Data transfers are often underrated. Not so many merchants see the benefits at first sight, and the true value of the processes stays clear mostly to those who strive to expand business prospects. Import and export help to migrate, and organize data, to synchronize not related systems and enrich backend operations, arrange workflows of all levels of complexity. Also, this tool allows you to update, replace, and delete product data that is useful for large stores with thousands of goods in the catalog.

Let’s go a little explicit here and see what one can get with the right use of data exchanges within Magento 2.

WHAT ARE THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OPTIONS WITH THE NATIVE FUNCTIONALITY

If you want to add new products to the store or enlarge the customer base, the native Magento 2 import and export work just fine for the goal. Both features are installed by default and, thus, easily accessible. The familiar Magento 2 interface makes the configuration intuitive. The functionality supports the following entity types:

• products and product images;
• advanced pricing (tier prices);
• customer data and customer addresses;
• stock sources.

Data transfers via the native Magento 2 tool demand only the usage of CSV (and its versions compressed in ZIP, solely for import). The file format (‘comma-separated value’) is ideal for composing tables with store data, and it can be processed by many applications. The table must have a specific structure based on a transferred entity and its attribute codes. See the details in the official guide.

The import file size can’t exceed 2MB by default. However, the bar can be lifted by specifying a new size in the php.ini file. All the data modifications must be done before the CSV file uploading, otherwise, the altered file must be re-uploaded. Once you add the file into the system, it undergoes validation. If the data structures compare the requirements, the import will follow the set-up behavior.