Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify
How to move your store from WooCommerce to Shopify — products, customers, orders, SEO, and what to expect during the transition.
- Time
- 2–4 weeks
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- You’ll need
- WordPress admin access to your WooCommerce store
WooCommerce is powerful, but it requires ongoing technical maintenance — plugin updates, hosting management, security monitoring. Some store owners reach a point where they'd rather trade that control for Shopify's simplicity and managed infrastructure.
Moving to Shopify is very achievable, but it's a larger project than flipping a switch.
Quick summary
A WooCommerce to Shopify migration typically takes two to four weeks. Products and customers migrate well via CSV. Orders migrate with limitations. Your WooCommerce theme doesn't transfer — you'll choose and configure a Shopify theme. Redirects must be set up to protect SEO. Plan for a parallel-running period before switching your domain.
What transfers and what doesn't
What migrates reasonably well
- Product names, descriptions, prices, SKUs
- Product images
- Product variants (sizes, colors, etc.)
- Customer names, email addresses, and addresses
- Historical order records
- Your domain name
What must be rebuilt or reconfigured
- Your WooCommerce theme and design
- All WordPress plugins and their features
- Shipping zones and rates
- Payment gateway connections
- Tax settings
- Subscription billing setups
- Any custom checkout logic
- WooCommerce-specific extensions
Subscription billing cannot be transferred
If you sell recurring subscriptions via WooCommerce Subscriptions or a similar plugin, there is no way to automatically migrate active subscribers to Shopify. Subscribers will need to re-enter payment details and re-subscribe on the new platform. Plan how to communicate this to customers.
Realistic timeline
| Phase | What happens | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Audit | Review products, plugins, custom features | 1–2 days |
| Shopify setup | Create account, choose theme, configure basics | 1–2 days |
| Product migration | Export from WooCommerce, clean CSV, import | 2–4 days |
| Customer migration | Export, clean, import | 1 day |
| Store configuration | Shipping, taxes, payment setup | 1–2 days |
| Design & content | Configure Shopify theme, pages, menus | 2–4 days |
| Testing | Full purchase flow, checkout emails | 1–2 days |
| Redirects | Map WooCommerce URLs to Shopify URLs | 1 day |
| Cutover | Connect domain, go live | 1–4 hours |
| Post-launch | Monitor, fix issues, notify Google | 2–3 days |
The migration process, step by step
We audit your WooCommerce store. We document your products, extensions, custom features, and any integrations with third-party services.
You give us access. We need WordPress admin access to your WooCommerce store. Invite support@chykalophia.com, unless your project lead has given you a different address. See give us WordPress admin access.
We export your WooCommerce data. Products are exported as a CSV from WooCommerce's built-in export tool. Customers and orders are exported from WooCommerce's order management area.
We create and configure your Shopify store. We set up your Shopify account, install and customize your chosen theme, and configure the basic settings.
We import your products. Shopify's import tool accepts a CSV file. We transform your WooCommerce export into the Shopify format and import it. Product images are imported by URL.
We rebuild shipping, taxes, and payments. These don't export. We configure Shopify's shipping zones, tax rules, and connect your payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, or Shopify Payments).
We create your store pages. Your About page, contact page, policies (returns, privacy, shipping), and any other content pages are created in Shopify's page editor.
You review and approve the store. We send a preview link. You go through the product listings, test the checkout flow end-to-end, and confirm everything is right.
We set up redirects. WooCommerce and Shopify use different URL structures for product and category pages. We set up Shopify URL redirects so anyone visiting an old link is sent to the right new page.
We connect your domain. We update your DNS settings to point your domain to Shopify. Your WooCommerce site stays live on the original host until you're ready to cancel it.
URL structure differences
WooCommerce and Shopify use different URL patterns. This means redirects are required for almost every product and collection page.
| WooCommerce pattern | Shopify equivalent |
|---|---|
/product/red-sneakers | /products/red-sneakers |
/product-category/shoes | /collections/shoes |
/shop | /collections/all |
/cart | /cart |
We set these up in Shopify's URL redirect manager before going live.
What about my WordPress blog?
If your WooCommerce site includes a blog, Shopify has a built-in blog feature. Blog posts can be migrated manually or using a third-party import tool. For large blogs (50+ posts), allow extra time in the project timeline.
After the migration
Keep your WooCommerce site live for at least four weeks. During that time:
- Confirm all products and pages are correct on Shopify
- Confirm orders are flowing through correctly
- Make sure email notifications to you and your customers are working
- Compare sales data between old and new to confirm nothing is missing
After four weeks, you can cancel your WordPress hosting. Keep your domain registration active and pointed at Shopify.
Common questions
Will the URL structure on Shopify be the same as WooCommerce?
No. Shopify uses its own URL patterns (/products/, /collections/). WooCommerce typically uses /product/ and /product-category/. These are different. We set up redirects so all old URLs forward to the correct new Shopify pages, protecting your SEO.
Can I import customer passwords?
No. Password hashes from WordPress cannot be used in Shopify. Customers who want an account on your Shopify store will need to set a new password. Most returning customers are happy to do this, and many prefer to check out as guests anyway.
What happens to my WooCommerce-specific plugins?
WooCommerce plugins don't transfer to Shopify. Many common plugin features (product reviews, wishlists, loyalty programs, subscriptions) have equivalent Shopify apps. Some are free; some have monthly costs. We'll identify which Shopify apps replace your current plugin functionality.
Is Shopify more expensive than WooCommerce in the long run?
It depends on your store's scale. Shopify charges a fixed monthly fee plus transaction fees (reduced if you use Shopify Payments). WooCommerce has no platform fee but requires hosting and plugin costs. For stores with straightforward product catalogs and no custom development needs, Shopify can be comparable or cheaper once hosting is factored in.
Related guides
- Pre-migration checklist
- Don't lose your SEO during a migration
- Migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce
- Give us WordPress admin access
- What is WooCommerce?
- Payment methods explained
- Which platform is your website built on?
- Shopify — the complete store guide — where to learn your new store
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