Shopify Migration FAQs

Question 1

How much does a Shopify migration cost?

Accepted Answer

A typical SME migration from WooCommerce, Magento, Squarespace or EKM ranges from £3,000 to £15,000+ depending on the size of your catalogue, the number of custom features and how much design work is included. We provide a fixed-price quote after a free discovery call so there are no surprises.

Question 2

How long does a Shopify migration take from start to finish?

Accepted Answer

Most migrations take 4–8 weeks: 1 week of discovery and planning, 2–4 weeks of build and data transfer, 1 week of testing and 1 week of launch support. Larger Shopify Plus migrations with custom integrations can take 8–12 weeks.

Question 3

Will I need to pay for both platforms during the migration?

Accepted Answer

Yes — your existing platform stays live and continues taking orders while we build the new Shopify store in the background. Shopify also offers a discounted development period before launch, so the overlap cost is usually minimal.

Question 4

What's included in the migration price?

Accepted Answer

Our standard migration includes product, customer and order data transfer, URL redirects, SEO preservation, theme setup, payment and shipping configuration, basic on-page design and launch support. Bespoke design, custom apps, and integrations are quoted separately.

Question 5

Will all my products, variants and images transfer across?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We migrate every product including titles, descriptions, variants, SKUs, barcodes, weights, pricing and high-resolution images. We also map your collections (categories) so your store structure stays intact.

Question 6

What happens to my customer accounts and order history?

Accepted Answer

Customer records — names, email addresses, addresses and order history — migrate across in full. Customers will need to reset their password on first login (Shopify hashes passwords differently for security), and we set up a friendly automated email to walk them through it.

Question 7

Can you migrate my product reviews?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We migrate reviews from Trustpilot, Judge.me, Yotpo, Reviews.io, WooCommerce native reviews and most other platforms into your chosen Shopify reviews app — usually Judge.me, Stamped or Lipscore — so your social proof stays intact.

Question 8

What about blog posts, pages, metafields and SEO data?

Accepted Answer

Blog posts, content pages, meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text and structured metafields all migrate across. We map them to Shopify's content model so nothing is lost.

Question 9

Will my inventory levels stay accurate during the switchover?

Accepted Answer

We run a final inventory sync on launch day and freeze stock changes during the cutover window — typically a few hours overnight. This guarantees the stock numbers your customers see on Shopify match reality from the moment you go live.

Question 10

Will I lose my Google rankings when I move to Shopify?

Accepted Answer

Not if the migration is done properly. We preserve rankings by mapping every old URL to its new Shopify equivalent with 301 redirects, keeping your meta data, alt text and heading structure intact, and resubmitting your sitemap to Google Search Console on launch. Most clients see no drop or a short dip that recovers within 2–4 weeks.

Question 11

How do you handle URL redirects from my old store?

Accepted Answer

We crawl your existing site, generate a 1:1 redirect map and upload it to Shopify's native URL redirects (or via a redirect app for larger sites). Every old product, collection, blog post and page URL points to the correct new location with a 301 redirect — preserving link equity and bookmark traffic.

Question 12

Will my meta titles, descriptions and alt text be preserved?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We export your existing SEO meta data and import it into Shopify field-for-field, so your search snippets stay consistent and you don't have to rewrite hundreds of titles and descriptions.

Question 13

How long until Google re-indexes the new site?

Accepted Answer

We resubmit your sitemap on launch day, and Google typically re-crawls the most important pages within a few days. Full re-indexing across a large catalogue can take 4–8 weeks. We monitor Search Console for crawl errors throughout.

Question 14

Will my store go offline during the migration?

Accepted Answer

No. Your existing store stays live and trading throughout the entire build. The actual switchover — pointing your domain to Shopify — takes minutes and is scheduled for the quietest time of your trading week to minimise any disruption.

Question 15

What if something breaks on launch day?

Accepted Answer

We're on hand for the entire launch day with a documented checklist, monitoring dashboards and a rollback plan. Critical issues are resolved within minutes; non-critical issues are logged and fixed during the launch-week support window included in every migration.

Question 16

Can customers still buy while you're working on the new site?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the new Shopify store is built on a staging URL that's hidden from search engines and locked behind a password. Your customers keep buying on your existing store right up until the cutover.

Question 17

What's the rollback plan if something goes seriously wrong?

Accepted Answer

Your old store stays in place (and backed up) until you sign off on the launch. If we hit a blocker, we can revert DNS within minutes and resume trading on your previous platform while we resolve the issue.

Question 18

Do I have to redesign my store, or can it look the same?

Accepted Answer

You can keep the same look and feel if you want to — we'll rebuild your existing design on Shopify. That said, most clients use a migration as an opportunity to refresh the brand, improve mobile UX and modernise the checkout. We'll advise based on what your current site does well and where it's holding you back.

Question 19

Will my current apps and integrations work on Shopify?

Accepted Answer

Most popular tools have a direct Shopify equivalent or native integration — Klaviyo, Mailchimp, ShipStation, Xero, QuickBooks, Royal Mail, DPD, Hotjar, Google Analytics, Meta Pixel and hundreds more. We audit your existing stack during discovery and map every tool to its Shopify counterpart.

Question 20

Can I keep my custom checkout flow on Shopify?

Accepted Answer

Shopify's checkout is the highest-converting on the planet and is largely standardised for security and PCI compliance reasons. On Shopify Plus you get extensive customisation via Checkout Extensibility, and on standard plans we can customise the thank-you page, add upsells and adjust the cart experience.

Question 21

What about subscriptions, wholesale or B2B pricing?

Accepted Answer

All supported. We integrate Recharge or Shopify Subscriptions for recurring orders, and SparkLayer or Shopify Plus B2B for wholesale, tiered pricing, trade accounts and custom catalogues.

Question 22

Can you migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify?

Accepted Answer

Yes — WooCommerce is one of the most common migrations we handle. We move products, customers, orders, reviews and blog content, and we set up 301 redirects from your existing WooCommerce URL structure to your new Shopify URLs.

Question 23

Can you migrate from Magento to Shopify?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Magento migrations are larger and more complex, but we've done dozens of them — including B2B stores with custom pricing, multi-store setups and large product catalogues with thousands of SKUs.

Question 24

Can you migrate from Squarespace, Wix, EKM or BigCommerce?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we regularly migrate from all the major platforms. Squarespace, Wix and EKM stores are usually smaller and faster to move. BigCommerce migrations are very similar to Shopify-to-Shopify and tend to be straightforward.

Question 25

Can I move from Etsy to my own Shopify store?

Accepted Answer

Yes — and many of our clients do this as soon as they outgrow Etsy. We export your Etsy product data, rebuild the listings on Shopify, set up a custom domain and a branded checkout. You keep ownership of your customers, your reviews live on your own site, and you stop paying Etsy listing and transaction fees.

Question 26

Why is Shopify better than my current platform?

Accepted Answer

Shopify wins on three fronts: speed and reliability (99.99% uptime, fastest checkout in ecommerce), ecosystem (8,000+ apps, certified experts, every major payment provider) and total cost of ownership (no hosting, no security patches, no surprise dev bills). Whether it's right for you depends on your specific setup — we'll tell you honestly during discovery.

Question 27

What support do I get after launch?

Accepted Answer

Every migration includes 30 days of post-launch support to fix any issues, tweak the design and answer questions as your team gets used to Shopify. After that, most clients move onto one of our Monthly Shopify Management plans for ongoing optimisation and growth support.

Question 28

Will you train my team on Shopify admin?

Accepted Answer

Yes — we include a hands-on training session at launch covering order fulfilment, product management, discounts, reporting and customer service workflows. Deeper, role-specific training is available through our dedicated Shopify Training service.

Question 29

How do I handle returns or refunds on orders placed before the migration?

Accepted Answer

Order history migrates across, so refunds for pre-migration orders are processed normally through your payment provider. We document the process during launch and walk your team through it so nothing falls through the cracks.

Question 30

What's the ongoing Shopify cost going to be?

Accepted Answer

For current plan options and pricing, please see Shopify's official pricing page — pricing changes occasionally, so we always quote you live numbers during discovery. Beyond the Shopify subscription, factor in payment processing fees and any premium apps your store uses.

Shopify Migration FAQs

Cost & Timeline

Data & Products

SEO & Rankings

Downtime & Risk

Design & Functionality

Platform-specific Migrations

Post-launch Support

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