- Products & images — Variants, prices, stock
- Customers — Accounts and addresses
- Order history — For records and support
- SEO — Every old URL redirected
Why do store migrations go wrong?
Most migrations that go wrong fail in one of three places. Data is moved but not checked, so variants, images or prices arrive broken. Old URLs are left without redirects, so search engines and old links land on error pages and rankings fall. Or the switch happens in a rush, at a busy time, with no rehearsal and no plan for what to do if something fails.
Each of those is avoidable. The work is not glamorous — spreadsheets of URLs, sample orders, side-by-side product checks — but it is what protects your sales and your search traffic.
What can move between platforms, and what needs care?
| Data | Usually moves? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Products, variants and images | Yes | Checked product by product against the old store |
| Categories and collections | Yes | Often a good moment to tidy the structure |
| Customers and addresses | Yes | Subject to your privacy policy and marketing consent records |
| Customer passwords | Usually not | Passwords are stored encrypted; customers set a new one through a reset email |
| Order history | Usually | Brought over for records and customer service, depending on the platforms |
| Product reviews | Often | Depends on whether your review app supports import and export |
| Active subscriptions | Needs care | Saved payment details belong to your payment provider, so this is planned with them |
| URLs and rankings | With redirects | Every important old URL is mapped to its new page |
How do you protect Google rankings during a migration?
With a redirect map. Before anything moves, we list every URL on the old store that gets traffic or has links pointing to it — products, categories, blog posts and important pages. Each one is matched to its new address, and a permanent redirect is set up so visitors and search engines land in the right place.
This matters more on some moves than others. Shopify uses fixed URL patterns for products and collections, so a move from WooCommerce to Shopify almost always changes addresses. A move to WooCommerce gives more freedom to keep URLs as they were. Either way, we keep page titles, descriptions and product content, and after launch we watch Search Console for errors and fix any URL we missed.
What does a migration plan look like?
- Inventory — What moves, what stays and what gets tidied up.
- Test move — A full trial on the new platform, checked against the old store.
- Redirect map — Every important old URL mapped to its new page.
- Launch — Switch over in a quiet window, then watch rankings and orders.
Should you move to Shopify or to WooCommerce?
The direction depends on why you are moving. Our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison covers the full picture.
Moving to Shopify
- You want the platform hosted and maintained for you
- Your team prefers Shopify’s admin
- You want Shopify’s checkout
- The store stays on your own Shopify account and plan
Moving to WooCommerce
- You want full control of code, data and checkout
- You need features Shopify’s apps do not cover well
- You want content and store in one WordPress site
- Hosted, secured and updated on our servers
What happens on the day you switch?
We pick a quiet time — usually your lowest-traffic day — and freeze changes on the old store. Any orders and customers created since the trial move are brought across, the domain is pointed at the new store, and the redirects go live. Then we place real test orders, check payments and emails, and walk through the key pages on phones.
The old store stays available to us, unpublished, for a while afterwards in case anything needs comparing. For the next few weeks we check orders, crawl errors and rankings, and fix anything that needs it. Customers receive a friendly email explaining how to set a new password if their accounts have moved.
Migrations are scoped like any other build: once the scope is agreed in writing, you get a go-live date before you sign. A new WooCommerce store is guaranteed in 30 days and a Shopify store in 45.
Questions we get asked
Will we lose our Google rankings?
A careful migration with full redirects protects most of your search traffic. We map every important URL and watch Search Console closely after launch.
Can customers keep their passwords?
Usually not between platforms; we set up a smooth password-reset email so customers can log in again easily.
How long does a store migration take?
It depends on the size of the catalog and how much the store is changing. We agree the timeline in writing before work starts, including a trial move and a planned switch-over date.
Will the store go offline during the move?
No. The old store keeps trading while we build and test the new one. On switch-over day there is a short change freeze, planned for a quiet time.
Can we redesign the store at the same time?
Yes, and it often makes sense — you test and launch once instead of twice. We keep the redirect map and product checks the same either way.
Can you migrate from platforms other than Shopify and WooCommerce?
Often, yes. Most platforms can export products, customers and orders. We check what your current platform can export before we quote.
What happens to our integrations?
We list every connection — payments, shipping, email, accounting or Odoo — and set each one up and test it on the new platform before launch.
Something else on your mind? Ask us directly →
