Shopify Migration from WooCommerce or Magento

Shopify's migration guide lists the data you might move: products, customers, historical orders, gift cards and store credits, blogs and pages. It describes several methods, from copy and paste and CSV import to migration apps, a Shopify Partner or a custom solution using the Shopify API, and it warns that the order matters: products first, then customers, then historical orders. The guide has a dedicated page for WooCommerce, which mentions Shopify's own Store Migration app (in early access) for importing products from a WooCommerce CSV export and notes that Shopify allows three product options per product; Magento is not among the platforms with a dedicated guide. Some things need a decision rather than a copy: custom fields, extensions without a Shopify equivalent, subscription or B2B logic. We go through them with you before quoting, and where a function has no equivalent, we propose an app or a changed process.

Google recommends server-side permanent redirects, 301 or 308, from each old URL to the new one when URLs change, and says permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank. It advises pointing each old URL straight at its final destination, avoiding chains, and avoiding sending many unrelated old URLs to a single page such as the home page, which may be treated as a soft 404. It also advises keeping redirects in place for as long as possible, generally at least a year. We build a page-to-page map from your old sitemap and analytics, then import it into Shopify.

Shopify's link structure usually differs from your old platform's, for example /pages/shipping-policy instead of /policies/shipping-policy, so old links will not load without redirects. In the Shopify admin, redirects are managed under Content, Menus, URL redirects; they can be imported from a CSV file and start working immediately. Shopify suggests setting them up in advance, before you transfer the domain. Points that matter for planning, all from Shopify's help page: a redirect only works from a URL that returns an error such as 404, so a URL that still loads a valid page is not redirected; a store can hold up to 100,000 redirects, or 20,000,000 on the Plus plan; URLs with query strings might not work as expected; and browsers and search engines cache 301 redirects. On market subfolders, the page says a redirect applies to the language and market subfolders created with Shopify's international tools, but also tells you to create individual redirects per subfolder in some locale cases. We test every market's URLs rather than assume.

1. Inventory of data, extensions, URLs and integrations.
2. Decision list: what is copied, replaced by an app or dropped.
3. Build of the new store, theme and checkout set-up.
4. Test import in the order products, customers, orders, with new-order notifications switched off first, since Shopify otherwise emails staff for each imported order; then comparison of product counts, prices and customer data.
5. Redirect map, imported and checked in a staging environment.
6. Launch, followed by a check of the redirects and of crawl errors in the days after.

Sometimes the answer is to stay. If your shop relies on heavy customisation that Shopify cannot reproduce, we say so before you spend money. If you do move, markets and languages should be planned at the start. Costs depend on the size of the catalogue, the integrations and the custom functions, so we quote on request; websites themselves start from 300 € excl. VAT, see pricing. To discuss your shop, request a quote, contact us or see our other services.

Will I lose my Google rankings?

Careful planning with permanent redirects keeps most visibility. Google says permanent redirects do not cause a loss in PageRank, but we cannot promise identical rankings.

Which redirect type do you use?

Permanent server-side redirects (301), from each old URL straight to its final page, without chains.

Can I keep my multiple languages?

Yes. Shopify says a redirect also applies to the language and market subfolders created with its international tools, and you can add separate ones per subfolder. We test every locale after launch.

How long do redirects stay in place?

Google advises keeping them as long as possible, generally at least a year.

What does a migration cost?

It depends on catalogue size, integrations and custom functions, so it is quoted on request.