Hosted does not mean backed up
A hosted platform protects against server failure. It does not protect against a bad bulk edit, an app that corrupts product data, or an account access problem.
The most common store data loss we see is not a platform failure. It is somebody running a bulk edit that did something unexpected across four hundred products.
Export regularly
- Products, including variants and metafields
- Customers, with their consent status
- Orders, for the period you need
- Theme files, particularly if customised
- Content — pages, posts, policies
Monthly is adequate for most stores, weekly for high-volume ones. Store them somewhere other than the platform.
Before any bulk change
- Export the affected data first, always
- Test the change on a handful of items
- Check the result before applying to everything
- Keep the export until you are confident
That discipline costs five minutes and it has saved several of our clients a great deal of work.
Plan for unavailability
If the store were down for a day, how would you take orders? A phone number, a social channel with an announcement, an email address that someone is watching.
Deciding that in advance takes ten minutes. Deciding it during an outage takes considerably longer and loses sales in the meantime.
Account access is a real risk
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Sole administrator unavailable | A second administrator account |
| Payment card on file expires | Billing details monitored |
| Domain expires | Auto-renewal and a monitored contact address |
| Email account compromised | Two-factor on everything |
A store that depends entirely on one person's access is one holiday away from a problem.