Seamlessly Move to Shopify: Whether You're Starting Fresh or Migrating an Existing Store

Illustration of a faded old store on the left, a delivery truck loaded with boxes in the middle, and a new storefront with a striped awning and OPEN sign on the right, joined by a dotted arrow

Updated September 2026

Moving to a new platform can feel overwhelming, whether you're launching your first store or moving an existing one to Shopify from WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, Magento, BigCommerce or somewhere else. The good news is that a move follows a well-worn path. This guide lays out that path, what moves over and what doesn't, and how to protect your sales and search rankings along the way.

Why stores move to Shopify

If you're starting fresh

  • Easy to start. No servers to set up and no code needed to get a store online.
  • Room to grow. Plans, apps and built-in features such as B2B and Markets scale with the business.
  • Mobile-ready. Shopify's themes, including the free Horizon family, are built for phones first.

If you're moving from another platform

  • Less maintenance. Shopify runs the hosting, security and checkout, so there are no server updates or plugin conflicts to manage.
  • A large app ecosystem. Thousands of apps in the Shopify App Store add almost any feature you need.
  • One admin. Online store, point of sale, marketplaces and social channels all run from the same inventory and orders.

If cost is part of the decision, our breakdown of the actual cost of maintaining an ecommerce website compares what you pay for on a hosted platform with what you pay for when you run your own.

What moves over, and how

Shopify's migration guide suggests using a move as a chance to clear out old, low-performing content. For everything you keep, there's a method that fits:

What How it usually moves
Products Product CSV import or a migration app
Customers Customer CSV import or a migration app
Historical orders A migration app or Shopify's APIs
Gift cards and store credit A migration app or Shopify's APIs
Blog posts and pages A migration app, the APIs, or copy and paste for a few pages
Design Rebuilt in a Shopify theme; themes from other platforms don't transfer

Shopify's free Store Migration app handles imports from several platforms, and Shopify publishes step-by-step guides for Amazon, Clover, Etsy, eBay, GoDaddy, Lightspeed, Square, Squarespace, Wix and WooCommerce. For larger or messier catalogs, a Shopify Partner can do the move for you.

Worth knowingOrder matters. Import products first, then customers, then historical orders, so orders connect to the right products and customers. And switch off new-order notifications before importing old orders, or everyone set to receive them gets an email for every imported order.

The six stages of a migration

The six stages of moving a store to Shopify: plan what moves, import products then customers then orders, build the theme and settings, place test orders, map old URLs to new ones with redirects, and switch the domain. MOVING TO SHOPIFY Six stages, in order 1 PLAN Decide what moves Products, customers, orders 2 IMPORT In the right order Products, then customers, then orders 3 BUILD Theme and settings Shipping, taxes, payments 4 TEST Place test orders Every payment method 5 REDIRECT Map old URLs Top pages first 6 LAUNCH Switch the domain Then check redirects Old store sells until launch
Your old store keeps selling while you build and test. Customers only move over when you switch the domain.
  1. Plan. List what you're moving, what you're retiring, and which apps or integrations you'll need on Shopify.
  2. Import. Products, then customers, then orders. Then check the results: hidden products that aren't published yet, missing details and variants that failed to import.
  3. Build. Set up your theme, collections, shipping, taxes and payment provider.
  4. Test. Place test orders with every payment method and shipping option before a real customer does.
  5. Redirect. Map every important old URL to its new Shopify address (see below).
  6. Launch. Point your domain at Shopify, set it as primary, and check your redirects and top pages right away.

Keep your search rankings: redirects

Your old product and page URLs almost never match Shopify's, which uses addresses like /products/…, /collections/… and /pages/…. Without redirects, every old link in Google, in emails and on other sites leads to an error page.

  • Create redirects in Content → Menus → View URL redirects, or import them all at once from a CSV file.
  • Start with your highest-traffic pages, then work down.
  • After launch, type each important old URL into a browser and confirm it lands on the right page.

One catch we see often: a Shopify redirect only takes effect when the old address would otherwise be a "page not found". If Shopify already serves something at that path, the redirect is silently ignored. Test by visiting the URL, not by looking at the redirect list.

Customer accounts after the move

Passwords can't be exported from other platforms, so customers can't bring them along. With Shopify's current customer accounts, that matters less than it used to: customers sign in with their email address and a one-time code, so an imported customer can sign in straight away and see their imported orders. You can also add Google or Facebook sign-in. Our guide to Shopify social login covers how.

How we help

At Pasilobus, we move stores to Shopify from WooCommerce, Magento, Wix, BigCommerce, Squarespace and other platforms. A typical project covers:

  • Data: products, customers, orders and categories, with images, descriptions and prices intact.
  • SEO: a full redirect map so you keep your search traffic.
  • Design: recreating your current look in a Shopify theme, or a fresh design.
  • Setup: payments, shipping, taxes, inventory and the apps you need.
  • Testing: test orders, mobile checks and a launch-day review.
  • Support after launch, including monthly store care if you want someone looking after the store.

Your current store keeps taking orders while we build, and customers only switch over when you're ready. For a realistic picture of the process, read what to actually expect from a Shopify migration. If you'd rather brief a developer yourself, our guide to writing a job brief will help.

Ready to move? Tell us about your store and we'll plan the move with you.