store. Whats more? Apps like the Goshu backup app secure your store from the threat of any form by capturing and assessing data sets to restore and revert minute mistakes.
With the upcoming Goshu backup app, creating a real-time backup is simplified, allowing users to create a fully secured backup option, with advanced restore functionalities.
Further, with a team of dedicated experts backing your data, all you need to do is enjoy Shopify automated backup and focus on the growth of your business.
Conclusion
Thats a wrap! The topic covers all the possible methods to help you backup your Shopify store. With a list of all the possible examples, we hope that you wont be nervous the next time you lose something important. Instead, just restore the backup from the Goshu backup application.
Creating automated backup for your Shopify store not only helps you in securing a favorable position in case of an accident but also allows you to administer proper security to your store. With proper backups of different data sets, you can easily access information, without much delay.
Remember, it’s always better to automate your operations than having to waste time and labor backing up everything manually. Now that you understand the primary difference between manual and automated backups, what’s your take?
