What are the ways to migrate from Magento to Shopify?

If you are looking for a solution to transfer data from your Magento store to a new Shopify store, keep reading. In this article, were going to show you methods to migrate from Magento to Shopify and outline the strengths and weaknesses of each method.

Generally speaking, there are 3 ways to perform Magento to Shopify migration:

1. Manual migration
2. Professional help
3. Automated migration tool

Lets dig deep into it!

What are the ways to migrate from Magento to Shopify?

Method 1: Migrate manually

To manually move your data from Magento to Shopify, first you will need to export data from Magento, and then import those data to Shopify. 

Please note that Magento only allows its users to export products and customers, while Shopify allows import products, customers, and orders. It means migrating manually is only suitable for small businesses with limited products and customers because many other kinds of data like categories, variants, attributes, additional images… are left behind. 

Export data from Magento

• Log in to your Magento administrator area
• Proceed to System, then click Import/Export -> Export
• In the Export Settings section, set Entity Type to one of the following: Products, Customers main file, Customer addresses

Magento Admin Panel

• If its needed, change the display of the entity attributes. You are able to include or exclude data of your choice according to the entity attribute values. To include records with specific attribute values, please set the required values of the attributes in the Filter column.

Entity attributes

• Scroll down then click Continue in the lower-right corner of the page. 

Import data to Shopify

Please note that

• Your product CSV cant exceed 15MB.
• You should know the Shopify CSV file basics and how to prepare it before importing. Then, download the Sample CSV template, compare and change your files format accordingly to make sure it matches the CSV format.

Detailed steps

• From the Shopify admin, hit Products , All products
• Click Import -> Download CSV template

Download CSV files template

• Locate your CSV file, then click Open

Shopify import CSV template

• Once you finish modifying the CSV files, go back to your Shopify admin and click Choose File > Upload file.

You will receive a confirmation email from Shopify right after your CSV file is uploaded successfully. 

Note:

• This method might be impossible for websites that have large quantities of content (over 1000 pages)
• There is always the possibility for errors, so you have to put extra effort and time into testing, verifying, and backing up the data. 

Method 2: Hire an expert/developer

If you find manual migration too unprofessional and time-consuming, hiring a developer instead is better. However, the bad news here is that the cost of that service is not cheap. It varies from $50 to $80 per hour. Actually, hiring an expert to get your job done is the same as migrating your site manually, but with a more experienced hand. In other words, you are paying to re-platform your site quickly.

Please bear in mind that there will be a bit of risk hiring an expert to migrate your website because developers rarely understand 100% of the data structures of both platforms. That means they need to spend a lot of time re-platforming your website, so the money you have to spend to hire them will increase.

Method 3: Use the automated migration tool

Lastly, you can choose to migrate with LitExtension which is an automated migration tool. They are supporting migration from over 100 carts to one another. LitExtension helps you migrate products, customers, orders, and other data from Magento to Shopify automatically. LitExtension is by far the best migration service for online merchants with customer satisfaction of 98% on Trustpilot. 

Source: Trustpilot

Before we get started, please note that backing up your data is just in case there is a risk. LitExtension will not affect your data by any means.

Lets begin the process!

First, sign-in on the LitExtension account. You are able to log in easily by your existing Facebook or Google accounts. 

Log in LitExtension

Step#1- Set up migration

On the migration page, click Create New Migration at the top right button on the screen. Select Magento as the Source Cart Type, provide them your stores URL into the blank bar. 

Next, download the le_connector  to your computer, extract the zip file then upload the connector to Magentos root folder

Next, select Shopify as the Target Cart Type, then provide its URL to the blank bar. You need to go back to your Shopify store admin to get the API Key and fill them in the form

Once you have finished, click Next.

Step#2 – Select entities you want to migrate

Now, its time to choose entities you want to migrate from Magento to Shopify. LitExtension supports almost all types of data. You are able to select all of them together or certain data (products, customers, orders)

Notably, LitExtension provides Additional Options to extend your migration possibilities which are in accordance with your business requirements. Languages, Order Status and Customer Group will be matched together to be displayed correspondingly in the new store.

Feel free to contact their Customer support team at any stage of the process if you need further help.

Step#3 – Run Free demo and Full migration

You can try the free demo first to visualize the result of your new store and get $5 after your demo migration is done. 

If you skip the Free demo and jump right into Full migration, the dashboard will look like this:

Once the migration is started, you dont need to keep your PC on while the data is transferred because it will run seamlessly on the server. Take a break, have a cup of coffee and you will be notified via email when the process is completed.

Note:

• Your store and customers data is safe because the migration is performed on a dedicated server using SSL encryption to protect your data. LitExtension also guarantees to not disclose your websites information to third parties.
• The cost is affordable. It starts from $19 which is for moving up to 500 products, 500 customers, and 500 orders.

Final words

Have you made your final decision yet? The choice you make will depend greatly on the complexity of your website, the number of pages. If you are not confident with your technical expertise, the third method of using an automated migration tool is definitely the best option for you. 

There are many reasons why you should choose Shopify as your websites next host. You can take advantage of the best Shopify apps, and analytics tools to earn more and sell more. 

Thank you for reading this article. Good luck with your eCommerce venture. 

About the Author

Alice Le is a content writer at LitExtension. She is passionate about writing and always curious to explore the “wonderland” of digital marketing.