Securely Migrate your data from Magento to Shopify

Magento has been a popular platform for ecommerce, but with the end of Magento1 recently, shop owners have been reconsidering whether to upgrade to Magento2 or embrace a different platform. Magento2 is quite expensive, which is unaffordable to shop owners who require standard functionalities and easy to use solutions without driving up set up and maintenance costs. 

Magento has also fallen out of favour because of its inherent complexity. Business owners who have to work with an ecommerce development company or a website app development company will tell you that these efforts hinder their ability to focus on growing their business. It definitely requires technical expertise in managing the store, which means additional resources. It is probably still a great solution for mid-sized enterprises, but it is obvious that most ecommerce store owners are exploring other platforms for their requirements. 

Shopify vs. Magento comparison

Let’s take a quick look at both the platforms so you can see for yourself what works for you. 

SaaS or PaaS?

Magento is a full-fledged platform that requires you to have a hosting provider for your website. It is an open-source platform where you can build your application and develop the entire store as per your requirements. 

Shopify, on the other hand, is a subscription-based Software-as-a-Service model which provides a great interface where you can create your store as per your requirement. It is a hosted solution provider where you can choose from a wide range of available options, but you do not get to make something entirely new. 

Shopify is actually enough for most store owners to set and manage their store. 

User Interface

Since Magento is open source, you will require the services of advanced developers to actually build your store and manage its operations and backend. Shopify is designed for even non-tech folks to understand how to manage, and even get started. 

Third-party app integration

Magento is great for developing ecommerce solutions with its default features which can be modified as you wish. But again, you require a developer to actually change the code and ensure that it is working smoothly.

Shopify offers an app store where you can pick and choose third party applications which cater to your exact functionality and deliver straightforward solutions. You can add functionalities and modify your store simply by integrating these apps. 

Costs

Magento is a free, open-source platform so there are no set up charges. But stores built on Magento still require hosting providers who charge their fees depending on your requirement. You will also have to consider the costs as per bandwidth usage, which will be charged by the hosting providers. 

Shopify is a subscription-based solution where you are paying for the usage of the platform. You can choose from the different plans to suit your requirement. 

Security

Magento1 is actually outdated by modern cybersecurity standards. For the next version, you will have to ensure that you manually update security versions. 

Shopify’s security is taken care of by the platform itself. It provides automated version updates, where you don’t really have to do anything else. 

Challenges

For all the reasons listed above, and several others, it is a good idea to migrate your ecommerce store from Magento to Shopify. Though you can hire Shopify developers or a Shopify development company for the migration, you should be aware of the common challenges involved in the process. 

Different categories and product data structure

Shopify has a different approach for product tagging than Magento. ‘Grouped products’ and ‘bundled products’ that you used in Magento is not available on Shopify.

Magento	Shopify
Category	Collection
Product attributes	Tags
Configurable products	Product variants

But unless you have a huge catalogue of products (>100K), this is not a major issue. When working with a Shopify development agency, make sure that you discuss with them in detail about Shopify product information structure. 

Shopify’s approach is actually more SEO friendly, and you can promote your pages with long-tail keywords. 

Renaming URLs

Category, product, and other pages will have new URLs in the Shopify convention which can have a negative impact on your site traffic. Typically, Shopify development services include mapping each URL and redirecting it to the new link. Still, you have to ensure that your previous links aren’t dead or broken. 

Customer migration

Shopify helps you migrate customer accounts seamlessly, but since passwords are encrypted, they cannot be migrated to the new platform. You can either mail your existing customers to enter a new password to reactivate their account or provide a link to the account reactivation page to guide them through the process. 

Secure Magento to Shopify Data Migration

Time taken for migration depends on several factors such as your existing data, features and functionalities required, etc. But during the migration process, you should keep your existing Magento store running until you have migrated the entire data, tested the new platform, and have launched the new design live. 

When you hire Shopify developers, be clear during the planning stage itself that there must be minimal disruptions, and customers should not find your store unavailable due to migration. 

• What to Migrate

Migration focuses on product information and webpage content to the Shopify store. Then there is customer data, order history, status data, and other information which is critical for your business growth. 

However, this is also an opportunity for you to ensure that you delete old, obsolete data regarding Magento functionality, code for plugins, etc. Prioritize only what is required for your new store and discard unnecessary stuff. 

• Backup your store

Make sure that your current data is safe with the latest backup. Migration can sometimes not go according to plan, in which case, your backup still contains the crucial data about your customers, products, payments, etc. 

Most Magento hosting providers offer automatic backups, but please take the time to create a system backup, database and media backup, and the entire database backup. 

• Test Shopify platform

Shopify offers a free trial period where you can familiarize yourself and your team with the platform. Make use of the offer to ensure that you are able to easily navigate and understand the wide range of features and functionalities. Without proper acclimatisation, a sudden change in your website backend systems can cause disruption. 

• Export Magento data

It is a straightforward process to transport your Magento data into a spreadsheet. From the Admin panel, choose Data Transfer, and then Export. There are three types of data available viz., Products, Customer Main File, and Customer Addresses. Each of them has to be separately exported in either XML (for Shopify Import app) or CSV (for manual import to Shopify) format.

• Set up the Import Store App

Shopify provides apps like Magento Importer on the app store which make your data import easy. Simply choose from the Import Store app, and Magento from the options. You can now upload the Exported data where the importation process continues until all the data is imported into Shopify. 

• Organize your data

As discussed before, Shopify has a different approach to product nomenclature. First of all, ensure that there is no data lost in the migration, or any errors in customers or product data. Migration should be seamlessly accomplished, but if there are any errors or missing data, you can also manually enter it again to resolve them. 

• Extensive Testing

Testing the new platform and store is crucial for any migration efforts. At each stage, test everything. Even small errors or breaks create unnecessary hassles if you don’t catch them early. 

• Store design

Your new store does not have to replicate your old store exactly, unless, of course, you want it to. But it is a good idea to revisit your store front end and make changes wherever needed to ensure that your customers get a better experience. Use the right themes for your branding, and that the content is customized accordingly. Design and functionality should be balanced for the right experience. 

Align the backend with the frontend changes, and as before, test everything a few times. Go through the buyers’ journey from browsing the store to placing and completing the order to ensure that there are no disruptions. 

• Go Live

Only after you ensure that all the data is catalogued properly, all the apps and services are functioning well, and the backend tested completely, you should take your website live! 

Final Thoughts

Planning and preparation for migration is key to a secure Magento to Shopify Data migration. There are inherent risks in migration, and the effects on your brand and customer experience can be disastrous if not properly addressed. 

We hope our guide has been useful to you in preparing for your own migration journey. If you would like to know more, or discuss your own experience, we would love to hear from you.