We run enough WooCommerce-to-Shopify migrations to have a consistent playbook, and enough of them go sideways at the same three or four points that it's worth documenting exactly where. This is the process we follow, including the parts that are easy to get wrong.
Why clients make this move
The most common trigger isn't dissatisfaction with WordPress itself, it's maintenance burden: WooCommerce requires you to manage PHP updates, plugin compatibility, security patching, and hosting performance yourself or through a maintenance retainer. Shopify handles PCI compliance, uptime, and checkout optimization as part of the platform fee. Clients moving from WooCommerce to Shopify are typically trading some customization flexibility for materially lower operational overhead, and for stores without highly unusual checkout requirements, that trade is usually worth it once monthly order volume crosses a few hundred orders.
Product data migration: the part that goes wrong most often
WooCommerce and Shopify structure product data differently enough that a naive CSV export/import loses information. Specific issues we handle on every migration:
- Variable products with complex attribute combinations — WooCommerce variations (size × colour × material, for example) need careful mapping to Shopify's variant system, which has its own limits (100 variants per product as of current Shopify plans)
- Product categories vs. Shopify collections — WooCommerce's hierarchical category structure doesn't map one-to-one to Shopify collections; we typically rebuild the taxonomy as smart collections with rules rather than a direct import
- Custom fields and metadata — anything stored via Advanced Custom Fields or custom WooCommerce meta needs individual mapping to Shopify metafields, which requires either the Matrixify app or custom API scripting for anything beyond basic fields
- Product images and alt text — bulk image migration tools frequently drop alt text, which then needs to be re-added for SEO and accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA requires meaningful alt text on product images)
Order history and customer accounts
Shopify doesn't natively import full order history with line-item detail through its standard tools. For stores that need historical order data preserved (for accounting, warranty tracking, or customer service continuity), we use the Shopify API directly or a paid migration app like Cart2Cart, and we always run a full reconciliation afterward — a spot check of at least 20 migrated orders against the original WooCommerce data before decommissioning the old store.
URL structure and SEO preservation
WooCommerce and Shopify use different URL patterns by default (WooCommerce: /product/product-name/, Shopify: /products/product-name), which means every single product and category URL changes unless you configure otherwise. This is the single biggest source of post-migration traffic loss we see when clients attempt this themselves. Our process:
- Export a full URL list from the existing WooCommerce site via Screaming Frog before touching anything
- Build a complete 301 redirect map from old URLs to new Shopify URLs before launch, not after
- Implement redirects through Shopify's native URL redirect tool for volumes under a few hundred, or a bulk app for larger catalogues
- Resubmit an updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console immediately post-launch and monitor the Coverage report for crawl errors over the following two weeks
App replacement mapping
Every WooCommerce plugin needs a Shopify equivalent identified before migration, not discovered as a gap after launch. Common mappings we build: WooCommerce Subscriptions to Shopify's native subscription APIs or the Recharge app, Yoast SEO to Shopify's built-in SEO fields, and WooCommerce's shipping zone rules to Shopify's shipping profile system, which handles multi-origin shipping differently.
Realistic timeline and cost
For a store with 200–800 SKUs and moderate customization, we typically scope this at $8,000–$18,000 CAD and 6–8 weeks, with an additional 2 weeks of parallel-running both stores before fully cutting over DNS, so you can catch data issues while the old site is still live as a fallback.
If you're planning this migration and have more than a thousand SKUs or complex variant structures, get a data audit done before you commit to a timeline — that's usually where our cost estimates shift most from initial scoping.
Surrey, BC
A full-service digital agency working in WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, Webflow, React, and React Native. We partner with universities, governments, and growing brands to ship sites and products that hold up after launch.
