Migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify

Key takeaways

• WooCommerce to Shopify migration is well-supported. Shopify’s official migration tool handles products, customers, and orders for most stores.
• The work that takes longest isn’t the data - it’s the theme rebuild, the redirect map, and verifying every integration (payment, shipping, ESP) on the new platform.
• Plan a 4-8 week migration window for stores under 1,000 SKUs. Larger catalogues scale linearly.
• Cut over outside peak season. Don’t migrate during BFCM or your biggest annual period.

This guide walks through migrating an established WooCommerce store to Shopify. The data migration is straightforward; the surrounding work (theme, integrations, SEO redirect) is what determines a clean cutover.

Why you can trust us

15+ years of dev experience, four years inside Shopify, with multiple WooCommerce-to-Shopify migrations completed. The patterns below come from real cutovers.

Before you migrate

Decide whether migration is the right call.

Good reasons to migrate

• WooCommerce maintenance and hosting are taking meaningful engineering time
• Plugin compatibility issues at WordPress updates are breaking the store
• Performance / speed has plateaued and isn’t recoverable without major work
• You want Shopify-native features (Shop Pay, native Markets, Plus B2B)

Reasons not to migrate

• You have deep custom WooCommerce functionality that doesn’t translate cleanly to Shopify (specific tax setups, complex subscriptions, unusual fulfilment flows)
• Your team has WordPress expertise and no Shopify expertise
• You’re under a year old and haven’t given WooCommerce a fair run

If you’re decided: proceed.

The migration sequence

Step 1: Set up the Shopify store

• Create the Shopify store (trial → paid when you’re ready).
• Install a base theme (Dawn for most; see best free Shopify themes).
• Configure currency, languages, regions, tax basics.
• Connect domain (don’t switch DNS yet).

Step 2: Export data from WooCommerce

WooCommerce export tools (built-in plus plugins like WP All Export):

• Products: SKU, name, description, prices, variants, images, inventory.
• Customers: email, name, address, marketing consent.
• Orders: history for revenue and customer LTV continuity.
• Reviews: if you’ll keep them (depends on review app on the Shopify side).

Export to CSV. Audit the CSVs for character-encoding issues, missing data, malformed prices.

Step 3: Import into Shopify

Use Shopify’s official Migration app or a paid migration service:

• Matrixify - widely-used migration app, handles WooCommerce well.
• LitExtension - paid migration service for stores wanting hands-off.
• Shopify Migration Assistant - native tool for some source platforms.

For complex stores, paid migration is often worth the cost - $500-2,000 for full migration vs days of cleanup if you DIY incorrectly.

Step 4: Rebuild the storefront

This is usually the longest step. Your WooCommerce theme doesn’t transfer.

Approach options:

• Use Dawn + customise. Free, fastest, fits most stores.
• Use Fudge to describe the storefront from your existing WooCommerce design - landing pages, PDPs, homepage as native Shopify theme code.
• Use a Shopify page builder. Slower than AI, more hands-on visual control.
• Engage a developer. Best for complex bespoke storefronts.

Step 5: Map redirects

This is the SEO-critical step.

For every URL on the WooCommerce store, map to its Shopify equivalent:

• WooCommerce /product/xyz/ → Shopify /products/xyz/
• WooCommerce /shop/category/ → Shopify /collections/category/
• WooCommerce blog /blog/post/ → Shopify /blogs/news/post/

Build the redirect map in a spreadsheet. Import into Shopify via Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects (or use a bulk import app like Matrixify).

Test 50 URLs before cutover. After cutover, monitor 404s for the first month and patch.

Step 6: Re-integrate everything

• Payment gateway (Shopify Payments + alternatives)
• Shipping carrier integrations
• ESP (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, etc.) - re-authorise; verify list sync
• Reviews app (migrate review data from WooCommerce reviews plugin)
• Subscription app (Recharge, Bold) - if you ran subscriptions on WooCommerce, this is one of the harder integrations to migrate
• Analytics (GA4, Meta Pixel, TikTok pixel) - update tracking
• Helpdesk / chat (Gorgias, Zendesk, Intercom)

Step 7: Test end-to-end

• Place a test order on the new Shopify store. Confirm payment, shipping calculation, email confirmation, order appears in admin.
• Test on mobile.
• Test the redirect map with 50 known URLs.
• Test the ESP integration: create a new customer, confirm it syncs.

Step 8: Cutover

• Lower the DNS TTL 24 hours before cutover (so the switch propagates fast).
• Cutover during low-traffic hours (Tuesday-Thursday early morning is typical).
• Switch DNS to point your domain at Shopify.
• Monitor the new store live: orders coming through, errors in admin, analytics events firing.
• Keep the WooCommerce store live but unindexed for 90 days as a fallback.

Step 9: Post-cutover monitoring

• Watch search rankings for 4-8 weeks. Some drop is normal; major drop = redirect map gap.
• Watch 404 logs. Patch any URLs you missed in the redirect map.
• Watch conversion rate. Some normalisation period is normal; sustained drop = something broken in the new flow.

What’s harder than it looks

Subscriptions

WooCommerce Subscriptions → Shopify Subscriptions migration is one of the harder parts. Customer payment methods, schedules, and history need to transfer cleanly. Often requires manual handling for some customers.

Complex tax setups

US sales tax with nexus rules, EU VAT with regional thresholds, marketplace tax. Verify your tax setup matches your current calculation before cutover.

SEO continuity

A clean redirect map is 90% of SEO continuity. The other 10% is matching meta titles, descriptions, structured data, and content structure. Don’t simplify content during migration - keep the SEO-positive structure intact.

Custom fields and metadata

WooCommerce stores often have custom fields (ACF, custom taxonomies). These map to Shopify metafields. Plan the metafield schema before migrating; backfilling later is painful.

FAQ

How long does WooCommerce to Shopify migration take?

4-8 weeks for stores under 1,000 SKUs with standard complexity. Larger catalogues or complex custom functionality stretch the timeline. The data migration takes a day; the surrounding work takes weeks.

Will my SEO rankings drop after migration?

Some drop is normal in weeks 1-4 as Google re-crawls. Stores with clean redirect maps usually recover within 8 weeks. Stores with redirect gaps may take longer or lose ground permanently.

Can I keep my domain when migrating?

Yes - your domain transfers cleanly. You’ll just point DNS at Shopify. No domain change is required.

What’s the best Shopify migration tool from WooCommerce?

For DIY: Matrixify is widely used and reliable. For hands-off: LitExtension is a paid migration service that handles the data side end-to-end.

Should I migrate during Q4 / BFCM?

No. Migrate in Q1 or Q2 - low-traffic, low-risk windows. A migration cutover during peak season is a business risk not worth taking.