Duration: 21:07
PART 1 — Analytical Summary 🚀
Context 💼
This talk, led by Ivon, an AI software developer at Odoo, introduces the new Odoo Website Import Tool—an AI-powered feature that rebuilds an existing website directly inside the Odoo Website Builder. The goal: remove the friction for businesses that want to adopt Odoo but fear losing their current website investment. The feature is available from Odoo 18.4 and v19 via the Website app settings and is designed to make migration fast, reliable, and editable—without starting from scratch.
What’s being announced and why it matters 🧠
Odoo now offers a one-click import that takes a live website URL and reconstructs it using Odoo blocks (snippets). Rather than cloning a site pixel-for-pixel, the tool intentionally maps layouts and content into Odoo’s native components to ensure clean structure, full editability, mobile responsiveness, and seamless integration with Odoo apps (notably eCommerce). For businesses—especially those with large catalogs—this dramatically cuts the time and cost of migration and content preparation.
Core ideas & innovations ⚙️
The import flow is deliberately simple: paste a URL, click “Import,” and Odoo builds a site that looks and feels close to the original while adopting Odoo’s design system. Product pages—including images, options, specifications, and pricing—are imported automatically when metadata is available. Categories and collections are preserved, enabling immediate use of Odoo’s eCommerce features like filtering and variant selection.
Under the hood, the system works in three stages: detection, matching, and generation. First, it detects visual elements (text, images, buttons, headers/footers) and groups them into sections. Next, custom AI models match those sections to the most appropriate Odoo blocks, then optimize layout choices. Finally, a generation step builds Odoo HTML, downloads assets, pulls product data, and uses an LLM to clean up placeholders or reword content as needed to avoid awkward gaps. The result is a fully editable Odoo site that preserves navigation structure and most links/paths.
Demo highlights 💬
Two real-world examples showed how the tool handles both a small artisan site (courses and handcrafted products) and a large, image-rich eCommerce brand. In both cases, the importer reproduced the site’s structure and assets, converted sections into Odoo snippets, and populated product pages with media, pricing, and specifications. The media library was filled with all original images, making it effortless to assemble carousels or swap visuals. The output isn’t identical to the source—by design—but it captures the essence and drastically accelerates the path to a polished, mobile-optimized site in Odoo.
Practical details and constraints ⚙️
- Availability: The importer is accessible in Website > Configuration > Settings via the “Import Website” button in Odoo 18.4+ and v19.
- Pricing/eligibility: It’s an Enterprise feature and also available under the One App Free (Website) plan; anyone can try it on an Odoo trial.
- Scale: Imports up to ~200 pages by default; larger sites are technically possible via a special run (longer processing times).
- Source tech: Framework-agnostic—works with WordPress, Shopify, and others. Shopify product imports can be especially accurate via the Shopify API.
- Products & variants: Variants/attributes are imported if metadata or APIs expose them; otherwise only what’s available (title, price, description) is used.
- SEO: Odoo’s built-in SEO features apply; external SEO directives are only partially imported today, with improvements planned.
- URLs/structure: Navigation, links, and slugs are kept “as much as possible,” with exceptions (e.g., Odoo’s /shop route).
- Content sources: Can even pull from archive.org, though results may vary.
- Controls: Toggle product import on/off during the process.
- Best results: Sites whose layouts resemble what could be built with Odoo blocks. Highly bespoke or app-like sites (e.g., YouTube-like UIs) are harder to map perfectly.
Impact & takeaways 🚀
The Odoo Website Import Tool meaningfully reduces migration risk and effort. It automates asset collection, page layout, product creation, and category mapping; it outputs a responsive, integrated site that you can immediately edit in Odoo; and it connects product data to the back end so updates flow straight to the storefront. The trade-off—favoring Odoo-native blocks over pixel-perfect replication—pays back in ongoing simplicity, faster iteration, and long-term maintainability. For teams contemplating a move to Odoo, this is a low-friction onramp that’s fast, free to try, and built to scale with your business.
PART 2 — Viewpoint: Odoo Perspective
Disclaimer: AI-generated creative perspective inspired by Odoo's vision.
Migration shouldn’t be a leap of faith. We’ve learned that the best way to welcome new users is to meet them where they are—on their existing websites—and bring them into a system that stays simple over time. That’s why we chose to rebuild with Odoo blocks rather than chase pixel-perfect copies. It keeps the result clean, responsive, and integrated.
The real win is not the import itself—it’s what happens next. When your products, pages, and media become native to Odoo, you can iterate in minutes, automate more, and benefit from a community that loves improving things. The importer is just the door; the value is the cohesive experience behind it.
PART 3 — Viewpoint: Competitors (SAP / Microsoft / Others)
Disclaimer: AI-generated fictional commentary. Not an official corporate statement.
Odoo’s importer is a clever acquisition and onboarding lever. By prioritizing Odoo-native components over pixel-perfect replication, they trade accuracy for long-term UX consistency and admin simplicity. For many SMEs, that’s a sensible default—especially when content and products move over reliably and mobile responsiveness is handled automatically.
Enterprise buyers will watch for scale, compliance, SEO parity, and advanced migration mappings. Handling 200+ pages, complex product taxonomies, and nuanced SEO directives at audit-ready depth is where larger suites traditionally invest. But Odoo’s approach to integrated UX and rapid iteration is compelling—particularly for teams that value speed and an approachable front end over maximal configurability.
PART 4 — Blog Footer Disclaimer
Disclaimer: This article contains AI-generated summaries and fictionalized commentaries for illustrative purposes. Viewpoints labeled as "Odoo Perspective" or "Competitors" are simulated and do not represent any real statements or positions. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.