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If you feel that your current Magento store is becoming too difficult to manage, your business is dynamic, and your site’s loading speed is holding you back, it might be time for migrating from Magento to Shopify. We say “might,” as migration is a complex solution. If you decide to go through with it, we’ll be here to help with the store migration. But first, let’s ensure that this is exactly what you need. Let’s dig in.
Key players in the e-commerce field have always competed with each other. Although it is impossible to say that one ecommerce platform is better or worse than another, users migrate between platforms regularly. Working with both the Shopify and Magento ecommerce platforms, we also do not want to say that one platform is superior. However, we cannot ignore the migration trend from Magento to Shopify. Let’s delve into the topic to understand when and why migration is appropriate.
While we’re not trying to glorify one platform at the expense of another, some data is hard to overlook. Trends in e-commerce platform use show a significant increase in the number of Shopify stores. At the same time, Magento is experiencing a decline in use.
This trend is easy to understand: merchants are migrating from Magento to Shopify to benefit from the lower costs associated with running a Shopify store, eliminate the need for constant patches, and reduce overall development expenses.
To facilitate this migration process, many merchants are utilizing a migration tool to ensure a smooth transition.
Shopify is constantly expanding its already extensive selection of apps and features, enhancing the capabilities of online stores of all sizes. This platform offers more robust solutions than competitors like Magento, enabling merchants to deliver a superior user experience. Shopify also allows for greater control over design aesthetics and presents excellent opportunities for international expansion. Furthermore, Shopify’s fast and highly secure hosting infrastructure ensures strong data protection and quick access to information.
As a result, migrating from Magento to Shopify or Shopify Plus can be a highly effective investment in the growth and development of your online business.
Unfortunately, Magento to Shopify migration isn’t a magic pill that will bring you the desired result in one day or one week. It’s a complified process that requires qualified specialists, time, money, and the understanding that some processes require more than just moving to another platform. And yes, Magento is also a great option, but only if the platform fits your requirements and future development plans. So, how can you know if you should migrate or if you can fix certain flaws in your current site? For this, we have prepared a checklist to help you develop a comprehensive migration strategy.
Have you been satisfied with Magento’s functionality so far? Or do you need features that Magento does not offer?
Are you experiencing technical issues, slow performance, or expensive updates and support? Have you tried Magento maintenance services? If your answers are yes, then consider migrating your Magento store to Shopify to reduce the migration cost.
Do you need a platform with a more straightforward interface and more accessible management?
Do you need convenient international marketing tools for localizing content and managing multilingual stores?
Are you satisfied with your site’s current speed and hosting stability?
Are you willing to invest in migrating to a platform with lower long-term support costs?
Would you like to improve the design and UI/UX, or maybe create a new one from scratch?
Are you looking for simple integration with a wide selection of applications to improve your store’s functionality?
Are you satisfied with the current level of technical and community support?
Do you see the potential to reduce the cost of ongoing updates, patches, and maintenance?
By answering these questions, you can better assess whether you should migrate to Shopify or upgrade your current Magento store. If you have any doubts or if something is not clear from the technical point of view, we will gladly consult.
In fairness, we should note that in addition to Magento 2 to Shopify migration, there is also a place for migration in the opposite direction, from Shopify to Magento 2. While transferring data from Magento 2 to Shopify is a more common scenario, a Shopify – Magento migration may be justified when:
If your business requires an extremely high level of customization, Magento 2 may be a better choice with its modular structure and open-source nature.
For large enterprises with large product catalogs, complex business processes, and high traffic volumes, Magento 2 can offer better scalability and performance.
If a business needs features such as volume pricing, complex authorization systems, and sales pipeline management, Magento 2 may be a better fit.
In some cases, when a business already has integrations with other systems that work better with Magento 2, reverse migration may be justified to preserve existing investments.
Preparation is a crucial part of the migration process. Properly done, it will guarantee that your new Shopify store performs great with migrated data from your existing Magento store. So before starting, identify all data types you need to back up, such as products, categories, customer data, order history, product images, payment gateway configurations, shipping settings, and any custom settings or extensions used in your Magento store.
Below, we give tips on how to prepare for migration on your own. If these steps seem complicated, we are always here to organize and migrate Magento store.
You can use the built-in Magento admin panel tools or access your server directly via cPanel, phpMyAdmin, or SSH if needed.
Apart from the database, all media files, such as product images, banners, and category icons, must be backed up. You can find them stored in the media folder within Magento’s root directory.
If your existing Magento store uses any custom themes, extensions, or code modifications, it’s also important to back these up.
You have decided to migrate from Magento to a new Shopify store. What exactly will we transfer? Whatever your route is, we’ll transfer the main store data (listed below) and any additional data you may have:
Moving apartments can be exciting, but you may be apprehensive about moving your ecommerce store to another platform. That’s why we have a structured migration scheme so you can be confident about the steps you will take and the fact that your business will continue working without a loss of profit.
Migration starts with migration planning, evaluating and prioritizing all project tasks according to their business value. First, you share your requirements and desired outcomes with us. After that, we provide you with a comprehensive plan that includes a detailed list of tasks and their corresponding deadlines.
At this stage, we transfer your database by exporting Magento data to the Shopify platform. You can rest assured that your data is safe and secure, as we use a reliable Magento to Shopify migration tool to minimize the risk of errors and issues.
We will seamlessly migrate all the features you relied on in Magento to the new platform, including essential migration features. Additionally, we will transfer all custom functionality that is critical for your store’s proper operation and your customers’ convenience.
We can collaborate to select the most suitable design from available templates or create a new design from the ground up. In either case, the UI and UX will be tailored to meet the specific needs of your online store.
Our QA specialists thoroughly test all aspects of the site’s functionality, with a strong focus on migration testing, performance, and speed. We ensure that your Google score remains unaffected during this process.
Magento to Shopify migration is considered complete only after you approve the fully functional website. If necessary, we make final adjustments and confirm the release date. Our partnership doesn’t end at launch – we provide two months of free support to help you acclimate to the new platform and ensure everything operates according to your business needs.
Every process has risks, and Magento to Shopify data migration is no exception. For your consideration, we list the main challenges that can arise when transferring store data.
Migration difficulties can arise when attempting to migrate large amounts of data, such as records of orders, customers, products, categories, and purchase history, especially if the data is unstructured or contains errors.
If your current store has many custom features or integrations, you may risk losing some features or need help replicating them on the new platform.
While Shopify offers many ready-made templates, transferring a unique design from Magento can take much effort. Some UI/UX elements may need to be adapted or completely redone.
During migration, there may be a risk of losing SEO settings, which is why migration SEO is crucial. This can harm the store’s search visibility. Migrating URLs, metadata, and the site structure requires close attention.
Integration with CRM and ERP systems, payment gateways, logistics services, or marketing platforms may require additional work to ensure seamless operation on Shopify.
The move may affect your current order processing and warehouse management processes – in particular, if you use custom Magento solutions that do not have direct counterparts on Shopify.
Your staff may need migration training to adapt to the new platform and learn to work with new interfaces and tools. Therefore, migration can result in additional money and time expenditures.
There may be migration malfunctions causing interruptions in the store’s operation when transferring data or configuring functionality, which may affect sales.
During the migration period, there may be temporary inconveniences for customers that may lead to decreased satisfaction with migration customer service.
While Shopify can reduce support costs in the long run, the migration service cost may require more initial investment to customize the platform to meet business needs.
One more critical clarification for business owners considering migrating to another platform: understanding the differences between Magento and Shopify is essential. Magento is a custom solution, while Shopify is completely boxy. So make sure to carefully map your features to what Shopify provides out of the box and through its app store. If you aren’t sure about the feasibility of migration, we can help you decide. Customizing Shopify is possible, but this is an additional expense that you should know about in advance.
After the previous paragraph, you may have a completely logical question about possible complications: How will you protect my online business from losing revenue during migration? We do this through carefully following these stages during Magento migration to Shopify to ensure migration safety.
Prioritization
At Dinarys, our migration process begins by focusing on the most critical aspects of your business’s proper functioning to ensure no revenue losses.
Accurate data transfer
We are well-versed in managing the differences in database structures between ecommerce platforms to ensure that every byte is preserved when migrating products and other data from Magento to Shopify.
Feature transfer by value
We prioritize transferring all Magento features that are crucial for revenue generation, along with any custom functionalities on your original website.
Theme and design customization
Understanding the importance of UI and UX design, we assist you in selecting the most suitable ready-made design — or we can develop a custom theme from scratch.
Precise Shopify configuration
Once we finalize the vision for your new online store, we meticulously configure it to meet your specific requirements.
Testing and performance review
To ensure everything functions flawlessly, we conduct both automated and manual testing of all features and perform a comprehensive performance review.
This is the easiest question to answer so far. When you hire people to complete a task, it’s comforting to know they have migration expertise and are truly professionals. At Dinarys, we have 10+ years of ecommerce experience and have delivered over 415 projects. And when it comes to Magento to Shopify migration, our knowledge and experience working with both platforms makes us doubly confident that we can give you precisely the results you are looking for.
These badges are a testament to our dedication:
E-commerce trends are exciting, and they always highlight the market situation in one way or another. However, trends do not always correspond to your business goals, and it is essential to remember this before making decisions. Dinarys will help you with both Magento to Shopify migration and Shopify to Magento migration, as we know the nuances and are prepared for the challenges.
And most importantly, if you need to migrate your store, you should entrust it to specialists who are responsible for the quality of their work. We are always here if you need us.
Our certified specialists will find the most optimal solution for your business.
