Magento to Shopify Migration in 2023: 9 Most Important yet Easy Steps to Follow

Introduction

Do you know that a significant percentage of business owners are moving from the Magento store to the Shopify store?

The major reason is that Magento 1 is no longer providing support. Consequently, Magento 2 is costly when it comes to migrating.

If you have an online store on Magento, you can simply migrate to Shopify because of its excellent user-friendly interface and flexible features.

However, Migrating your online store may stand a bit tedious as it stands like shifting from one house to another. You need to be very careful while moving from Magento to Shopify, as it would contain crucial data.

Still, you can perform a smooth Magento to Shopify migration.

This article DOESN’T list a bazillion migration strategies. Instead, we’ll show you the step-by-step migration process from Magento to Shopify. It will make your migration journey easier, which in turn, will help you to accomplish your business eCommerce objectives.

Why do you need to Migrate to Shopify Store?

According to a report, there are more than 3 million online stores that Shopify powers. If you’re a business owner and thinking of a robust eCommerce platform, Shopify could be the ideal choice.

Reading the following reasons will help you to understand why you should migrate your eCommerce store to Shopify.

1. Easy to use

Looking for an online store that can be used easily yet effectively? Shopify has the answer. You don’t need profound technical knowledge to use this platform. The back end is clean and simple. From menu editing to visual merchandising, everything is intuitive. Once you start using Shopify applications, you will find them compact and competent based on your requirements.

2. Availability of efficient sales tools

E-commerce platforms and sales tools go hand-in-hand. You can’t proceed without one. With the latest version of Shopify, your sales processes get enhanced with its robust sales features. It entails digital product selling, abandoned cart recovery, multi-channel selling, physical product selling, etc.

3. Wide range of themes

Themes play an instrumental role in making your online store catchy and attractive. As Shopify is pre-loaded with various themes, curating your online store will be less tedious. Also, you can customize the themes with no code utilization. Additionally, you can easily pick out one as per your brand requirement.

4. Robust marketing tools

Your primary goal is to reach potential customers. With the help of effective marketing tools, this will become much easier. Shopify has various marketing tools that will help you scale your online store. Also, you can measure the results to hatch up on your next steps accordingly.

5. Payment processors

Digital payment is one of the best methods to collect payment from customers than the traditional one. There is a payment processor named Shopify Payment. Apart from the credit card processing fees, this is free. However, there are more than 100+ paid payment gateways.

6. SEO-friendly

When you migrate from Magento Shopify, the existing URL of your page will change. However, the search engine ranking will not get affected. You can monitor duplicate content, craft page redirects, and changes in on-pages. Overall, robust SEO performance can foster page visibility. In turn, it will help you to unleash a torrent of potential leads.

Read Also: Magento vs Shopify

What data can you migrate from Magento to Shopify?

Have you thought about the essential business data, which would also be a part of the migration process?

You may still be seeking the answer. Here you go

• Visuals of products- Details of the product, including color, size, and shape.
• Product categories- During Magento to Shopify product migration, data related to products like images, descriptions, manufacturing information, special prices, URLs, meta descriptions, variants, base images, number-defining goods, etc.
• Integrations- It entails all information about a customer, phone number, name, email, location, etc.
• Images- Images of product/service pages and the content image.
• Static page content includes all the pages like contact pages, about us, blogs, and other CMS pages.

Read Also: How to Optimize Magento Store’s Performance with Hyva Theme Development

9 Steps from migrating Magento to Shopify

To perform the migration smoothly, you should follow a robust process. It is recommended to contact a Magento to Shopify migration partner to experience a smooth migration lifecycle. If you’re still looking for a reliable migration partner, experts of Biztechcs can help you with the integrations and customizations, followed by picking a perfect migration plan for your business.

We also extend quality Shopify development services so you can customize your Shopify store as per your changing business needs.

Before that, let’s take a look at the steps of migration from Magento to Shopify.

Step 1- Magento store data audit

Your Magento store has important data. It may include your customer data as well. You need to perform the data store audit. It will assist you in creating an inventory comprised of entire Magento data. It will include the product name and details, passwords, customer name, etc. Make sure you’re finding the Magento store access details to form a strong connection between the target and the source store.

Step 2- Take Magento store backup

Definitely, you don’t want to lose your data during migration. That is why taking Magento store data backup is essential. You can follow the steps below

• Click on the admin panel and then click on system. Now from the tools section, select backup.
• Check the upper-right corner. Now, select the backup type you want to create.

Generally, Magento offers three backup options

1. Database and media backup- It creates a particular database backup and media folder.
2. Database backup- For creating a simple database backup.
3. System backup- You can create a full backup of the database and the entire file system. In this backup, you can also include the media folder too.

Step 3- Prepare Shopify Store

Being a new user, you can take advantage of the 14-day trial of Shopify. During this time, you can familiarize yourself with the different functionalities of Shopify before you make a commitment. However, you need to sign up for a paid plan. Here are the pricing plans

• Basic Shopify ($29/month)
• Shopify ($79/month)
• Advanced ($299/month)

Step 4-Pick a theme and install applications

Based on your needs, you can choose a Shopify theme. You may customize the same later to suit your store. However, let the entire migration procedure complete to customize any theme. Doing this will help you to avert potential risks in the future.

Now, you can install the applications as per your requirements. For instance, if you have product reviews on your store, you can install the product reviews application.

Step 5- Download an application to import data

A plethora of applications are there when it comes to moving your data seamlessly. You can go for Store Importer, which is a free option to consider initially. The ease of use of this application will make your task easier. You can download the same from the Shopify admin page. First, choose Apps>Store Importer. Now, follow the guides.

However, there are a few other applications for importing the data. Here you go

• Multichannel Importer
• Matrixify
• Cart2Cart store migration app
• LitExtension store migration

Step 6- Export data from Magento

Once you are done with these steps, you’re all set to start with Shopify. Follow these simple steps to complete the data export process.

1. Login to the admin panel, then go to System>Data transfer> export
2. From the export settings section, you can set the entity type. Here are the options- customer addresses, products, and customers’ main files.

You may need to repeat the importing process if needed. Here are the steps

1. You may need to choose the default export file format in XML/CSV
2. Select the field enclosure checkbox if you want to incorporate any special character in the data.
3. Now, scroll down and press continue.
4. By default, all the exported data is located in < Magento-root-directory>/var/export folder. However, if you enable the remote storage module, all the files are located in < remote-storage-root-directory>/import_export/export folder.

Step 7- Import data of your store to Shopify

It’s all set to import data into Shopify. You need to follow a few steps to get it done.

1. Visit the Shopify admin page. Now click Apps> Import store.
2. As Magento is not listed by default, choose the platform option “Other”
3. Under “upload files,” click on add file and then select the exported files.
4. Now, select the CSV file exported from the Magento store.
5. Click “Continue import> import.”

If you want to import products separately

1. Log in to Shopify admin.
2. Now, navigate to products> all products.
3. Select “import”
4. Select “add file”> add product CSV file.
5. Click on “upload file”

You can also import customers separately

1. Login to Shopify admin
2. Select “Customers> Import customers
3. Select “Add file>Choose the customer CSV file
4. Select “import customers”

Bear in mind that you cannot migrate customers’ passwords to Shopify. As the passwords are stored encrypted, they can’t be moved accordingly.

You need to import data in the following order. In turn, the migrated orders would be linked with their associated products and customer.

• Products
• Customers
• Historical orders

Step 8- Review imported data

To ensure that you’re not missing anything, you should always double-check the imported data. You can review the data and update it accordingly if needed. However, you may encounter a few issues while reviewing the imported data.

1. Failed to import products/customers- It may happen that customer and product import is unsuccessful. If that’s the scenario, you can do it manually from the customer/products import option.
2. Products remain unpublished, but it shows “successfully imported”- If there are Magento products with product visibility set as “hidden,” they will show unpublished in Shopify. You can fix the same by changing to product availability in Shopify.
3. Product variants not imported- If you miss the variations like color, weight, and size, you can add those manually.
4. Missing dimensions- To fix the same, you can add dimensions based on the product description.
5. Bundled products not imported successfully- You can resolve the same by adding these products manually. Otherwise, you can use product bundling apps from the Shopify store.

Step 9- Design and represent your new Shopify store

It’s time to decorate your new home. Shopify gives you the liberty to play with your thoughts and develop them accordingly. Compared to Magento, you can easily customize the themes based on your requirements.

Shopify has 60+ premium and 10 free themes to choose from. The price range is between $140-$180. All themes are mobile responsive to provide a seamless shopping experience for your customers.

Read Also: Read Complete Guide To Shopify Dropshipping

Magento To Shopify Migration Checklist

Undeniably, you need a strategy and preparation to accomplish the goal of any project. Likewise, you need the same while you’re moving your Magento store to Shopify. Let’s look at the vital points you need to consider during the migration procedure.

• Review your goals- Before starting the procedure, you need to decide on your goals. Start asking yourself the right questions to get a transparent idea about the budget, deadline, and expectations of your project. Doing the same will help to eliminate any “last-minute hassle.”
• Evaluate the present situation- Do you have any budget constraints? Check the same before moving to Shopify. On the other hand, go through your brand to check the present brand identity. Based on that, you can decide whether you should move on with migration, as brand identity plays an important role.
• Costing- When you’re moving to Shopify, you need to consider the cost part. You can’t just spend your hard-earned bucks randomly without having a clear picture of its outcome. For instance, you have to pay for a domain, hosting, maintenance, security, upgradation, and development while moving to Shopify.
• Time- The migration procedure may take time, which may affect your normal business lifecycle. Discuss with your other team members and take the insights to get better clarity regarding the same.
• Security- Before moving with the migration, you need to consider the superlative security features. Check if all the Shopify stores are provided SSL certificates, followed by encrypted connections for all visitors.
• Payment methods- As you need to set up a new payment method on Shopify, it could be different from what you’re currently using on Magento. Make sure you’re researching the best option for your store.

Steps of Post-Migration From Magento To Shopify

After successful migration, you need to take a keen look at the post-migration steps. Here you go

Step 1- Review store data

As data fuels business, you cannot afford to lose customers’ important data during the migration process. Make sure you’re double-checking the data to keep everything under control.

Step 2- Set your store design and theme

Once the data check is completed, it’s time for the original makeover. You need to set up a new theme for your Shopify store. Redesign the same using the page builder. There are various free and paid themes that you can apply to your store. Based on your requirement, you can also get a custom theme. On top of that, you can also customize colors from theme settings.

Step 3- Set up shipping

Set up rates of shipping once you’re done with the overall look of your store. Shipping rates will be applied once the customers will proceed to checkout.

Step 4- Add payment methods

Make your store ready to accept the payment of orders. You can add convenient payment methods for your customers. Therefore, they are ready to pay for the orders.

Step 5- Install important apps

Installing new applications will help your Shopify store to get enriched with new features and functionalities. It will help to build better management while improving the user experience of your Shopify store. A plethora of applications is available on the Shopify app store.

Step 6- Perform sandbox testing

Don’t forget to test your Shopify store before deploying the same. Make sure you’re browsing every product from every possible perspective. Also, check if the products are configured from the backend. It is known as the rigorous testing phase, which ensures that the customers will not face any issues.

Step 7- Transfer domain

You’re now ready to go live with your Shopify store. To retain the SEO benefits, you need to connect the old domain with your new Shopify store. To perform the domain transfer, unlock the domain first.

Once you’re done with unlocking your domain, log in to the Shopify admin panel. Then go to settings> domain. Now, click on the transfer domain button. Enter the old domain name and pay the registration fee.

Step 8- Invite existing customers

After the successful migration, you need to invite the existing customers. It will help them to reset their passwords. You can also send manual account activation emails from the admin panel.

Step 9- Measure the performance of your store

Once you’re all done with deploying and inviting your existing customers, it’s now available to the normal audience. Measure the overall performance, which can significantly affect the overall performance of the website. Make sure you’re running a performance test once you’re done with the migration process.

Following these post-migration steps should help you work at ease with the new Shopify platform. However, one has to be careful enough while performing migration steps as too much of downtime can cause you business hours.

So, whether it is Magento store development, Shopify development, or Magento to Shopify migration, skilled professionals can be of great assistance. Hiring skilled developers for the task will also ensure your business processes aren’t hindered much.

Wrapping it up

Migrating from Magento to Shopify is a great decision to get the word out about your business. With actionable strategy and just a smidgen amount of work, you will get the desired results.

We know you’re fighting hard to make your Shopify store robust by performing each minute step. The best thing you can do is to keep moving forward with the same agility. If you need any help regarding migration, our experts are here to help. Contact us today and let our team help you with the best Magento to Shopify migration solution.