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WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Checklist

Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify? This 73-point checklist ensures nothing gets lost in the move: data, SEO, or customers.

73 items8 sections

Why Migrate to Shopify?

Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify unlocks reduced maintenance burden, better uptime, superior checkout conversion, and access to Shopify's extensive app ecosystem. However, a poorly planned migration can result in lost data, damaged SEO rankings, and frustrated customers.

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Pre-Migration Planning

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Data Export from WooCommerce

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Shopify Store Setup

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Data Import to Shopify

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Theme & Design

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SEO Preservation

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Functionality Testing

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Go-Live Preparation

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Why Proper Migration Planning Matters

Platform migrations are among the highest-stakes projects an ecommerce business undertakes. Unlike most website changes that can be easily reversed, a migration touches every aspect of your business: product data, customer records, order history, SEO rankings, integrations, and daily operations.

What Is at Risk

  • •SEO Rankings: Years of accumulated organic search value
  • •Customer Data: Account information, purchase history, saved addresses
  • •Product Information: Descriptions, images, variants, inventory levels
  • •Order History: Records needed for customer service and accounting
  • •Revenue: Lost sales during poorly executed transition periods

SEO Preservation Is Critical

Your organic search rankings represent years of accumulated value. Without proper 301 redirects mapping every old URL to its new location, that value disappears overnight. Google treats changed URLs without redirects as entirely new pages with no history. Search traffic can drop 50% or more from a careless migration.

Recommended Migration Timeline

2-3 weeks
Simple stores (<500 products)
4-6 weeks
Medium stores (500-2,000 products)
6-8 weeks
Complex stores (custom functionality)
8-12 weeks
Enterprise migrations (Shopify Plus)

Key Success Factors

1. Document Everything First

List all plugins, custom functionality, and integrations before starting. Surprises during migration cause delays.

2. Test in a Development Store

Migrate to a staging environment first. Test everything before touching your live store.

3. Plan Redirects in Advance

Map every URL before migration day. Creating redirects retroactively means lost SEO value.

4. Time It Right

Avoid peak sales periods. Monday or Tuesday mornings give you the week to address issues.

Related Checklists

Ensure your new Shopify store is set up for success:

Launch Checklist →

Everything to verify before going live

SEO Checklist →

Optimise your new store for search engines

Shopify Plus Migration →

Additional considerations for enterprise stores

Magento Migration →

Alternative migration path from Magento

Frequently Asked Questions

A typical WooCommerce to Shopify migration takes 2-6 weeks depending on store complexity. Simple stores with under 500 products and minimal customisation can migrate in 2-3 weeks. Complex stores with thousands of products, custom functionality, and extensive integrations may require 6-8 weeks. Allow extra time for testing, which should not be rushed regardless of store size.
You can preserve your SEO rankings with proper planning. The key is creating 301 redirects from every old URL to its new Shopify equivalent. Migrate all meta titles, descriptions, and heading structures. Submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console promptly. Some temporary fluctuation is normal as Google reindexes, but properly executed migrations recover within 2-4 weeks. Skipping redirects, however, will cause significant ranking losses.
No, customer passwords cannot be migrated because they are encrypted differently in each platform. Customer accounts, addresses, and order history can be migrated, but customers will need to reset their passwords on first login to Shopify. Send a clear email explaining this before or immediately after migration, with an easy link to trigger password reset.
Common replacements include: WooCommerce Subscriptions to Recharge or Bold Subscriptions; Yoast SEO (built into Shopify with additional apps available); Advanced Custom Fields to Shopify metafields; WooCommerce Points and Rewards to Smile.io or LoyaltyLion. Document every plugin's function before migration and identify Shopify equivalents. Some functionality may be built into Shopify natively, requiring no app.
For stores with more than 100 products, a migration app like LitExtension, Cart2Cart, or Matrixify (Excelify) typically provides better results than manual CSV import. These apps handle data mapping, image migration, and variant structures more reliably. For smaller stores with simple products, Shopify's native CSV import may suffice. Manual migration of complex data is error-prone and time-consuming.
Order history and customer data can be migrated to Shopify, preserving your records and customer relationships. Orders imported to Shopify appear in your order history but are marked as imported. Customer accounts retain their purchase history and saved addresses. Take full backups before migration and verify data integrity after import. Keep your WooCommerce database accessible for at least 30 days post-migration as a reference.

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