Native importer
Migrate from Shopware to Pitlane.
Pitlane has a native column-aware importer for the Shopware customer + vehicle CSV export. Pitlane runs alongside Shopware: keep Shopware for the shop floor, ROs, and inventory, and drop the customer-side modules Pitlane covers.
The migration runs from /settings/migration inside Pitlane and dedupes on email or phone, so a re-import after a Shopware update doesn't duplicate records. Drop the overlapping customer-outreach modules you were paying for, and Pitlane charges a 0% platform fee on payments (Stripe's standard processing rate still applies).
What transfers from Shopware
- Customer first/last name, phone, email (deduplicated on email or phone)
- Mailing address
- Vehicles per customer with VIN, year, make, model, license plate
- Last-known mileage where present
- Last service date as a service-record stub
What stays behind (and why)
- —Full RO line items and labor entries. Those stay in Shopware
- —Parts and inventory data (Shopware's depth there is real; don't move it)
- —Accounting hooks tied to Shopware's invoicing
Where to find the export inside Shopware.
Shopware → Reports → Customer/Vehicle export → CSV. The format the importer expects matches the standard Shopware export; if you've customized the export columns, the importer will warn on unknown columns rather than fail.
The full migration in five steps.
- 1
Export from Shopware
Run the standard customer + vehicle export to CSV. Don't pre-filter. Full list. The importer dedupes safely on re-runs so you can re-import after a billing cycle without duplicating customers.
- 2
Sign up for Pitlane
Create your free trial account at /signup. No credit card.
- 3
Settings → Migration → drop the CSV
The importer auto-detects the Shopware format and previews the mapping before any writes. If the column fingerprint is ambiguous, the picker lets you force the Shopware parser explicitly.
- 4
Review and import
Confirm the row count and warning list, then click import.
- 5
Stop the Shopware customer-outreach modules
Pitlane's review automation, win-backs, and on-demand declined-work recovery drafts replace the Shopware equivalents. If you leave both running, customers get duplicate review requests. Stop the Shopware modules or turn off Pitlane's automation; don't run both.
After the migration: what to keep, what to drop.
Keep
- Shopware for ROs, parts, labor, and inventory. Its core strength
- Your accounting integration if it's wired into Shopware
- Any vendor-specific catalogs you've configured inside Shopware
Drop
- —Shopware's customer-outreach module (Pitlane's review automation and PitCrew drafting cover the same customer-side surface)
- —Third-party review-request and SMS tools. Pitlane covers review requests and two-way SMS in the one price. Texting activates after carrier registration, usually a few business days. Pitlane files the registration
- —Any per-customer marketing automation you've manually set up in Shopware
Questions about migrating from Shopware.
Does Pitlane integrate with Shopware directly?
No native real-time integration. The migration is a one-shot CSV pull from Shopware into Pitlane. Mark ROs complete in Shopware and let Pitlane handle the customer-facing workflow, from the customer's first review request forward.
What if Shopware updates the CSV format?
The importer matches by column name with multiple aliases per field, not by column position, so column reorders don't break anything. If Shopware adds new columns, they're ignored. The import still completes. If a renamed column is critical, email support@usepitlane.com with the old/new column name and the parser is updated in the next release.
Will the import bring in service intervals or maintenance schedules?
Service-interval reminders are computed in Pitlane based on last-known mileage and service date. They're not imported as schedules. So the migration brings the data needed to compute reminders, and Pitlane fires them automatically based on your shop's interval rules.
Why not just keep using Shopware's customer-outreach module?
Two reasons. One. Shopware's customer-outreach was bolted on; Pitlane's was the product from day one and it ships weekly. Two. Pitlane's PitCrew AI drafts review replies and recovery messages in a neutral, shop-appropriate voice you edit before sending. That's not a feature Shopware has.
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