Nic Dunn, CEO, Charle Agency
Why Migrate to Shopify
Shopify has become the go-to ecommerce platform for brands seeking flexibility, scalability, and ease of use. Whether you're currently using Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce or a custom-built solution, migrating to Shopify offers a chance to simplify your tech stack and future-proof your business.
Unlike older or overly complex platforms, Shopify handles the infrastructure — so your team can focus on growth, not firefighting. With built-in hosting, security, and 24/7 support, Shopify removes many of the barriers to scale that legacy systems often present. Plus, the app ecosystem, theme flexibility and seamless third-party integrations give you the freedom to build exactly what you need — without heavy dev cycles.
From improving site speed and checkout conversion to enabling headless architecture and multi-market selling, Shopify supports brands at every stage of growth. For businesses looking to reduce technical debt and take control of their customer experience, it's no surprise that migration to Shopify has become a strategic move — not just a technical one. Learn why you should choose Shopify
Assess Your Current Platform
Before you migrate to Shopify, it's essential to assess your existing ecommerce platform — not just technically, but strategically. What’s working? What’s holding you back? Start by auditing performance, integrations, site speed, and your team’s workflow. Are you constantly dealing with bugs or relying on developer workarounds just to keep things running?
Next, review the customer experience. Are there limitations in your checkout, mobile usability, or design flexibility? These are common pain points that often drive brands toward Shopify’s streamlined infrastructure and extensive customisation options.
Also consider your platform’s ability to scale with your goals. If your current solution is struggling with high traffic volumes, internationalisation, or omnichannel selling, it may be time to switch. A thorough platform assessment will clarify whether a Shopify migration is the right strategic move — and will shape how your migration is approached technically.
Prepare Your Shopify Account
Once you've decided to migrate, the first practical step is setting up your Shopify account correctly. Start by choosing the right Shopify plan — for most growing brands, that’s typically Shopify or Shopify Plus, depending on complexity, traffic, and sales volume. If you’re planning on custom features, integrations or B2B functionality, Shopify Plus may offer the scalability and flexibility you need.
Next, configure your account settings including your primary domain, business information, store currency, and default tax settings. This foundational setup ensures your data and systems align correctly as you start importing content and configuring functionality.
If you're working with an agency partner (like Charle), this is also the point where staging environments, theme frameworks, and collaboration tools are set up. Preparing your account thoroughly at this stage ensures your migration runs efficiently — without backtracking later down the line.
Clean & Export Your Data
A successful Shopify migration starts with clean, well-structured data. Before you begin exporting anything, audit your existing product catalogue, customer records, and order history. Remove duplicates, fix formatting errors, and archive any outdated or irrelevant information. The cleaner your source data, the smoother your import process into Shopify will be.
Next, export your core data sets — typically products, customers, orders, and content (such as blog posts or pages). Most platforms allow CSV exports or API access. When exporting products, ensure key fields like SKUs, titles, variants, images, inventory, and categorisation are all included and standardised. Leverage tools like Matrixify for additional support with this.
If your current platform stores data in a custom format, it may require transformation before Shopify can accept it. A migration partner like Charle will usually run scripts to map this data into Shopify’s structure — avoiding issues during import.
This stage is not just about moving data; it’s about improving it. Migrating to Shopify is an opportunity to streamline your catalogue, standardise naming conventions, and get your store set up for scale from day one.
Import Products to Shopify
Once your product data is cleaned and prepared, the next step is importing it into Shopify. Shopify provides a built-in CSV import tool that supports most standard product fields, including titles, descriptions, pricing, variants, images, inventory, and tags.
For complex catalogues — such as those with hundreds or thousands of SKUs, multiple collections, or unique attributes — we recommend using a combination of CSV imports and Shopify’s Admin API. This allows greater control over data structure, particularly when migrating metafields, custom options, or bulk image uploads.
After the import, double-check for errors such as missing images, incorrect variants, or price mismatches. Use Shopify’s bulk editor or tools like Matrixify to make batch changes efficiently. If you're migrating from a platform like Magento or BigCommerce, specialised import tools or third-party apps can also help bridge the gap and speed up the process.
Accurate product data is critical for both customer experience and SEO. Investing time in a clean, complete import ensures your store is ready to convert from day one.
Import Collections to Shopify
Collections are a core part of how Shopify organises your products — helping customers browse by category, theme, or intent. Migrating your existing collections correctly ensures a smooth user experience and preserves SEO value from your previous site.
Start by auditing your current collection structure. Are your categories still relevant? Are there too many (or too few)? This is a chance to streamline and align collections with how your customers actually shop. In Shopify, collections can be either manual (you assign products) or automated (products are pulled in based on conditions like tags, vendor, or price).
If your existing platform supports collection exports, you can map this data to Shopify’s structure using a CSV import or an app like Matrixify. For automated collections, you’ll need to define clear conditions and ensure your product data (especially tags) supports this logic. Shopify doesn't offer a native way to import collections into the platform therefore a third-party app will be required.
Be sure to recreate collection URLs thoughtfully — especially if they had strong SEO rankings. Shopify allows custom URLs and handles 301 redirects automatically, but careful planning helps retain organic visibility post-migration.
Migrate Customers & Orders
Bringing your customer and order history over to Shopify is essential for a seamless transition. This not only preserves customer relationships but also ensures continuity for marketing, segmentation, loyalty programmes, and analytics.
Start by exporting customer data — including names, email addresses, order history, account status, and marketing preferences. Shopify supports customer imports via CSV, but for larger datasets or more detailed records, tools like Matrixify or a direct API migration may be more reliable and flexible.
One key limitation to be aware of: passwords cannot be migrated to Shopify. Customers will need to activate their accounts manually post-migration. We recommend using a third-party app like BAIS Bulk Account Invites Send to send branded account invitation emails prompting them to reset their passwords. Time these carefully and test the process before launch.
Similarly, saved payment methods (like stored credit cards) cannot be carried over due to PCI compliance and platform restrictions. Customers will need to re-enter their payment details when they next purchase. Clear communication around this is essential to avoid confusion or drop-off.
It’s also smart to brief your customer service team ahead of time. Expect an increase in support queries as customers re-access their accounts — especially if you're migrating a large or international user base. Prepare templated responses and a live FAQ to reduce friction during this period.
When migrating orders, it's important to understand Shopify's limitations. While you can import historical orders for reporting purposes, they won’t behave exactly like live Shopify orders — for example, you can’t fulfil or refund them in the same way. If maintaining a full view of order data is critical, consider integrating your previous platform’s data into a data warehouse or BI tool alongside Shopify.
Always test a small data set before bulk importing. And if you're running subscriptions or recurring billing, plan accordingly — these typically require additional apps or scripts to migrate cleanly.
Set Up Payment Methods
Getting your payment methods configured is a key part of launching a fully functional Shopify store. Shopify supports a wide range of gateways, including Shopify Payments, PayPal, Klarna, and many others — depending on your market and customer expectations.
If eligible, Shopify Payments is often the best option. It allows you to accept major credit cards and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay with low transaction fees and a unified dashboard for payouts, chargebacks, and analytics. It also reduces reliance on third-party providers, streamlining the entire checkout experience.
Behind the scenes, Shopify Payments is powered by Stripe — however, you can’t run Shopify Payments and Stripe as separate gateways. If you were using Stripe on your previous platform, you’ll now access it through Shopify’s native dashboard, with support and billing handled directly by Shopify.
For brands with international customers, enabling local payment methods (e.g. iDEAL, Bancontact, or Sofort) can dramatically improve conversion. Shopify makes this easy to configure based on a customer’s location and checkout behaviour.
During your migration, you’ll need to manually reconfigure all payment gateways — previously saved payment credentials from your old platform will not carry over due to PCI compliance. Test each method thoroughly before launch, including authorisation, refund flows, and edge cases like failed payments.
If you use any third-party providers for financing, subscriptions, or BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later), make sure those services are integrated and tested in advance — especially if they require app installs or custom scripts to function properly.
Configure Shipping Settings
Shipping configuration in Shopify is flexible but requires careful planning during a migration. It directly impacts both customer experience and margin — so getting it right is key. Start by defining your shipping zones, which let you control where you ship and what methods are available per region.
You can choose from flat rates, free shipping thresholds, local delivery, or real-time carrier-calculated rates (available on the Advanced or Plus plans). If you're migrating from a platform that used custom shipping rules or integrations, be sure to replicate these using Shopify's shipping profiles and conditions.
For stores using fulfilment partners, 3PLs, or dropshipping, you’ll want to connect those services through the relevant apps or via direct integration. Shopify also allows custom packing logic and shipping label automation, particularly useful if you have multiple warehouses or need more granular control.
Don't forget to review packaging weights, handling fees, and insurance settings — these can be missed during migration and cause unexpected costs post-launch. It’s also smart to place a few test orders across different shipping zones to confirm everything is behaving as expected. If you are operating an international store, then test different addresses to ensure Shopify Markets is serving the create rates based on location.
Protect SEO During Migration
One of the biggest risks during any ecommerce platform migration is losing hard-earned SEO performance. If not managed correctly, traffic, rankings, and revenue can take a hit. But with the right approach, you can retain — and even improve — your organic visibility on Shopify.
Start by auditing your current SEO performance using tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or Semrush. Identify your top-performing pages by impressions, clicks, and conversions — these are your high-risk, high-value assets. For these pages, preserve as much as possible: keep title tags, H1s, meta descriptions, and core content structure consistent to avoid disrupting intent and rankings.
Create a comprehensive 301 redirect plan to ensure that every old URL is redirected to its closest Shopify equivalent. Shopify’s native redirect manager works well, and bulk imports are possible via CSV. Avoid redirect chains, and never leave ranking URLs pointing to generic pages or the homepage.
Review and improve content on key pages where appropriate — but cautiously. Aim to enhance quality without radically altering the theme, tone, or structure of what’s already ranking. If you’re considering removing old or underperforming pages, double-check they’re not still driving organic traffic. Even low-volume pages may contribute authority or capture long-tail searches, so try not to delete too aggressively.
Ensure your new XML sitemap reflects the updated structure and submit it to Google Search Console. Run crawls using tools like Screaming Frog to test for redirect accuracy, broken links, and duplicate content. Structured data (schema) should also be validated — especially for products, reviews, articles, and breadcrumbs.
We also recommend a proactive link building campaign in the weeks around your migration. Securing a few high-quality backlinks to priority pages can help preserve domain authority and signal freshness to Google.
Most importantly — don’t panic if you see short-term drops. It's normal for rankings to fluctuate after a migration. The key is to monitor performance closely, fix issues fast, and continue publishing strong content to signal ongoing relevance. With careful planning, many brands actually see long-term SEO improvements after moving to Shopify.
Set Up Tax & Internationalisation
As you migrate to Shopify, configuring your tax settings and international capabilities is essential — especially if you're a brand operating in multiple regions. Shopify provides robust tools for managing VAT, GST, sales tax, and currency localisation, but they require careful setup to ensure compliance and conversion performance.
Start by enabling automatic tax calculations in Shopify’s settings. This helps you stay compliant with local tax rules in countries like the UK, EU, US, Australia and beyond. For businesses registered in multiple regions, Shopify Markets Pro or third-party tools like Avalara can provide more granular tax logic and reporting.
If you're selling internationally, enable Shopify Markets to tailor pricing, languages, and checkout experiences by location. This includes showing local currencies, custom domains or subfolders (e.g. /uk /eu), and local content — all of which help improve conversion rates and SEO. Alternatively, if you are using a multi-store strategy then ensure active pop ups are ready to direct traffic.
Set up currency conversion either via Shopify Markets. Keep in mind that prices can either auto-convert or be manually controlled. Review how duties and taxes are shown at checkout, especially if offering DDP (Delivered Duties Paid) options — a must for a frictionless international experience.
We recommend working with your accountant or tax advisor to validate configurations — especially if you're trading across borders or using multiple entities. Mistakes in tax collection and reporting can have legal and financial consequences, so this step shouldn’t be overlooked.
Finally, test international storefronts using VPNs or geo-location tools to experience your store as a customer would. From language switching to tax visibility and shipping options, everything should feel local and seamless.
Apps & Advanced Integrations
One of Shopify’s biggest strengths is its ecosystem of apps and integrations — but during a migration, it’s important to be strategic. Instead of recreating every setup from your old platform, use this as a chance to simplify, optimise, and align tools with your business needs.
Start by auditing the third-party tools you currently rely on — from ERPs and CRMs to email platforms like Klaviyo, loyalty systems, reviews, or subscriptions. Then identify which of these are still essential and whether there are better-suited Shopify-native apps or partners available. Shopify’s app store gives retailers access to thousands of vetted tools to extend functionality and improve performance.
When it comes to complex integrations — such as connecting to Visualsoft, bespoke systems, or multi-channel fulfilment — Shopify supports custom middleware, APIs, and connector platforms like Patchworks or VL OMNI. These integrations ensure accurate data migration and allow your ecommerce business to operate smoothly across systems without compromising data integrity or shopping experience.
For Shopify Plus merchants, advanced options like custom checkout flows, script editor functionality, and B2B-specific features offer additional flexibility. But expert guidance is often needed to ensure these are implemented without disrupting your site’s performance or introducing long-term maintenance challenges.
Before launch, test all key integrations — from product feeds to automation and email triggers — to ensure functionality, data sync accuracy, and compatibility with your migration plan. Apps are powerful, but they should serve your goals, not add unnecessary complexity.
Design Your Shopify Store
The design phase is where your new Shopify store comes to life — but great design is about more than just aesthetics. It's about speed, UX, mobile responsiveness, and conversion. During migration, you have the perfect opportunity to elevate your visual identity and improve performance without compromising brand consistency.
Start by selecting a theme that aligns with your business model and future ambitions. Shopify’s Online Store 2.0 themes offer flexibility, section-based design, and performance benefits. For most brands, theme selection is a critical first step — and if you're looking to go beyond the limits of pre-built themes, consider a bespoke Shopify theme build from an experienced agency like Charle.
Clear UX, fast load times, sticky CTAs, and optimised mobile design should be baked into your site from the start. Whether you're starting from a base theme or building fully custom, your store design should serve your brand's unique needs while performing exceptionally across devices. Explore our Shopify web design services to see how we approach this with brands across industries.
During migration, it’s essential to keep the structure of high-performing pages consistent to protect SEO. Try to mirror layouts, content hierarchy, and internal linking where rankings already exist — even when improving the visual design.
If you're looking for practical tips to get started or optimise an existing design, we’ve also published a full guide on how to design a Shopify website. It walks through best practices for structure, conversion, content hierarchy, and visual design principles.
As an agency, we always recommend building with performance and scale in mind: optimising image sizes, avoiding unnecessary app bloat, and prioritising speed and accessibility. A clean, well-designed Shopify store doesn’t just look great — it drives better engagement, conversion, and growth.
Test Your Store Setup
Before going live, it's essential to rigorously test your new Shopify store. This ensures that everything from product pages to payment gateways functions exactly as expected — and that any post-migration bugs are caught early, not by your customers.
We typically recommend a two-stage approach: a soft launch followed by a hard launch. During the soft launch, your site is live on a password-protected preview domain or limited to specific users. This allows you to test functionality in a near-live environment, including add-to-cart flows, checkout, discount codes, shipping rules, and customer account creation.
Use this phase to review integrations — does your CRM capture form fills correctly? Are orders syncing with your ERP or 3PL partner? Is tracking (GA4, Meta Pixel, TikTok, etc.) firing correctly across all key pages?
We also recommend real-world checkout tests: place a real order, process a return, issue a refund, and simulate edge cases like partial payments or failed cards. This will help validate not just functionality, but operational readiness too.
Finally, test the site across browsers and devices. What works perfectly on Chrome may glitch on Safari or mobile. Responsive design checks, load speed audits, and accessibility reviews should all be finalised before launch day.
The testing phase is where attention to detail pays off. A smooth launch experience reduces friction, supports conversion, and sets the tone for long-term growth on Shopify.
Launch Your Shopify Store (Pre-Launch Checklist)
You're nearly there — but before taking your new Shopify store live, run through this pre-launch checklist to ensure everything is functioning perfectly, nothing critical has been missed, and you’re ready for traffic and orders from day one.
- Remove storefront password protection in Shopify’s settings (when ready to launch).
- Double-check your domain is connected and resolving correctly to your Shopify store.
- Confirm 301 redirects are working and all top URLs are pointing to the correct new locations.
- Test all key user journeys — product pages, add-to-cart, checkout, mobile navigation, and search.
- Place a real order using multiple payment methods, and test refund, cancellation, and fulfilment flows.
- Check app functionality — email flows, reviews, loyalty, subscriptions, and integrations like ERP/CRM.
- Test your analytics setup (Google Analytics 4, Meta Pixel, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc.) for correct tracking.
- Submit your updated XML sitemap in Google Search Console.
- Check site speed and performance using tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
- Ensure all product images, content, and metadata have been correctly imported and optimised.
- Prepare your customer service team for post-launch queries — especially around account reactivations and payment info.
- Have a post-launch plan in place — including monitoring tools, bug tracking, and fast-response dev support.
Even with perfect preparation, launch day can be intense. Having a clear checklist ensures you're launching confidently — not reactively. And remember, migration is just the start. The real growth begins once you're live on Shopify.
Shopify Migration Checklist
Use this final checklist as a high-level summary to ensure nothing critical is missed during your Shopify migration. It’s ideal for project managers and ecommerce teams overseeing a complex transition.
- ✔️ Assess current platform and pain points
- ✔️ Choose the right Shopify plan (consider Plus for scale)
- ✔️ Set up your Shopify account and core settings
- ✔️ Clean and export all relevant data (products, customers, orders)
- ✔️ Import products, collections, and metafields into Shopify
- ✔️ Migrate customer accounts (plan for reactivation and support)
- ✔️ Import historical orders and map statuses
- ✔️ Configure payment gateways (e.g. Shopify Payments, PayPal)
- ✔️ Set up shipping rates, rules, and integrations
- ✔️ Prepare and apply SEO redirects and metadata strategy
- ✔️ Configure tax logic and international storefronts
- ✔️ Rebuild or redesign the Shopify store (UX, performance, mobile-first)
- ✔️ Integrate third-party tools (ERP, CRM, ESPs, apps)
- ✔️ Test all functionality in staging (soft launch phase)
- ✔️ Execute pre-launch QA and final readiness checklist
- ✔️ Launch store, monitor performance, and adapt post-launch
Every migration is unique, but these steps are universal. They’ll help ensure your transition to Shopify is seamless, secure, and growth-ready from day one.
Charle x Shopify Migrations
At Charle, we are Shopify migration experts who understand the challenges merchants face when moving ecommerce platforms. Whether you’re transitioning from WooCommerce, Visualsoft, WordPress or another platform, our team of developers, strategists and migration specialists ensure every aspect of the process is handled with expert care — from data migration and SEO preservation to performance metrics, marketing tools, and customer experience enhancements.
We take a tailored approach to every migration project. That means aligning the new store with your business needs, analysing your existing setup, and mapping out a migration plan that accounts for timelines, third-party apps, checkout process customisation, and search engine rankings. Our team conducts a deep analysis of your existing ecommerce business, helping you protect data integrity, maintain strong search rankings, and minimise disruptions that impact visitors or conversion rates.
One of the key strengths of Shopify is its intuitive interface and powerful app store — but making the right choices requires experience. From Klaviyo email flows to custom product categories, we support retailers in recreating or improving core functionalities. We also guide clients on strategic adjustments — whether you’re aiming to enhance the shopping experience, simplify maintenance, boost performance, or improve how search engines perceive your site.
Our process begins with a consultation to understand your goals, current limitations, and audience. From there, we develop a migration plan that prevents data loss, improves results, and gives you the flexibility to scale. Whether you're migrating thousands of SKUs, handling subscriptions, or building a better content structure — we’ve done it before, and we bring the expertise to do it right.
If you have questions, need guidance, or want to explore how we can support your brand's next chapter, visit our page on Shopify migration services to speak with our migration experts today. Let’s make the move — with confidence, clarity, and conversion in mind.
