Everything You Need to Know About Migrating from Shopify

Moving your e-commerce store from one platform to another can be daunting due to potential data loss, technical complexities, and the risk of disrupting customer experience and sales. However, migration becomes inevitable when your business starts to scale and outgrow your current platform. This is a situation many entrepreneurs face when their businesses outgrow Shopify.

Despite being an excellent platform for small or mid-sized businesses, Shopify may limit growth for expanding enterprises due to its customization limitations, high pricing, and other issues.

In this detailed guide, we will discover why businesses migrate from Shopify and the process involved in doing so seamlessly. Whether you're considering WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Magento, or Squarespace as your new platform, you'll learn how to navigate the migration process from Shopify successfully.

Thinking of Switching? Here’s Why You Might Want to Migrate from Shopify!

Businesses may decide to migrate from Shopify for a variety of reasons, such as when they expand and Shopify’s features no longer fully support their growth.

Let's dig deeper into each of these pain points.

Customization Limitations

Customization limitations are a major challenge many businesses face with Shopify. While Shopify provides a range of attractive features, it may offer less fexibility than open-source platforms like

WooCommerce or Adobe Commerce, which allow extensive customization of your e-commerce website, ultimately impacting the overall customer experience.

Setup Challenges: Shopify uses a special theme customization setup — Shopify Liquid, which is quite different from other platforms that use PHP. If web developers are not familiar with Liquid, they may fnd theme customization daunting.

Limited Access: Shopify's simple drag-and-drop site builder is user-friendly for beginners, but it can limit experienced developers who want full control over all website aspects. Limit on Product Variants: Shopify restricts you to a limited number of product variants, potentially limiting the range of products you can offer. A variant count exceeding 100 might require adjustments that can further complicate the migration process.

High Pricing

Pricing is another factor that may push businesses to switch from Shopify. While Shopify's basic plan is relatively affordable, it only includes limited features. To access advanced features and integrations, you'll have to opt for pricier plans.

Higher Costs for Advanced Features: If you require advanced features and integrations, Shopify's plans become signifcantly more expensive.

Comparatively Higher Costs: Some alternative platforms, such as BigCommerce and WooCommerce, provide similar features and functionalities at notably lower costs. This makes transitioning from Shopify to a different platform an appealing prospect if you're seeking a more cost-effective solution.

Issues with Built-in Blog

Nowadays, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and content marketing are integral to the marketing strategy of any e-commerce business. If you wish to grow your business through these channels, your website needs to have an integrated, comprehensive content management system (CMS).

Shopify does offer a built-in blog feature, but it lacks the fexibility and functionalities that you'd require to support a robust content marketing strategy. For instance, if you need advanced blogging features, such as custom templates, scheduling & automation, and the latest editor, you'll fnd that Shopify's built-in blog may not meet your needs.

Moreover, it lacks a crucial blogging feature — blog post categorization, making it impractical for businesses that require a potent blogging solution on their website.

Transaction Fees

Transaction fees are a pain point for many businesses using Shopify. For third-party payment gateways, Shopify charges transaction fees that escalate with plans: 2% for Basic plans, 1% for Shopify plans, and 0.5% for the Advanced plan.

In addition to this, Shopify charges for each credit card transaction on your site. This might not seem substantial initially, but these charges can accumulate quickly, leading to substantial costs when sales volumes are high, eroding proft margins. This is problematic for businesses with growing sales as what was once a minor fee becomes a signifcant ongoing cost.

Lack of Control over Data

When using Shopify, your data — including customer information, customer support details, product details, order history, and payment data — are stored on Shopify's servers. Consequently, you don't have complete control over your data. This lack of control can create signifcant diffculties when altering your data. 

Moreover, if you decide to move your website from Shopify to a different platform, you can only export CSV reports. Shopify may prove disappointing for businesses needing complete control over their site data.

No Email Hosting

A key reason businesses migrate from Shopify is its lack of email hosting. Without built-in email services, you'll need to rely on third-party tools for communication and email marketing campaigns. This not only implies learning another tool but also an additional ongoing cost for your business.

Switching from Shopify? Follow Our 3-Step Guide for a Smooth Migration

Moving your e-commerce site from Shopify to an alternative ecommerce platform can seem daunting. However, with careful planning and execution, the process can be smooth and successful. The Shopify migration process involves three steps: pre-migration, launching, and post-migration steps. Each of these steps is essential in ensuring a successful and effcient transition, and they are discussed in detail below.

Step 01: Pre-migration Planning and Preparation

Before starting the migration, spending ample time in the pre-migration stage is important. This phase involves crucial aspects that you must consider for successful website migration.

Goal Setting: What are the objectives of your migration project? Improving your website's performance, gaining more control over your data, and reducing costs can be the potential goals.

Defnition of Scope: Which parts of your website will you migrate? Will it involve your entire site or just specifc sections?

Team Assignment: Decide who will lead the migration process and who gets involved in planning and execution. Ascertain if your team is well-equipped to handle the process in-house or if external SEO agency assistance is required.

Risk Evaluation: Assess the risks associated with the website migration process, such as potential downtime or traffc/sales loss risk.

Website Crawling: Crawl your existing Shopify website to gather information like title tags, headings, subheadings, canonical tags, meta-descriptions, internal/external links, noindex/nofollow pages, server status, etc. You can use tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs, Semrush, etc., for the crawl.

Recording Benchmarks: Track important website metrics like page views, bounce rate, and conversion rate to analyze your site before and after migration.

Once these steps are complete, you should have a clear view of your site's structure and a better understanding of any potential issues that need addressing during the migration process.

Step 02: Launching Your New Store

Launch day is both exciting and nerve-wracking. With thorough preparation and pre-migration testing, you can minimize surprises.

Update DNS Settings: Since Shopify is a hosted platform, migrating your store involves switching to a new server. This requires updating your DNS records to point to the new server's address. Coordinate with your hosting providers to ensure a smooth transition. Make Your New Store Accessible: Once your new store is ready and redirects are set up, remove any restrictions that might prevent users and search engines from accessing it. These restrictions could include HTTP authentication, no-index tags, or Robot.txt disallows.

Step 03: Post-migration Steps

After you've successfully migrated your site, ensure everything functions as expected. Some important aspects to check during the post-migration stage include:

Sitemap Submission: Once your new site is live, submit XML sitemaps in Google Search Console to inform Google about your updated URLs.

New Website Crawling: Perform a crawl operation on your new website to verify if all the important pages are being crawled and indexed successfully. Find out if any crawl errors are reported for quick remedial action.

Fixing Post-migration Issues: If issues like redirect errors, redirect chains, broken links, and crawling & indexing errors are found after migration, rectify them based on the recommendations of the crawl report.

Setting Up Google Analytics and Google Search Console: Register your new store with Google Search Console and Google Analytics immediately after migration.

Monitoring Performance: Closely monitor your site's SEO performance to ensure that everything is aligned as per your plan during the project.

These simple steps will help you confrm that your newly migrated e-commerce site is functioning correctly and effectively.

How to Choose the Migration Tools and Services?

Considering the technical nature of migrating your current store with a Shopify migration service, several helpful migration tools and services can signifcantly simplify this process. These tools help maintain data integrity, minimize downtime, and ensure a smooth transition from your source store on Shopify to another platform. Below, we dive into some popular tools like Manual Import/Export, Cart2Cart, and the option of seeking Shopify expert assistance.

Manual Import/Export

One of the most commonly used methods of Shopify data migration is manual import/export. Though this process is time-consuming compared to automated solutions, it is free and relatively straightforward. Follow the steps below to manually import or export:

1. Data Export: Firstly, you need to export your data (like products, customers, orders, etc.) from the Shopify store. This will generate a CSV fle containing your respective data.
2. Setting Up the New Store: Following the creation of your CSV fle, you need to set up your new store.

3. Data Import: Once your new store is up, import your Shopify data.
4. Store Customization: After the import process, use the new platform's customization options to tailor the store to your branding.

5. Testing: It is crucial to conduct a thorough test of your new store before making it live to ensure everything is working as expected.

While Data Import/Export is an uncomplicated method, you may need to consider other solutions if you have extensive product listings or require more advanced migration features.

Cart2Cart

For businesses seeking a quicker and easier migration option, Cart2Cart is an excellent tool. This automated shopping cart migration service simplifes the process of transferring your store from Shopify.

The tool aids in migrating almost all data, such as product data (SKUs, names, descriptions, prices, etc.), product category information (Names, descriptions, URLs), order data (Order dates, order 

numbers, quantities, shipping details, selling prices, etc.), blog data (Titles, URLs, publishing dates, content, etc.), discount/coupon information (Codes, names, amounts), and more.

Cart2Cart starts migrating your data instantly while allowing your Shopify store to continue running in the background without missing out on revenue. The timeline of migration will depend on your website size. Cart2Cart even extends additional support with 301 redirects for an extra cost.

Expert Assistance

For those unsatisfed with manual import/export or automated solutions like Cart2Cart, the fnal option is to hire an external expert for your migration process.

External agencies specialize in this feld and understand the intricacies and potential pitfalls involved with the migration process. They provide a well-defned migration strategy and use sophisticated tools to ensure a seamless transfer of all your data, thus eliminating the potential nuisances that may come with performing migration in-house.

While this may potentially add to the cost of your migration project, the beneft of having a smooth and effcient process often outweighs the added expense.

How to Maintain SEO During Migration?

Your website's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a pivotal role in visibility and generating organic traffc. When migrating from Shopify, it is critical to ensure that the transition does not hamper your SEO and thereby interrupt your visibility on search engines. Mapping your URLs, creating an effective redirect strategy, and closely monitoring post-migration performance are crucial aspects of maintaining SEO during migration. Let's explore these elements below:

Mapping URLs and Redirects

Changing the URL structure of your web pages during migration can affect your site's ranking on search engines and interrupt user experience due to broken links. Mapping old URLs to new ones plays a crucial role in preventing this.

Firstly, create a spreadsheet to record old and new URLs separately. After that, map each old URL to its corresponding new URL. This spreadsheet will aid you in planning URL redirects.

Next, devise a redirection plan for the URLs. Follow best practices such as using 301 redirects, a search engine-friendly method to redirect a URL permanently. Redirect each page on your old site to its corresponding page on the new site. Also, remember to update all internal links on your new domain to point to new URLs.

Monitoring Performance After Migration

After executing your migration, continuously monitor your site's SEO performance to verify consistent traffc and rankings. Pay precise attention during the initial months, as any major deviations could suggest missed elements during the migration, drastically affecting your SEO efforts.

Check if particular pages are still getting traffc through the old store’s URLs; if so, promptly update

the redirects for the old store’s URLs. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console

to monitor your site's performance, target keywords, and identify any areas that need improvement.

A temporary drop in organic traffc is common post-migration, which usually recovers within a few weeks. However, if the decline persists, thoroughly review the migration process and address the gaps.

How to Migrate from Shopify to Alternative Platforms?

Different platforms offer different benefts catering to varied business needs. Perhaps you've outgrown Shopify and wish to migrate to a platform that provides more advanced features, lower costs, and caters to your growing business needs. In the following sections, we'll guide you on how you can migrate your Shopify store to various effective alternatives, i.e., WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Magento, and Squarespace.

1. WooCommerce

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WooCommerce, an open-source e-commerce platform built on WordPress, offers tremendous fexibility and customizability in terms of designing, adding plugins, and even incorporating advanced features into your online store. The Shopify data can be migrated manually using the built-in data import option, Cart2Cart, or even with expert help.

Manual Import/Export: This direct method involves exporting the Shopify data into CSV fles and importing them into WooCommerce with the in-built product CSV importer. The disadvantage is you might need plugins to import orders and customer data.

1. Export Shopify Data: Export necessary data like products, orders, customers, etc., from your Shopify store. This will yield a CSV fle containing all your chosen data.
2. Set Up WooCommerce Store: In the next step, establish your WooCommerce store. If you don't already have a WordPress website, you'll need to create one. Simply install and activate the WooCommerce plugin.

3. Import Shopify Data to WooCommerce: Import your Shopify data into your WooCommerce store. You can do this by navigating to WooCommerce > Products on your WordPress dashboard and clicking Import at the top. You'll come across a built-in product CSV importer.
4. Customise Store: After the import process, customize the new WooCommerce store per your preferences.

5. Testing: Before launching the store, make sure it's tested thoroughly to validate that everything is functioning perfectly.

Cart2Cart Migration : Using Cart2Cart, you can automate the data migration process, aiding in the transfer of signifcant data, ranging from customer details to order history, product data, etc. This tool initiates data migration instantaneously, thus allowing your Shopify store to maintain its operations in the backdrop and prevent any halt in revenue generation. Here is Cart2Cart's simple 4-step migration process:

1. Connect Your Shopify Store: Provide your store's URL and API password.

2. Set Up Your WooCommerce Destination: Enter your WordPress admin credentials.

3. Choose Data to Migrate: Select the specifc data you want to transfer (products, customers, orders, etc.).

4. Initiate the Migration: Start the migration process and let Cart2Cart handle the rest.

Expert Help: Lastly, for complex migrations that demand intricate handling, hiring an expert could be ideal. They can not only assist with the Shopify store migration but also optimize your new WooCommerce store for better traffc and rankings.

2. BigCommerce

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BigCommerce is appreciated for catering to high-volume e-commerce stores without applying additional transaction fees. It's an apt platform for businesses focusing on scalability and growth. As for Shopify migration, you can employ manual CSV import, BigCommerce's data migration apps, third-party platform migration apps, or managed transfer.

CSV Import: Here's a general guide on how to manually migrate your Shopify store to

BigCommerce using CSV fles:

1. Export Data: Export products, customers, and orders from Shopify as CSV fles.

2. Prepare CSV Files: Format the data to match BigCommerce's CSV structure.
3. Import Data: Import the CSV fles into BigCommerce, mapping felds correctly.
4. Upload Images: Manually upload product images or use a third-party tool.
5. Recreate Categories and Tags: Recreate your store's structure in BigCommerce.
6. Test and Optimize: Thoroughly test your store and optimize SEO settings.

Data Migration App: Leveraging dedicated data migration apps offered by BigCommerce to their users, you can transfer all essential data- products, orders, reviews, and more from Shopify to your BigCommerce store.

Third-party Platform Migration Apps: You can use third-party applications like LitExtension to carry out platform migration much faster and easier than manual CSV import.

Here's how to migrate your Shopify store to BigCommerce using the LitExtension app:

1. Create a LitExtension Account: Sign up for a free account on the LitExtension website.

2. Connect Your Shopify Store: Provide your Shopify store's URL and API password.
3. Connect Your BigCommerce Store: Enter your BigCommerce store's URL and API details.
4. Select Data to Migrate: Choose the specifc data entities you want to transfer, such as products, customers, orders, and more.

Managed Transfer: If you wish for a completely hands-off approach, opt for BigCommerce's Managed Transfer service, wherein their team will meticulously plan and execute your Shopify migration, ensuring a highly secure data transfer.

3. Wix

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Wix is known for being a user-friendly, drag-and-drop website builder that gives greater design fexibility than Shopify. Considering its affordable plans and all-in-one offering of multiple marketing tools, it's a good choice for smaller businesses. When migrating from Shopify to Wix, you can choose between manual CSV import and using the Cart2Cart app.

Manual Migration with CSV Import: This involves setting up your Wix Store, exporting data from Shopify, and importing it into Wix using the Wix CSV Template File. The CSV import feature allows customers and product data to be imported. For the remaining importations, use Wix's additional import tools.

Migration using Cart2Cart App: The Cart2Cart Migration app is a favorable choice for automating your Shopify data transfer to Wix. It covers all signifcant data, allowing your Shopify site to continue its operations throughout the transfer phase.

Here's a simple way to migrate your Shopify store to Wix using the Cart2Cart Migration App:

1. Install the App: Install the Cart2Cart app on your Wix store and sign up for an account.

2. Connect Your Stores: Provide the URL and API details for both your Shopify and Wix stores.

3. Select Data to Migrate: Choose the specifc data entities (products, customers, orders, etc.) you want to transfer.

4. Start the Migration: Initiate the migration process and let Cart2Cart handle the rest.

4. Magento

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Magento, an open-source e-commerce platform, offers a high level of customization and scalability that serves medium to large businesses well. If you're considering migrating from Shopify to Magento 2, you can choose from manual migration or using third-party migration apps.

Manual Migration: Here's a breakdown of the manual CSV import method for migrating your

Shopify store to Magento 2:

1. Set Up Your Magento 2 Store
2. Export Data from Shopify
3. Import Data into Magento 2
4. Check Your Website Post-Migration
5. Test Your Store
6. Launch Your Magento 2 Store

Third-party Platform Migration Apps: For more complex migrations, third-party platform migration apps like Cart2Cart or LitExtension offer easy, quick, and seamless Shopify to Magento migration. They use an effective approach to transfer signifcant data from Shopify to Magento while ensuring data security. The biggest perk of these apps is that they won't interrupt the regular functioning of your Shopify store and continue normal operations during the entire migration process.

5. Squarespace

Squarespace is ideal for businesses that need a visually appealing e-commerce platform with robust blogging functionality. With Squarespace, you can manually import your Shopify data or use third-party platform migration apps.

Manual Migration with CSV Import: Here’s a manual approach to migrating your Shopify store to Squarespace.

Step 01: Set Up Your Squarespace Store:

Create a new Squarespace account.

Choose a suitable template for your store.

Customize the basic settings like store name, address, and payment gateways.

Step 02: Export Data from Shopify:

Export your products, customers, and orders as CSV fles from your Shopify admin panel.

Step 03: Import Data into Squarespace:

Products: While Squarespace doesn’t have a direct CSV import for products, you can manually add them to your store.

Customers: You can manually add customers to your Squarespace store or use a third-party app to import customer data.

Orders: Order history won't directly transfer. You'll need to manually record them or use a third-party app.

Step 04: Confgure Store Settings and Design:

Customize your store’s theme and layout to match your brand.

Set up shipping and tax settings.

Confgure payment gateways.

Add custom pages for About Us, Contact Us, and other necessary pages.

Step 05: Test Your Squarespace Store:

Test all store functionalities, including product pages, checkout processes, and payment gateways.

Ensure a seamless user experience across different devices.

Step 06: Redirect Your Domain:

Update your domain name’s DNS settings to point to your new Squarespace store.

Set up 301 redirects from your old Shopify store to the corresponding pages on your new Squarespace store.

Using Third-Party Migration Apps: For an uncomplicated and effcient migration process, consider using third-party migration apps such as Cart2Cart or LitExtension. They simplify and accelerate the transfer of all essential data from Shopify to Squarespace, all while maintaining data security.

Though migrating your online store from Shopify to another platform may seem complex, using the right tools and assistance simplifes the process signifcantly, providing you with peace of mind. Platforms like TheGenieLab can expedite this process and ensure a seamless migration from your previous platform. We ensure a smooth transition, minimal downtime, and a signifcantly enhanced online shopping experience.

Don't let technical complexities hinder your growth. Let us handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on what truly matters: running a successful business. Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discover how TheGenieLab can revolutionize your e-commerce journey.

Final Thoughts

Switching from Shopify to another e-commerce platform shouldn't be overwhelming. By understanding the reasons for migrating from Shopify and the process involved, you can navigate the transition effciently. Careful planning, choosing the suitable migration method, including Manual Import/Export, Cart2Cart or seeking expert assistance, and diligently performing post-migration checks are crucial for a successful transition.

Whether WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Wix, Magento, or Squarespace is your choice, each platform offers different benefts according to varied business needs. By keeping in mind the pointers shared in this guide, you can move your online store from Shopify to a more suitable platform in a well-structured, effcient manner.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does migrating from Shopify take?

The time taken to migrate from Shopify can signifcantly vary based on factors like the complexity of your website, the chosen migration method, and the volume of migration data to be transferred. While smaller stores may take only a few days, larger sites can require several weeks.

How do you maintain SEO when migrating from Shopify?

Maintaining SEO during migration entails mapping your URLs accurately, implementing effective redirection to the new URLs, and monitoring post-migration performance closely. Employ SEO migration strategies to safeguard your site ranking and ensure consistent organic traffc. Regular audits post-migration can help identify and rectify any potential SEO issues.

Will I lose any data during migration?

Generally, migrating from Shopify does not result in any data loss. All migration methods, whether manual, using a migration app, or expert assistance, copy your data without deleting it from your current platform. However, ensure to take a data backup before initiating the migration process.