A Shopify migration from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce is a planned move of catalogue, URLs, apps, payments and operations, not a theme swap. Map products and data first, protect search visibility with redirects, reconnect the systems you still need, then test hard before you cut over.
This checklist is for brands weighing a migration of the sort covered by our Shopify Migration & Replatform package: from £15,000 + VAT, around 8 to 16 weeks once scope is agreed, up to 1,000 products and 1 month of support after launch. If you are still deciding whether to move at all, start with when an ecommerce brand should move to Shopify. If you are comparing agency proposals, read how to compare ecommerce website quotes first.
Our wider move to Shopify approach treats strategy, data, design, development, integrations and launch as one programme. The sections below are the operational checklist that programme usually runs through.
Start with an inventory of what must move: products, variants, images, customers, gift cards, content pages, blogs, reviews and historical orders if you need them for support or reporting. Decide what can stay behind. Dead SKUs and unused attributes add cost without helping customers.
Map each record type to how it will live in Shopify. Products use handles under paths such as /products/ and collections under /collections/. Options, metafields, tags and collections replace many custom attributes you may have today. Agree who cleans the source data, who builds the mapping and how a sample of representative products will be checked before a full import.
WooCommerce. Shopify publishes a dedicated WooCommerce migration guide. You can export products as CSV and either map them to Shopify’s product CSV format or use Shopify’s Store Migration app for products and customers. Watch option limits: the Store Migration app imports products with more than three attributes without variants, so complex variation structures need a plan. Customer passwords do not migrate. Historical orders, reviews, coupons and WordPress posts or pages need apps, recreation or a separate import path. Keep the old store online until product image URLs have finished downloading into Shopify.
Magento. Catalogues often carry deep attribute sets, configurable products, custom options and store-view or website splits. Treat attribute cleanup and option design as project work, not a side task. Plan how configurable products become Shopify products with options or linked products, and how any B2B or multi-store behaviour will be handled on Shopify rather than copied feature for feature.
BigCommerce. Product options, modifiers and channel-specific catalogues need explicit mapping. Export early, check how variants and custom fields land in a Shopify-shaped sheet, and settle naming for SKUs and handles before you invest in theme work. As with other platforms, passwords do not come across on a CSV customer import, and order history usually needs a migration app or API-led approach.
Import order matters. Shopify’s general migration guidance is to bring products first, then customers, then historical orders so those records can link correctly. Schedule a freeze or delta plan for stock and new orders created between the main import and go-live.
Changing platforms almost always changes URL structure. Shopify product pages sit under /products/{handle} and collections under /collections/{handle}. Old paths from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce will not match those automatically, so you need a redirect map from important legacy URLs to the closest live Shopify destination.
In Shopify admin, URL redirects live under Content > Menus > URL redirects. You can add them one by one or import a CSV with the headers Redirect from and Redirect to. Shopify serves these as 301 redirects. The from value must be a relative path starting with /. Redirects only apply to broken URLs that return a 404; they will not fire while the old path still loads a live page. You also cannot redirect Shopify’s fixed paths such as /products or /collections, or reserved prefixes such as /cart and /apps.
Prioritise product, category and content URLs that earn traffic or backlinks. Carry titles, meta descriptions and structured data where they still describe the page honestly. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console after launch and watch coverage and 404 reports. The aim is to protect the visibility you have earned, not to promise that rankings will stay exactly as they were.
List every system the current store talks to: ERP or stock, warehouse, 3PL, email and SMS, reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, returns, customer service, analytics and any marketplace feeds. For each one, decide whether Shopify replaces it, a native feature covers it, an app connects it, or a custom integration is required.
Migrations fail quietly when a plugin is assumed to have a one-click Shopify equivalent. WooCommerce plugin stacks, Magento extensions and BigCommerce apps rarely map one for one. Prove the critical journeys (stock sync, order push, refund, subscription renewal, review display) on staging with real sample data before you rely on them at launch.
Cut tools you no longer need. Every extra app is another login, another failure mode and another monthly cost. Document which apps your team will own after go-live and who supports them when something breaks on a Monday morning.
Set up your payment provider early enough to run full test orders, not on launch week. Confirm which cards, wallets and local methods you need, how capture and settlement should work, and how refunds and chargebacks will be handled in the new admin.
Checkout rules from the old platform (gift cards, store credit, partial payments, complex discounts, B2B payment terms) need an explicit Shopify plan. Shipping rates, tax settings and policy pages should match what customers expect before you take live money. Place successful and failed test transactions, then refund and fulfil a few of them so notifications and staff permissions are proven.
Agree a written definition of ready. Typical checks include catalogue accuracy on a sample of hero and awkward products, collection and search behaviour, mobile product journeys, redirects for priority URLs, tracking tags, email and SMS triggers, payment and shipping quotes, and staff access for fulfilment and support.
Plan the cutover: when the old store stops taking orders, how DNS or domain connection moves, who watches the first live transactions and what the rollback or holding message is if a blocker appears. Keep a short launch-day runbook with owners and contact routes. Launch when the checklist is green, not when the calendar alone says so.
The first weeks are for settling the operation, not for a quiet handover. Watch 404s and redirect gaps, payment and fulfilment exceptions, app errors, and the customer questions that signal unclear product data or navigation. Fix the issues that block orders or support first.
Train the team on the Shopify admin tasks they actually do: editing products, processing refunds, updating shipping, reading reports. Capture a short backlog of improvements the live store reveals, then prioritise them against trading data rather than taste alone.
For a sense of what a carefully planned Shopify rebuild can look like on a complex catalogue, see the Worktop City case study. During the measured period it reports +198% monthly revenue growth, 3x monthly website visitors and 9.1x Google Ads ROAS, with monthly revenue up by £50,000. Results vary by business and are not a forecast for your store.
If your catalogue and integrations sit beyond a small starter build, the Shopify Migration & Replatform package covers discovery, migration for up to 1,000 products, redirects and SEO protection, payments, shipping, tax, core apps, essential integrations, QA and launch support. Pricing starts from £15,000 + VAT, with a target of around 8 to 16 weeks once scope is agreed, and 1 month of support after launch. Add-ons are scoped after discovery.
Not ready for a package? Start with a free storefront review. Bring your current site, the platforms and systems you use, catalogue size and any hard deadline. Please do not send passwords or customer data through the enquiry form.
It depends on catalogue size, data quality and integrations. For the Migration & Replatform scope described above, the working target is around 8 to 16 weeks once scope is agreed. Simpler catalogues finish sooner; heavy custom systems take longer and should be priced after discovery.
No honest partner can promise that. What you can do is protect what you have earned: map important URLs, set 301 redirects, keep accurate titles and descriptions, submit the new sitemap and monitor Search Console after launch. Rankings can still move while Google recrawls and while you improve the new store.
Customer passwords cannot be migrated through Shopify’s CSV customer import. Customers typically sign in with email and a one-time code on Shopify’s customer accounts, or you invite them to set a new password on legacy accounts. Historical orders are not imported via the standard product or customer CSV path; use a migration app or an API-led import if you need them linked in Shopify.
No. Rebuild the journeys that matter commercially. Many plugin or extension stacks can shrink once Shopify’s native features and a shorter app list are in place. Prove stock, order, payment, email and support flows before launch, and drop tools that only exist because the old platform required them.
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