For your e-commerce to continue growing and thriving online, you need a platform that can scale smoothly. After seeing the benefits of the Shopify platform’s scalability and ease of use, many businesses choose to invest in a migration from Magento to Shopify Plus.
In this post, you’ll read about some of the technical aspects of moving from Magento to Shopify — from the initial assessment to testing and launch. We’ll also review some of Shopify Plus's advantages, such as enhanced features, better performance, and simplified management.
Keep reading to see how to use the features of Shopify Plus to your advantage.
Key Challenges in Migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus
Why Consider a Migration from Magento to Shopify Plus?
Magento has been a powerful e-commerce platform and a good choice for many online stores for many years. However, as customer expectations and technology have evolved, many businesses using Magento have noticed issues with the platform.
Besides limited flexibility and some performance issues, high maintenance costs are a thorn in the side of Magento store owners. This is partly why many e-commerce owners have decided to migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus. Naturally, moving from Magento to Shopify also allows these businesses to benefit from Shopify’s features—such as streamlined hosting and scalability.
Overcoming Data Migration Challenges
Performing Magento to Shopify data migrations is no easy feat. There are technical challenges in migrating data like products, customers, and orders safely. It is unwise to attempt a data migration—such as a Magento to Shopify product migration—without sufficient technical skills.
Without careful planning and a meticulous approach, you risk data loss, security vulnerabilities, and extended downtime. Business owners with the necessary technical skills can use migration tools such as Cart2Cart or LitExtension to migrate. Many businesses, however, choose to hire Shopify migration experts to ensure a successful transition.
From Magento to Shopify Plus Migration
Assessing Your Magento Store's Current Setup
Before you choose a migration tool, assess your needs and the complexity of your current Magento store setup.
This is essential to understanding what needs to be migrated. Document your setup, including product catalogues, customer data, order history, custom functionalities, and extensions. This will help you estimate the scale of your migration from Magento to Shopify Plus.
Data Backup and Preparation
A vital step in Magento to Shopify data migrations is creating a thorough data backup. Creating a backup of your Magento store keeps your data safe in case of a transfer failure. This is especially important for critical data like products, customers, and orders.
Create a backup on the Magento website, and download all the files from your Magento root directory. You’ll want to export your data and ensure your data is migration-ready. The data files should be in CSV format and free from errors, such as encoding issues or missing fields.
Choosing the Right Migration Method
There are three main ways to migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus. You can migrate completely manually, which has the main benefit of being free. However, it is a time-consuming, labour-intensive and potentially risky project.
You can also pay to use third-party automated tools which simplify the process, such as Cart2Cart or LitExtension. However, many invest in professional services, allowing experts to ensure a seamless transition.
Migrating Products, Categories, and Customers
The Magento to Shopify product migration has two main steps—exporting and importing. First, export core data, such as products, categories, and customers.
From Magento’s admin panel, navigate to “System” > “Data Transfer” > “Export”. Choose “Products” as the “Entity Type” and export it in CSV format. Before importing, a tip is to prepare your data, ensuring that it’s in the right format and free from errors. Through Shopify’s admin panel, you can import products and customers directly with the built-in feature. Navigate to “Products” or “Customers”, choose “Import” and upload the CSV file.
Testing and Launching Your New Shopify Plus Store
Once your data has been migrated, it’s time for the testing phase. Before the store launches and is officially moving from Magento to Shopify, you want to ensure all key features function flawlessly.
Test that the checkout, the product pages, and any integrated apps are working as they should. Test your store’s mobile responsiveness and use tools such as Google Search Console to verify that 301 redirects work. A soft launch allows you to catch any issues with the store before going live.
Leveraging Shopify Plus Features Post-Migration
Enhanced Performance and Usability
Now that you’ve successfully migrated from Magento to Shopify Plus, it’s time to leverage some of the great features that your new platform offers. What is one of the main advantages of Shopify Plus? Enhanced performance.
For example, you can utilise a global content delivery network (CDN) to distribute your store’s content across multiple servers internationally. This improves performance by reducing latency and speeds up page load times.
Shopify Plus also offers truly load-tested checkouts with unlimited bandwidth and transactions. You can even further optimise your checkout with extensions.
Simplified Store Management
Something you’ll likely notice quickly when you migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus is the difference when it comes to the interface. Compared to Magento, Shopify offers a much more intuitive and user-friendly interface, allowing for simplified store management. This means you and your team can manage products, data, and orders more efficiently.
Shopify also simplifies things through integrated tools, enhancing functionality. While integrating services with Magento can be more complex and sometimes require developer expertise, Shopify integrations are often relatively quick and simple.
Integrating Shopify’s Advanced Features
Another advantage of moving from Magento to Shopify is the possibility of integrating Shopify Plus advanced features. The platform offers powerful tools to facilitate multi-channel selling and global expansion. Expanding your e-commerce presence beyond your main website is essentially a necessity in today’s digital marketplace.
Shopify Plus allows integration with major sales channels, including social media platforms, marketplaces, and Google Shopping. It also offers automation features, helping you automate orders and sync inventory to achieve perfectly automated workflow management.
Boosting User Experience with Custom Themes
Last but not least, Shopify Plus custom themes can greatly enhance the user experience of your online store.
When you migrated from Magento to Shopify Plus, you were likely able to choose a theme which helped you maintain the aesthetics of your previous store. However, if you hire a Shopify expert or developers to design a bespoke theme, they will tailor that theme to resonates with your brand identity on another level. A custom theme design will be cohesive and consistent with your entire online presence, building trust and customer loyalty.
Conclusion
When you migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus, your store will benefit from better performance and easier store management. You can also integrate several enhanced features, facilitating multi-channel selling. While Magento has its pros, the advantages of a migration are easy to see when comparing Magento to Shopify Plus.
Are you ready for your Magento to Shopify Plus migration? Take action today and reach out to an agency to hear about professional migration services. Shopify Plus migration experts can help you plan and execute a seamless migration and help you set up your store—and set it up for success.
FAQ
What are the benefits of migrating to Shopify Plus?
The benefits of Magento to Shopify data migrations are many, as Shopify Plus offers a more user-friendly experience. Its ease-of-use, scalability, and many other features can make your store easier to manage and boost its performance.
Is there a risk that I’ll lose data during the migration process?
When a professional agency performs your Magento to Shopify data migrations, the risk of data loss is very small. The agency makes backups of critical data and plans the process meticulously to minimise the risk before the migration to Shopify Plus.
How long does a Magento to Shopify migration take?
Magento to Shopify data migrations can range from a few weeks to several months. The time frame is affected by the size and complexity of the store, and whether or not you would like a bespoke theme designed when you migrate to Shopify Plus.
Can I maintain the design of my Magento store on Shopify Plus?
Yes, Shopify Plus offers a wide range of themes and allows for almost limitless customizations. After your store’s Magento to Shopify data migrations, you can maintain your aesthetic or even improve it through a custom theme.
Will I receive support after migrating to Shopify Plus?
Yes, Shopify Plus offers 24/7 customer support after migrating your data from Magento to Shopify. Our Shopify agency also offers ongoing post-migration support to help you leverage the benefits of Shopify Plus.
