WooCommerce to Shopify migration: a step-by-step plan

Most WooCommerce stores that move to Shopify are not leaving because WooCommerce cannot sell. They are leaving because plugin updates, hosting and security have become a job nobody owns. If you are still deciding, read our Shopify vs WooCommerce comparison first. This guide assumes the decision is made and covers how to move without losing data or search traffic.

Step 1: What should a migration audit cover?

Everything you would miss if it disappeared: data, plugins, URLs and the processes behind them.

Record a count for each item, because those counts are how you check the import later.

• Catalogue: simple and variable products, variations, attributes, categories, tags, images.
• Customers and orders: customer records, addresses, order history, and how far back you need it.
• Content: blog posts, pages, policies and any landing pages built in a page builder.
• Plugins: every active plugin, sorted into native Shopify feature, Shopify app, custom build, or drop.
• Integrations: accounting, warehouse, marketplaces, email marketing.
• URLs: a crawl of the live site, the sitemap, and the landing pages that get traffic in Search Console and analytics.

Step 2: How does WooCommerce data map to Shopify?

Most data has a home on Shopify, but not all of it moves the same way.

Shopify's migration guide lists different methods for each data type (as listed on 18 October 2026):

Data	WooCommerce	Shopify	How it moves
Products	Simple and variable products, variations	Products with variants	Product CSV or a migration app
Attributes	Global and custom attributes	Variant options, metafields	Decide in the mapping document
Categories and tags	Product categories, product tags	Collections, product tags	Migration app or rebuilt by hand
Customers	Customer records	Customers	Customer CSV, migration app or API
Historical orders	Orders	Orders	Migration app or API (no CSV option)
Blog posts and pages	WordPress posts and pages	Blog articles and pages	Migration app or API
Gift cards and store credit	Plugin data	Gift cards, store credit	Migration app or API
Reviews	WooCommerce reviews	A review app	The review app's own import

Two details catch people out. Shopify recommends importing products first, then customers, then historical orders. Importing historical orders also sends a new-order email to staff for every order unless you switch those notifications off first.

Product reviews on Shopify are usually handled by a review app, so reviews move into whichever app you choose, using its import tool. Check how that app treats imported reviews. Judge.me, for example, states that reviews imported through its template are not marked as verified.

Step 3: What cannot move from WooCommerce?

Customer passwords, plugin-specific behaviour, and anything that only exists in custom code.

Shopify's help centre states plainly that you cannot migrate customer passwords from another store, because they are encrypted outside Shopify. With Shopify's legacy customer accounts, you invite customers to set a new password. With Shopify's newer customer accounts, sign-in is passwordless: the customer enters an email address and receives a one-time six-digit code. That removes most of the password problem, but customers still need to know the login has changed.

Other things that do not transfer:

• Plugin logic. Custom pricing rules, bundles or checkout tweaks need an equivalent app or a rebuild.
• Page builder layouts. Content moves; the layout is rebuilt in the Shopify theme.
• Customer totals. Shopify's customer CSV does not import total spent or order counts. These build up from imported orders instead.

Step 4: How do URLs and 301 redirects work in the move?

Almost every URL changes, so map each old URL to its closest new one and redirect it permanently.

Page type	WooCommerce (default base)	Shopify
Product	/product/hoodie/	/products/hoodie
Category	/product-category/tops/	/collections/tops
Page	/about/	/pages/about
Blog post	Depends on your WordPress permalink setting	/blogs/news/post-title

WooCommerce documents product-category and product-tag as its default bases, with /product/ used for products under most permalink settings. Shopify's prefixes are fixed, so you cannot keep the old paths.

Google's guidance for site moves is to map old URLs to new ones and use permanent (301) redirects. Shopify supports this natively, with a CSV import and a limit of 100,000 redirects. A redirect only works when no live page exists at the old path. Some paths are reserved and cannot be redirected, and URLs with query strings may not behave as expected. Test the full map on the development store before launch.

Step 5: What changes with payments?

You will need a payment provider that works with Shopify, and the fees change.

Shopify Payments is not available to businesses in Malaysia. Malaysia is not on Shopify's supported countries list (checked 18 October 2026). Malaysian stores use a third-party payment provider, and Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee on top: 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced, as listed on Shopify's Malaysian pricing page on 18 October 2026. Confirm early that your current gateway supports Shopify, and include those fees in your cost comparison.

Step 6: Which SEO checks matter after launch?

Redirects, crawl errors, metadata and Search Console, checked daily at first and then weekly.

1. Crawl the old URL list and confirm each returns a 301 to the right page.
2. Watch the 404 report in Shopify and add redirects for anything missed.
3. Submit the new sitemap in Search Console and watch indexing.
4. Compare titles and meta descriptions on top landing pages with the old site.
5. Check that structured data, canonical tags and image alt text came across.
6. Compare organic landing page traffic week by week against the same pages before launch.

How long does a WooCommerce to Shopify migration take?

It depends mostly on data volume, plugin count and whether the design changes at the same time.

The plan below is illustrative, for a store with a few thousand products and no redesign. A redesign or several integrations will extend it.

Phase	What happens	Illustrative duration
Audit	Counts, plugin review, URL crawl	1 week
Mapping	Data mapping document and redirect map	1 week
Rehearsal import	Trial import to a development store, checked against counts	1 to 2 weeks
Build	Theme, apps, payments, integrations	2 to 6 weeks
Final import and launch	Content freeze, delta import, DNS switch, test orders	A few days
Post-launch checks	Redirects, 404s, Search Console	4 to 8 weeks of monitoring

Which tools can move the data?

Shopify's own importer, a third-party migration app, CSV files, or a custom script against Shopify's API.

Shopify's Store Importer listing states that the app is not currently available on the Shopify App Store (checked 18 October 2026), so do not plan around it without checking. Third-party apps fill the gap. Matrixify, for example, lists migration from WooCommerce and covers products, customers, orders, blog posts, pages and redirects, with a free plan for small tests. Shopify also lists CSV imports and custom development against its APIs as options. For larger stores or unusual data, a custom script gives the most control over mapping.

Frequently asked questions

Will my customers need to create new accounts?

Their customer records can move, but their passwords cannot. With Shopify's newer customer accounts, they sign in with a one-time code sent to their email, so no new password is needed.

Can I keep my WooCommerce URLs on Shopify?

No. Shopify uses fixed prefixes such as /products/ and /collections/. Redirect every old URL to its new equivalent with a 301.

Can I migrate order history?

Yes, through a migration app or Shopify's API. Shopify does not offer a CSV import for historical orders. Turn off staff new-order notifications before importing.

Is the process different from a Magento migration?

The steps are similar, but Magento's product types and extensions add more mapping work. See our Magento to Shopify migration guide.

Our Shopify migration service covers the audit, data mapping, rehearsal import and redirects described here. If you want an assessment of your WooCommerce store, request one.