Which format should you use to export WooCommerce products?

An export can open perfectly in a spreadsheet and still be wrong for the next step. A WooCommerce importer looks for product types, parent SKUs and numbered attribute columns. Shopify expects URL handles, option columns and image rows. A standard CSV can be easier to inspect, but it does not pretend to match either platform.

We compared the four formats produced by the current ScrapeWoo exporters. Every file came from the same controlled catalog, so the differences below come from the destination format rather than a change in source data.

One catalog produced four different files

The fixture contained two products. One was a variable trail shoe with two sizes, two gallery images, variant SKUs, separate stock quantities and a sale price. The other was a simple canvas bag. Across the fixture, ScrapeWoo handled two products, two variants and three product images.

Format	Result from the test	Designed for
WooCommerce CSV	30 columns and 4 data rows	WooCommerce product importer
Shopify CSV	34 columns and 4 data rows	Shopify product importer
Standard CSV	23 columns and 4 data rows	Spreadsheet review and custom mapping
JSON	2 product objects with 2 nested variants	Code, automations and internal tools

The three CSV files happened to contain four data rows, but not the same four rows. Their headers, relationships and image handling changed with the target. Matching row counts do not make the files compatible.

WooCommerce CSV and Shopify CSV are import schemas

A platform CSV is closer to an instruction sheet than a neutral table. Column names and repeated rows tell the destination how to rebuild the catalog.

WooCommerce CSV keeps the parent and variation model

The generated WooCommerce file contained one parent row for the variable shoe and one row for each variation. The Parent column linked both size rows to the parent SKU. Product attributes used numbered groups such as Attribute 1 name and Attribute 1 value(s).

The file also carried WooCommerce fields such as product type, publication state, catalog visibility and sale price. Its images shared one cell as comma-separated URLs. These choices follow the structure described by the WooCommerce product CSV schema.

Shopify CSV reorganizes the same products around handles

The Shopify file used the handle ridge-trail-shoe to associate the variable product, its variants and its additional image. Each size kept its own SKU, option values, price and inventory quantity. The second gallery image occupied a separate row with the same handle.

ScrapeWoo produced 34 Shopify columns and used the encoding required by the current Shopify product CSV documentation: UTF-8 without a byte order mark and LF line endings. The WooCommerce and standard CSV files included a byte order mark and CRLF line endings for spreadsheet use.

Standard CSV is the practical working file

ScrapeWoo's standard CSV is meant to be read and mapped. It gave each product and variant its own row, then used Row type and Parent SKU to keep their relationship visible. Categories, tags, attributes and image URLs remained in readable cells.

This is the useful choice when you need to audit a catalog in Excel or Google Sheets, send a clean table to someone, remove columns, compare stock, or prepare data for a destination with its own field mapper. It is not a universal import file. The receiving system still needs to know what each column means.

JSON keeps the hierarchy for code

The JSON export contained two product objects. The two shoe variants remained inside the parent product's variants array instead of becoming separate spreadsheet rows. Images, attributes, categories and shipping values also stayed as arrays or nested objects.

That structure is useful for a script, an internal catalog service or an automation that needs to loop through products and their variants. JSON can represent objects and arrays directly, as defined by RFC 8259. A spreadsheet user will usually find the standard CSV easier. A developer may prefer JSON because it avoids rebuilding parent-child relationships from flat rows.

JSON is not automatically accepted by WooCommerce or Shopify product importers. Choose it only when the next tool explicitly reads JSON or when you control the integration code.

Choose the format from the next action

Your next action	Choose	Check before using it
Import or update products in WooCommerce	WooCommerce CSV	SKUs, parent variations, attributes and category paths
Prepare products for Shopify	Shopify CSV	Handles, options, image URLs, weights and taxonomy
Review or edit the catalog in a spreadsheet	Standard CSV	Row types, parent SKUs and delimiter handling
Feed a script, automation or internal product tool	JSON	The schema expected by your code and any fields it ignores

If the destination provides a template or import schema, use that schema. A clean standard CSV is a good working copy, but it should not be uploaded blindly to a platform importer.

Create the export in ScrapeWoo

1. Open a supported WooCommerce catalog and select the products you need.
2. Continue to the export step.
3. Choose WooCommerce CSV, Shopify CSV, standard CSV or JSON from the destination you identified above.
4. Review the selected product count and image delivery option.
5. Run the extraction and keep the original download unchanged as your reference copy.

Before you import into a live store

ScrapeWoo generated all four files from the same catalog, and we inspected each one. Your destination can have rules of its own: an extension can add fields to WooCommerce or Shopify, and a third-party tool can expect its own column names. Compare the file's headers with the ones your destination asks for.

Run a small import when the destination changes live data. If the goal is only inspection, work from a duplicate and keep the original export intact. For a Shopify destination, continue with the guide to migrating WooCommerce products to Shopify with a CSV. If you still need to collect the source products, start with extracting WooCommerce products without admin access.