Migration guide

WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Checklist (2026)

A complete pre-migration, during-migration, and post-migration checklist for moving your WooCommerce store to Shopify. Covers products, images, SEO, orders, customers, and go-live steps.

Steps in this guide

1Audit your current WooCommerce store
2Set up your Shopify store and basic configuration
3Export and validate your product data
4Migrate products to Shopify
5Set up redirects for all product and category URLs
6Migrate customers and order history
7Configure apps and integrations
8Test thoroughly before going live
9Go live: switch DNS
10Post-launch verification and cleanup

Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify is a multi-stage project that requires careful preparation to avoid data loss, SEO damage, and customer disruption. This checklist covers everything you need to do before, during, and after the migration.

Phase 1: Pre-migration audit (Week 1)

Catalog audit

Export a full product count: total products, variable products, total variants
Flag products with more than 100 variants (Shopify limit)
Flag products with more than 3 attribute types (Shopify option limit)
Check image URLs — are all images hosted on your server? Are they publicly accessible?
List custom product fields (WooCommerce metadata / ACF fields) that need Shopify metafields
Document all product categories and their hierarchy

Technical audit

List all active WooCommerce plugins and their functions
Document any custom code in functions.php, child themes, or custom plugins
Export your full URL structure (product URLs, category URLs, tag URLs, page URLs)
Check Google Search Console for your top-performing URLs (protect these with redirects)
List all third-party integrations (email, CRM, ERP, accounting, shipping)

Data to migrate

Products (titles, descriptions, prices, SKUs, inventory)
Product images
Categories → Shopify collections
Tags
Customers (name, email, address)
Order history (if required)
Blog posts / pages (if on WordPress)
Discount codes

Phase 2: Shopify setup (Week 1–2)

Store configuration

Create Shopify account and choose plan
Set store name, address, currency, timezone
Configure Shopify Payments or connect your payment gateway
Set up shipping zones and rates
Add tax settings (check if you need tax-inclusive pricing or tax-exempt rules)
Configure email templates (order confirmation, shipping notification, etc.)

Theme setup

Choose and install a theme (test with your actual products — images, long descriptions, variant selectors)
Customize colors, fonts, and layout to match your brand
Set up navigation menus
Create essential pages: About, Contact, Shipping Policy, Return Policy, Privacy Policy

Shopify apps

Install equivalents for each critical WooCommerce plugin
Key apps to evaluate: reviews (Judge.me, Loox), SEO (Smart SEO), email (Klaviyo), upsells (Zipify), subscriptions (Recharge) if applicable
Test each app with sample data before the full migration

Phase 3: Product migration (Week 2–3)

Prepare product data

Export products from WooCommerce via built-in exporter or WooCommerce REST API
Clean data: remove HTML from titles, fix encoding issues, normalize prices (no currency symbols)
Validate: check all SKUs are unique, all prices are valid numbers, handles are URL-safe
Map WooCommerce categories to Shopify product types and collections
Handle custom fields: identify which map to Shopify metafields

Test import (20–50 products)

Import a representative sample via Shopify CSV or API
Verify titles, descriptions, and HTML rendering
Check that all images load (view source to confirm they've been fetched to Shopify CDN)
Verify all variants are present with correct prices and SKUs
Check that tags and product type are set correctly

Full catalog import

Import remaining products in batches
For 1,000+ products, use the API or a tool like k-sync (GraphQL Bulk Operations for speed)
After import, spot-check at least 50 products across different categories
Verify product count matches WooCommerce export
Set up collections (manual or automated by tag/type)

Phase 4: SEO migration (Week 3)

This is the most commonly neglected step — and the most damaging if done wrong.

URL redirect mapping

Export all live URLs from WooCommerce (use Screaming Frog or Google Search Console)
Map each old URL to its new Shopify equivalent
WooCommerce products: /product/blue-widget/ → Shopify: /products/blue-widget
WooCommerce categories: /product-category/widgets/ → Shopify: /collections/widgets
Upload redirect CSV to Shopify Admin (Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects)
Verify your top 20 highest-traffic URLs redirect correctly

SEO configuration in Shopify

Set title tags and meta descriptions for homepage, collection pages, and product pages
Verify sitemap.xml is generated: yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml
Add Google Search Console and submit new sitemap
Add Google Analytics 4 via Shopify's Preferences
Verify canonical tags are correct on all pages

Phase 5: Customer and order migration (Week 3)

Export customers from WooCommerce (CSV with name, email, addresses)
Import customer CSV to Shopify (Customers → Import)
Note: passwords cannot be migrated — plan customer communication for password resets
For order history migration: evaluate third-party migration apps or accept keeping WC for lookups
Transfer discount codes if applicable

Phase 6: Pre-launch testing (Week 4)

Complete a full test purchase: add to cart, checkout, payment, confirmation email
Test on mobile (iOS Safari + Android Chrome)
Test account login and order history for migrated customers
Verify all redirects work with a link checker
Check page load speed (Google PageSpeed Insights)
Test all contact forms and email notifications
Test all payment methods (credit card, PayPal if applicable)
Verify inventory levels are correct across all variants
Get a final sign-off from all stakeholders

Phase 7: Go-live

Schedule the switchover for a low-traffic period (Tuesday–Wednesday, early morning)
In Shopify Admin: add your custom domain (Online Store → Domains)
Update DNS at your domain registrar:
- Set A record to: 23.227.38.65
- Set CNAME for www to: shops.myshopify.com
Set Shopify as the primary domain
Enable Shopify's SSL — wait for the padlock before announcing go-live
Put WooCommerce in maintenance mode (don't delete it yet)

Phase 8: Post-launch (Week 1–4)

Monitor Google Search Console daily for the first week — check for crawl errors
Watch Google Analytics for traffic anomalies
Monitor Shopify's order flow for any checkout issues
Check for "mixed content" warnings (HTTP images on HTTPS pages)
Respond promptly to any customer complaints about missing order history
After 30 days: if everything is stable, you can decommission the WooCommerce store
Cancel WooCommerce hosting (save the database backup first)

Using k-sync to automate this process

k-sync handles the most complex parts of this checklist automatically:

Connects to your WooCommerce store via REST API and imports the full catalog
Validates against Shopify's limits (100 variant limit, 3 option types, unique SKUs, handle length)
Transforms product data to Shopify format (prices, handles, variant options)
Pushes via GraphQL Bulk Operations for large catalogs (3–5x faster than REST)
Generates a Shopify-compatible CSV if you prefer manual import

The free tier covers up to 50 products via API or unlimited via CSV export. Start your migration for free.

Step by step

Audit your current WooCommerce store

Before migrating, document what you have: total products, variation count, custom product fields (metafields), active plugins, installed themes, and any custom code in functions.php. This tells you what you'll need to replicate on Shopify.

Set up your Shopify store and basic configuration

Create a Shopify account, choose your plan, add your domain (or transfer it), set up Shopify Payments (or your preferred gateway), configure shipping zones, and install your theme. Do this before migrating products — it's much easier to test with real products in a configured store.

Export and validate your product data

Export all products from WooCommerce including images, variants, prices, SKUs, categories, and tags. Validate the data before importing: check for duplicate SKUs, products with missing prices, handles that are too long, products with more than 100 variants, and image URLs that are accessible.

Migrate products to Shopify

Import products via CSV upload (for up to 1,000 products) or the Admin API (for larger catalogs). After import, verify 20–30 sample products: check titles, descriptions, images, variants, prices, inventory, and tags all transferred correctly.

Set up redirects for all product and category URLs

Create 301 redirects from your old WooCommerce URLs to the new Shopify URLs. This is critical for SEO — without redirects, all your page ranking is lost. Export your URL structure from WooCommerce and create corresponding redirects in Shopify Admin or via a bulk redirect app.

Migrate customers and order history

Export customers from WooCommerce (WooCommerce → Customers → Export). Import to Shopify via CSV or the API. Note: Shopify cannot import WooCommerce order history into its native orders system. Use a third-party app or keep the old WooCommerce database accessible for historical order queries.

Configure apps and integrations

Identify every plugin active on WooCommerce and find equivalent Shopify apps: email marketing (Klaviyo, Mailchimp), reviews (Judge.me, Loox), loyalty programs, subscription management, live chat, and analytics. Some WooCommerce plugins have no direct Shopify equivalent and require custom development.

Test thoroughly before going live

Place test orders on the new Shopify store using Shopify's test payment gateway. Test checkout on mobile and desktop. Verify all product pages load correctly, images display, variants work, add to cart functions, and the checkout flow completes. Test with real customer accounts to verify login and account history.

Go live: switch DNS

When ready to go live, update your domain DNS to point to Shopify. The process: add your domain in Shopify Admin (Online Store → Domains), then update the A record and CNAME at your domain registrar. DNS propagates within minutes to 48 hours — most users see the change within 1–4 hours.

Post-launch verification and cleanup

After go-live, verify all redirects are working using a redirect checker tool, monitor Google Search Console for crawl errors, test purchasing on the live store, check email notifications are sending correctly, and disable (but don't delete yet) your WooCommerce store for 30 days while you confirm everything is working.

Do it yourself with k-sync — free tier available

k-sync automates this entire guide. Connect your WooCommerce store, validate products, and push to Shopify in minutes.

Start migrating free

Frequently asked questions

How long does a WooCommerce to Shopify migration take?

Timeline depends on catalog size and custom requirements. A simple store with under 500 products and no custom functionality can be migrated in 1–3 days (1 day for product import, 1–2 days for configuration and testing). A complex store with 5,000+ products, custom integrations, and customer data migration can take 2–6 weeks.

Will I lose my SEO rankings when I migrate to Shopify?

You can preserve most of your SEO value by setting up 301 redirects from all old WooCommerce URLs to the new Shopify URLs. Without redirects, you will lose all page ranking for those URLs. Shopify's URL structure differs from WooCommerce (e.g., /products/ prefix for all products), so redirects are always required.

Can I migrate WooCommerce order history to Shopify?

Not natively. Shopify's CSV order import only supports draft orders, not the full historical order data that appears in the native orders section. Third-party apps like Matrixify can import historical order data into Shopify. Alternatively, keep your WooCommerce store accessible (password-protected) for historical order lookups.

How do I handle WooCommerce custom fields and metafields in Shopify?

WooCommerce custom fields (added via ACF or custom code) have no automatic equivalent in Shopify. You need to create Shopify metafields with matching definitions, then include the metafield values in your product import (via API metafields, not CSV — Shopify CSV doesn't support metafields). Plan this before migration, as custom fields are often missed.

What happens to my WooCommerce customer passwords?

Customer passwords cannot be migrated — they are hashed with WordPress/WooCommerce's encryption scheme, which Shopify doesn't support. Migrated customers will need to reset their passwords the first time they log in to the new Shopify store. Send a bulk email notifying customers to reset their passwords before or immediately after launch.

Do I need to keep my WooCommerce store running during migration?

Yes — keep your WooCommerce store live until you're ready to go live on Shopify. Build and test the Shopify store on a different domain or Shopify's myshopify.com subdomain. When ready, switch DNS. Keep WooCommerce accessible (read-only, password-protected) for at least 30 days after migration for reference.

What is the cheapest way to migrate WooCommerce to Shopify?

The cheapest method is a manual CSV migration for the product catalog (free, using Shopify's built-in CSV import) combined with k-sync's free tier for validation and export. Customer migration via CSV is also free. The main costs are your time (or a developer's time for redirects and custom work) and the Shopify subscription itself.

How do I handle products with more than 100 variants?

Shopify has a hard limit of 100 variants per product. WooCommerce has no such limit. If you have products exceeding 100 variants, you have several options: split the product into multiple Shopify products, reduce the variant count by consolidating options, or use a Shopify app that extends the variant limit (some metafield-based solutions exist).

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