Migrating to Shopify can transform your e-commerce business, but proper planning is essential to avoid traffic drops, data loss, and customer confusion. Here's your complete migration roadmap.

Pre-Migration Planning

1. Audit Current Store

  • Document current URL structure
  • Export all products, customers, orders
  • List all integrations and apps needed
  • Screenshot current design for reference

2. Choose Migration Approach

Manual: Best for small catalogs (<500 products). Use CSV imports.

App-based: Tools like Cart2Cart automate the process for larger stores.

Professional: Hire experts for complex migrations with custom data.

Data Migration Checklist

Products

  • Titles, descriptions, images
  • Variants, SKUs, pricing
  • Inventory levels
  • SEO metadata

Customers

  • Contact information
  • Order history
  • Account passwords (may require reset)

Orders

  • Historical order data
  • Fulfillment status
  • Returns/refunds

SEO Preservation

This is critical. Poor SEO migration can destroy rankings.

URL Redirects

Map every old URL to its new Shopify equivalent. Use 301 redirects for permanent moves.

Preserve Metadata

Migrate title tags, meta descriptions, and alt text exactly.

Submit New Sitemap

Update Google Search Console with new sitemap after launch.

Testing Phase

  • Test all product pages
  • Verify checkout flow
  • Check payment processing
  • Test all redirects
  • Validate mobile experience

Launch Day

Launch during low-traffic periods. Monitor closely for 48 hours. Have rollback plan ready.