Moving your online store to Shopify is often the best business decision a brand can make. However, doing so is not easy. We frequently meet brands after they've had migration issues and regret not engaging with an expert earlier in the process. Electric Eye have migrated countless brands to Shopify and have a rock-solid process to do so successfully. Let's talk about what you should expect during this process.

Data Migration Process

The most important thing you'll need to think about when migrating to Shopify is your existing data. Whether you're moving from a custom platform or a legacy CMS like WooCommerce or Magento, you'll need to figure out how to transfer all of your existing data to your new Shopify store. This can include everything from your product catalog and customer data to your order history and shipping information.

1. Gather Existing Data - All data on the current platform has to be acquired. This can be relatively straightforward for more common platforms, but can be a considerable pain for custom sites or lesser known platforms.
2. Transform The Data - The way the data comes out of the old platform is never “correct” so it has to be converted into the format to be received by Shopify.
3. Import The Data - This is usually done in three batches. The first batch is done to ensure the site can be properly structured with collections and all relevant data. The second prepares everything for launch. The last import is done to sync the final data between the second import and when the new site goes online.

It's important to note that the way each previous platform handles the data within its database is unique and there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to migrate it from an old store into Shopify.

One option for moving data is to use a third-party data importer, which can quickly transfer your data from one platform to another. These data importers do not clean up or optimize the data during the migration process. This means that you may be left with duplicated, missing, outdated, or just broken information that can lead to issues with your website functionality, customer experience, and even sales. We do not recommend this option.

Working with a migration expert can ensure that your data is cleaned up and optimized during the migration process. The migration expert will not only move your data but also fix any issues with the data, such as missing fields, broken links, and duplicated information. This ensures that your new Shopify store is running smoothly, with accurate and up-to-date information, and that the migration process is optimized for both the business and the customer.

SEO Considerations

With any migration project, you should expect to see some changes on Google and other search engines while they get used to your new site structure and redirects. If done correctly, you’ll typically bounce back. Every old URL needs to have a 301 redirect set up to point to the new URL on the Shopify store. If this is skipped or mishandled, it will cause a significant impact on the SEO of a store. It can result in the permanent loss of existing page rankings and visibility in search engine results. This will lead to a significant drop in website traffic and a decrease in sales.

Setting Up The New Store

It may seem obvious, but the new Shopify environment needs to be properly set up before the new store can go live. Setting up a new Shopify store is a significant undertaking and is typically not intuitive for anyone not familiar with the platform. Beyond the data and design, brands need to set up payment gateways, shipping options, taxes, and fulfillment. They also need to integrate and set up any necessary third-party apps. We often encounter brands delaying launch because their stores are not properly configured. This is an area where having Shopify experts involved is essential. Have your store set up the right way the first time. If you are curious to learn more about our new store set up process, you can learn more here.

Designing the New Store

One common misconception when migrating is that you can simply use the same design or code as your old website. While you have the option of using the same design, the code will not be compatible. Typically brands make the choice to migrate to Shopify to improve the performance of their store. Rather than replicating the same underperforming elements from the old website, it is the perfect time to re-evaluate and optimize the store design.

When it comes to the design of your new Shopify store, you will want to start with a pre-made theme from the Shopify theme store. Some are better than others, and we can guide you in the right direction. After we have our starting place, we can either design within that theme or we can customize it to further match your brand and needs. If you choose to customize the design, you'll have complete control over the look and feel. If you are curious to learn more about our Shopify store design process, you can learn more here.

Features and Functionality

Any extended features and functionality of the old site will need to be recreated. Some examples would be the landing pages, an email marketing platform, loyalty program, or subscription platform. It’s worth mentioning that often how something worked on the old website may not be how it works on Shopify. You’ll need to solve for any extended features and functionality within the migration & design process. Luckily, Shopify has a very robust app ecosystem and Shopify experts like Electric Eye know which ones to use.

No Downtime If Done Right

All of these migration activities will be carried out without any impact on the current, existing store. Once everything is accounted for, we switch from the old platform to the new one. We recommend doing this during a weekday when traffic and sales are lower. Once we point your domain from the old store to the new one, there will be very little downtime while DNS sorts itself out (which nobody has control of). As mentioned previously, we’ll typically have a final data migration after this to sync everything up as well.

Conclusion

Migrating from your existing platform to Shopify can be a substantial amount of work and has some complexities to be wary of, but we’re here to help. We can ensure that your migration goes smoothly and that you're able to take full advantage of all that Shopify has to offer. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you migrate to Shopify and grow your online business.