Shopify migration

A Shopify migration means moving an existing online store to Shopify so that data, integrations and search visibility survive the change. We migrate stores to Shopify from any platform - most often from Magento, WooCommerce or MyCashflow.

A good migration is not just importing data. It is practically the only moment when the store's structure, categorisation, product data and buying journey can be reassessed without a separate project. If the old store's problems are carried over as-is, what you get is the same store in a new theme.

When moving to Shopify makes sense

A platform change needs a business reason. Typical valid situations:

• Maintaining the current platform takes disproportionate time and money relative to the size of the store.
• Development is slow - even a small change needs a developer and a long queue.
• International or multilingual sales are growing.
• Marketing tools, apps and integrations are not available on the current platform.
• Technical debt has grown to the point where rebuilding is cheaper than fixing.
• The team wants to publish content and campaigns without a developer.

When Shopify is not the right choice

Shopify does not suit everyone, and it is cheaper to establish that before the project than after. Consider another platform if:

• B2B pricing is complex: customer-specific price lists, tiered discounts, contract pricing.
• The store is deeply tied to an ERP or other systems where the logic lives on the store side.
• There are exceptionally many variants or configurable product structures.
• Checkout functionality needs extensive customization to your own rules.
• Full ownership of code and data is a requirement.

In those situations Magento or Mage-OS is often the better answer. We compared the platforms in more detail in our article Magento vai Shopify.

Audit: what the current store actually contains

Migrations almost always fail for the same reason: the audit was too light and something essential surfaced only after launch. We go through at least the following:

• Products, variants, product structures and the quality of product data.
• Category structure and navigation.
• Customers, customer groups and marketing consents.
• Order history and what it is used for.
• Content pages, blog and landing pages.
• Integrations: ERP, PIM, accounting, logistics, reviews, customer service.
• Payment and delivery methods.
• Custom features - including the ones nobody remembers ordering.
• Traffic, top landing pages and current rankings.

What gets migrated

Products and variants

Product data, prices, stock levels and variants are migrated. Shopify's variant logic differs from most other platforms, so complex product structures are planned in advance - sometimes the answer is metafields or an app rather than a direct mapping.

Categories and collections

On Shopify the equivalent of a category is a collection, either manual or automated. The structure should not be copied as-is if the current category tree has grown unmanageable.

Customers

Customer data, addresses and marketing consents are migrated. Passwords are not, so the launch needs to be communicated clearly to customers.

Orders

Order history is migrated as historical data. Agree in advance how far back and for what use - customer service, reporting or both.

Images and media

Product and content images are moved to Shopify's CDN. A good moment to check image sizes and alt texts.

Meta data and SEO

Title and meta description fields, structured data and canonical URLs are reviewed. If they are incomplete in the old store, they are worth doing properly in one go.

Integrations, payments and shipping

Integrations are not migrated but rebuilt. For a Finnish store this usually means payment methods (Paytrail, Klarna, Stripe, Shopify Payments), delivery methods and shipping labels (Posti, Matkahuolto, DB Schenker), ERP and accounting integrations, email marketing such as Klaviyo, and analytics and conversion tracking.

Some functionality is covered by Shopify apps. Be selective: every app is a monthly cost, a potential performance hit and a dependency. We would rather use a few good apps than ten overlapping ones.

Theme and storefront

There are two routes in a migration: rebuild the current look as closely as possible, or design the storefront anew. The first is faster and safer if the current store converts well. The second makes sense when there are known problems in the buying journey - then the migration and usability improvements happen at once instead of redesigning the store twice.

SEO, URL mapping and 301 redirects

This is the most critical phase for search visibility. Shopify uses its own URL structures such as /products/ and /collections/, so old URLs will not survive.

1. Collect current URLs from the sitemap, Search Console and analytics.
2. Prioritise by traffic and rankings.
3. Build the URL map old → new, including content pages and the blog.
4. Implement 301 redirects and activate them at launch.
5. Monitor indexing and 404s and fill in gaps.

At the same time we make sure analytics and conversion tracking carry over: losing measurement at launch makes it impossible to evaluate the outcome exactly when you need it most.

Migration phases

1. Audit and plan. What is migrated, what is rebuilt, what is dropped.
2. Shopify store setup. Structure, collections, theme and storefront.
3. Trial data migration. Checked and corrected before the final import.
4. Integrations, payment and delivery methods.
5. URL mapping and 301 redirects.
6. Testing. Buying journey, payments, taxes, shipping fees, notifications, mobile.
7. Launch. Final data migration, DNS switch, redirects on.
8. Monitoring. Indexing, 404s, conversion and sales for the first weeks.

Risks to plan for

• Loss of search visibility. In practice always the result of missing or incorrect redirects.
• Gaps in the audit. A missing feature found after launch means fixing it under pressure.
• A drop in conversion. A new design does not automatically sell better - changes should be justified with data.
• App creep. Too many apps slow the store down and add monthly cost.
• Data quality. Poor product data migrates as poor product data. Clean up before the move.
• Timing. Do not launch right before a season or a major campaign.
• Closing the old store. Two indexed stores with the same content is a problem.

Migration by source platform

The workload and the pitfalls depend on where you are migrating from:

• MyCashflow → Shopify. Data migration is usually straightforward, but MyCashflow-specific features and Finnish payment and delivery methods need their own solutions.
• Magento → Shopify. Usually the largest project: plenty of customization, modules, customer groups and integrations. Some Magento functionality does not fit the Shopify model, so scope needs careful assessment - sometimes the smarter move is to stay on Magento and get maintenance in order.
• WooCommerce → Shopify. Product data usually migrates well, but WordPress content, plugins and URL structure need a careful plan. Read more about WooCommerce.

Why Avania

We work on all of these platforms - Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce and MyCashflow - so we are not selling Shopify because it is the only platform we know. The outcome of an audit can also be that the migration is not worth doing.

For us a migration is as much a business project as a technical one. We look at structure, usability and conversion during the move, because the same work costs more later as a separate project.

Let's start with an audit: tell us your current platform, catalog size and key integrations, and we will tell you what the migration requires and whether it makes sense.