WooCommerce to Shopify: How to Migrate Data, Plugins and SEO
Moving from WooCommerce to Shopify means backing up your WordPress site, transferring products, customers and orders with Shopify’s free Store Migration app, CSV files or a migration service, then rebuilding your design, replacing plugins with Shopify apps and redirecting old URLs. Products and customers move easily, while orders, blog posts and plugin-based features need extra tools or manual work.
Many merchants switch to stop managing hosting, plugin updates and compatibility issues themselves. Shopify takes care of hosting and security, so the move is mostly about mapping your data and protecting the search traffic your WooCommerce store has built.
How to Migrate From WooCommerce to Shopify
There are four main ways to move a WooCommerce store to Shopify. The right one depends on your catalog size, whether you need order history and how much of the work you want to handle yourself:
| Method | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify’s Store Migration app | A free Shopify app that imports products and customers, with WooCommerce as a supported platform | Moving your catalog and customer list quickly | Doesn’t move order history, blog posts or plugin data |
| Manual CSV import | Export products and customers from WooCommerce, reformat them to Shopify’s templates and import them in the admin | Small stores with simple catalogs | Shopify’s admin can’t import orders, and variable products need reshaping |
| Migration and import tools | Tools such as Cart2Cart, LitExtension and Matrixify move products, categories, customers, orders, reviews and more | Larger stores and stores that need order history | Supported data and pricing vary by tool |
| Migration experts | A Shopify Partner handles data, redirects, theme rebuild and app setup | Heavily customized stores or tight deadlines | Higher cost, so compare scope carefully |
Migration tools usually connect to WooCommerce with REST API keys generated in your WooCommerce settings. Many offer a free demo on a sample of your data, which lets you check results before paying for the full transfer.
What Data Moves From WooCommerce to Shopify
Core store data moves well, but WordPress content and plugin features need extra planning. This table shows what to expect:
| WooCommerce data | On Shopify | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Simple products | Products | Check names, descriptions, SKUs, prices, stock and images after import |
| Variable products | Products with variants | Each variation becomes a variant row, with up to three options per product |
| Product categories and tags | Collections and tags | Rebuild category hierarchy with menus |
| Customers | Customers | Names, emails and addresses move, but passwords don’t |
| Orders | Orders | Need a migration tool or order import app |
| Coupons and reviews | Discounts and a review app | Supported by some migration tools, otherwise recreate or import them separately |
| Blog posts and pages | Blog posts and pages | WordPress content doesn’t import directly, so use a migration tool or copy it manually |
| Bundles, add-ons and subscriptions | Shopify apps | Plugin-based features need Shopify app replacements |
| Digital products | Products with a digital downloads app | Attach files again after import |
| Theme and plugins | Not transferable | WooCommerce themes and plugins don’t work on Shopify |
WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Step by Step
A clear order keeps your data connected and your WooCommerce store selling until launch. Work through these steps:
- Back up WordPress. Create a full site and database backup with a backup plugin or your host’s tools, and store it off-site.
- Audit your plugins. List every plugin your store relies on, such as subscriptions, product add-ons or custom fields, and find Shopify replacements.
- Set up Shopify. Choose a plan and theme, and configure payments, shipping and taxes.
- Export or connect your data. Export product and customer CSVs, or connect your WooCommerce store to your migration tool.
- Import products, then customers. Check variants, images and prices before moving on.
- Migrate orders and content. Use a migration tool for order history, reviews and coupons, and move blog posts and pages with a tool or by hand.
- Rebuild your storefront. Customize your theme, navigation and collections.
- Set up redirects. Map each old WooCommerce URL to its new Shopify page.
- Test and launch. Place test orders, check checkout, emails and mobile layouts, then point your domain to Shopify.
- Update marketing links. Change URLs in ads, email templates and social profiles to your new store.
Export your data from WooCommerce
WooCommerce has a built-in product exporter under Products > All Products > Export, which creates a CSV with product details, prices, stock and image links. You can export all products or filter by type or category, including variable products and their variations.
Customers and orders don’t have the same built-in CSV exporter in WooCommerce, so you’ll usually need an export plugin or a migration tool that pulls the data directly. WordPress’s own Tools > Export creates an XML file of posts and pages, which is useful as a backup but isn’t a Shopify-ready product file.
Prepare files for Shopify
WooCommerce’s CSV columns don’t match Shopify’s product and customer templates, so map each field before a manual import. Variable products need the most attention: each variation becomes a row under the same handle, with option names and values in Shopify’s option columns.
Because Bulkflow works with both WooCommerce and Shopify, it can help here. It supports bulk import, export and updates to existing product records with field mapping for both platforms, which is useful when product data needs reshaping or correcting in bulk during the move.
Replace WooCommerce Plugins on Shopify
WordPress plugins don’t install on Shopify, so each feature needs a native Shopify equivalent, an app or a decision to retire it. Common replacements include:
- Subscriptions. A Shopify subscription app replaces WooCommerce Subscriptions.
- Product add-ons and bundles. Product options and bundle apps cover custom fields, add-ons and grouped products.
- Custom fields. Shopify metafields can store extra product details.
- SEO plugins. Shopify includes editable page titles, meta descriptions and an automatic sitemap, so check what you still need an app for.
- Email marketing and reviews. Connect your email platform and install a review app, then import your existing subscribers and reviews where supported.
Shopify doesn’t include email hosting, so if your business email runs through your WordPress host, keep that service or move it before changing DNS settings. Planning this early prevents gaps in email delivery when your domain switches to Shopify.
Protect Your SEO and Move Your Domain
WooCommerce URLs usually look like /product/product-name/ and /product-category/category-name/, while Shopify uses /products/ and /collections/. Every valuable old URL needs a 301 redirect to its new page, or search traffic and existing links will hit error pages.
- List your URLs. Export product, category, page and blog URLs, prioritizing pages with traffic or backlinks.
- Import redirects in bulk. Map each old URL to its closest new page and upload the redirects to Shopify as a CSV file, or use your migration tool’s redirect option.
- Keep SEO content. Carry over page titles, meta descriptions and image alt text from your SEO plugin.
- Connect your domain last. Point your domain’s DNS records to Shopify after redirects and testing are complete, and allow time for the change to take effect.
- Monitor after launch. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and watch for 404 errors and ranking changes.
Common WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Problems
Many issues come from plugin-based data or CSV formatting. Watch for these:
- Variants imported as separate products. Variable products weren’t restructured into variant rows.
- Missing images. Images on a separate server or behind restrictions couldn’t be downloaded.
- Broken bundles or add-ons. Plugin-based products needed app replacements.
- Hidden or unpublished products. Product visibility didn’t carry over as expected.
- Missing dimensions. Product dimensions had to be re-entered for shipping rates.
- Login confusion. Customers weren’t told their passwords need resetting.
- Outdated marketing links. Ads and emails still pointed to old WooCommerce URLs.
Conclusion
Moving from WooCommerce to Shopify trades plugin management and hosting upkeep for a platform that handles the technical side for you. With your data mapped carefully, plugins replaced and redirects in place, your products, customers and search traffic can make the move intact. We hope this guide helps you migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify with confidence. If you need to move or update product data in bulk, you can explore Bulkflow.
