Shopify Migration Services Move platforms, keep your rankings.

A Shopify migration is moving an online store from another platform onto Shopify without losing your products, your customers or your place in Google. Done well, customers notice a better store and Google barely notices anything at all.

The common moves are from WooCommerce, Wix and Squarespace, plus older custom builds that have become hard to maintain. The reasons are usually the same: the old store is slow, plugins keep breaking, checkout is clunky on a phone, or the owner is tired of fixing things instead of selling.

If you're happy on Shopify already and just want a better store, that's a redesign, not a migration. See Shopify website design.

Products, customers, orders and content all move across. A few things get rebuilt rather than copied, and it's better to know which before you start.

Not if the redirects are done properly. Rankings drop after a migration when old URLs break, and they break because Shopify uses its own URL structure. Products move to /products/ and categories to /collections/, so almost every address on your site changes.

Here's how we protect them:

1. Crawl the old site first and list every URL that gets traffic or has links pointing at it.
2. Map each old URL to its new one, product to product and category to collection, not everything to the home page.
3. Load the 301 redirects into Shopify before the domain is switched.
4. Keep titles, descriptions and copy that already rank, and only improve the weak ones.
5. Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console on launch day and watch for 404 errors in the weeks after.

A small wobble for a few weeks while Google recrawls is normal. A drop that lasts usually means redirects were missed, which is why we check them after launch, not just before. For work on rankings once you've moved, see Shopify SEO.

WooCommerce to Shopify is a well worn path, and the data side is straightforward. The real work is replacing plugins and keeping the URLs straight.

• URLs: WooCommerce uses addresses like /product/blue-widget/ and /product-category/widgets/. On Shopify these become /products/blue-widget and /collections/widgets, each with a 301 redirect.
• Plugins: every plugin you rely on, from subscriptions to product add-ons, gets replaced with a Shopify app or built into the theme. We list these during quoting so there are no surprises.
• Hosting and updates: no more plugin updates, server bills or security patches. Shopify handles that, and you pay a monthly plan instead.
• Payments: your gateway moves to Shopify Payments or another supported provider, tested with real orders before launch.

If you're still deciding, our Shopify vs WooCommerce guide lays out the costs and trade-offs. Some stores are better off staying on WooCommerce, and I'll say so if yours is one.

Wix to Shopify is usually a move for room to grow. Wix suits a small range, and stores that add products, variants and sales channels tend to outgrow it.

Wix product addresses look like /product-page/blue-widget, so each one is redirected to its new Shopify URL, along with any service and blog pages you're keeping.

Vlosity Motorsport, a Perth detailing studio and car care brand, had a Wix site for its services and a separate Shopify store for products. We merged both into one Shopify site with service bookings, migrated 28 products and set up 3 service categories, so customers can book a detail and buy products in the same place.

A Shopify migration is a new Shopify store with your data moved in, so it's priced as an online store: from $4,500 + GST. It's a fixed price, quoted in writing before work starts.

What changes the price is the number of products and variants, how messy the old data is, how many plugins need replacing, and whether you want a bespoke design or a customised theme. Your Shopify plan is separate and paid to Shopify. For a full breakdown of build and running costs, see our guide to Shopify website cost.

The real risks are lost rankings, lost data and a checkout that breaks on launch day. All three are avoidable with planning. Here's how each one is handled:

• Lost rankings: every URL mapped and redirected, then checked again after launch.
• Lost or messy data: a full export of the old store kept as a backup, and product counts checked against the original before launch.
• Broken checkout: real test orders through every payment and shipping option before the domain switches.
• Missing features: every plugin listed and matched to an app or theme feature during quoting, not discovered after launch.
• Downtime: the new store is built while the old one keeps trading, and the old store stays live until the switch is complete.
• Customer confusion: customers need to set a new password, so Shopify's account invite email goes out to explain it.

1. A free 15 minute call. Where the store is now, what isn't working and what has to come across.
2. Audit and quote. I look at your products, plugins, URLs and traffic, then send a fixed price quote in writing.
3. Build the new store. On a Shopify development store while your current site keeps trading.
4. Move the data. Products, customers, orders and content imported and checked.
5. Redirects and testing. Every old URL mapped, test orders placed, and you review everything.
6. Switch over. Domain pointed to Shopify, sitemap submitted, and 404 errors watched in the weeks after.

Most Shopify migrations take 2 to 3 weeks. Catalogues in the thousands, or stores with custom features, take longer, and your quote states the timeline up front.