A WooCommerce to Shopify migration has three jobs: move your data (products, customers, orders and content), replace what your plugins did with Shopify settings and apps, and redirect every old URL to its new Shopify address. Shopify’s URL paths are fixed, so the redirect map is what protects your rankings. Plan it before you import anything.
Keep WooCommerce live and taking orders while you build. The Shopify store stays private until launch day, when you import the final data, switch the domain and turn on redirects in one sitting.
This guide assumes you’ve already decided to move. If you’re still comparing platforms, read Shopify vs WooCommerce first.
Key takeaways
- Keep your WooCommerce store live and selling until the Shopify store is tested and your domain is switched.
- Shopify’s Store Migration app and CSV imports cover products and customers; Shopify points to third-party apps for order history and reviews.
- Shopify uses fixed paths such as /products/ and /collections/, so almost every WooCommerce URL changes and needs a 301 redirect.
- Set each Shopify URL handle to match its WooCommerce slug, so your redirects follow a simple, predictable pattern.
- Customer passwords can’t be migrated, so plan how customers will sign in before you launch.
What data moves in a WooCommerce to Shopify migration?
Products, variants, images, customers and content can all move; order history and reviews need extra tools; passwords can’t move at all. Make an inventory first so nothing is discovered missing after launch.
| Data | Moves? | How | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Products and variants | Yes | Product CSV or Shopify’s Store Migration app | Shopify allows three options per product; extra options won’t import |
| Product images | Yes | Image URLs in the product CSV | Image URLs must be publicly accessible; check alt text afterwards |
| Categories and tags | Rebuilt | Recreate as collections and menus | Collection handles decide your new category URLs |
| Customers | Yes | Customer CSV exported with a WooCommerce plugin | No passwords; files up to 15 MB; duplicate emails keep only the last profile |
| Order history | With apps | Third-party migration apps | Import products and customers first so orders link to them |
| Reviews | With apps | A reviews app that imports a file | Shopify can’t export reviews from WooCommerce for you |
| Pages and blog posts | Yes | Copy, or use a migration app | Posts move under /blogs/; pages under /pages/ |
| Coupons and gift cards | Rebuilt or with apps | Recreate in Discounts, or check your migration tool | Tell customers if codes change |
Customers need care. The customer CSV has no password column, because passwords are encrypted outside Shopify, and Shopify doesn’t map fields for you: the file must match its template exactly, with ISO codes for countries and provinces. Keep the Accepts Email Marketing column accurate, so only people who opted in on WooCommerce are marked as subscribed.
Which method should you use to migrate WooCommerce to Shopify?
Match the method to your catalog size and how much history you need to keep. Most stores combine two: a tool or CSV for products and customers, and a migration app for orders.
| Method | Best for | What it moves | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manual copy | A handful of products | Whatever you retype | Slow and error-prone beyond a small catalog |
| CSV export and import | Most small and mid-size catalogs | Products, customers | Product and customer files must be reformatted to Shopify’s templates |
| Shopify Store Migration app | Stores that want Shopify’s own importer | Products from a WooCommerce product CSV, uploaded without edits | Shopify says its WooCommerce import is in early access for some stores and desktop only |
| Third-party migration apps | Stores that need order history, reviews or large volumes | Depends on the app; Shopify names LitExtension, Matrixify and Ablestar | Paid plans; test with a demo migration first |
| Shopify Partner or agency | Custom plugins, large catalogs, SEO-critical stores | Everything above, plus the redirect map and QA | Costs more; get the scope in writing |
WooCommerce to Shopify product import, step by step
- In WordPress, go to Products > All Products and click Export, then generate the CSV with all columns.
- Convert it to Shopify’s product CSV template, or upload it unchanged to the Store Migration app if your store has access.
- Set the URL handle for each product to its WooCommerce slug, and fill the SEO title (up to 70 characters) and SEO description (up to 320 characters) from your old SEO plugin.
- Import a test file of 10 products, including your most complex variable product, and check prices, variants, stock and images.
- Import the rest. Imported products may be hidden until you make them available to your sales channels, so check their status.
How do WooCommerce URLs map to Shopify URLs?
Almost every URL changes, because Shopify puts content under fixed paths: products under /products/, categories under /collections/, pages under /pages/ and posts under /blogs/. WooCommerce’s defaults are different, and many stores customized them, so check Settings > Permalinks in WordPress before you build the map.
| Page type | WooCommerce default | Shopify equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Product | /product/blue-mug/ | /products/blue-mug |
| Product category | /product-category/mugs/ | /collections/mugs |
| Product tag | /product-tag/gifts/ | A collection, such as /collections/gifts |
| Blog post | /how-to-clean-ceramic/ (varies with your permalink setting) | /blogs/news/how-to-clean-ceramic |
| Page | /about-us/ | /pages/about-us |
| Shop page | /shop/ | /collections/all (see the /shop warning below) |
Shopify creates a default blog called News, which is why the example uses /blogs/news/. You can rename it or create other blogs, but choose the handle before you import posts, because it becomes part of every post URL.
Build the redirect map
- Collect every old URL: your XML sitemap, the pages report in Google Search Console, landing pages in GA4 and your most-linked pages in a backlink tool.
- In a spreadsheet, give each old path a Redirect from value and the best matching Shopify path as Redirect to. Send discontinued products to their closest collection, not the home page.
- In Shopify, go to Content > Menus, open URL redirects and import the CSV.
- After launch, test a sample of old URLs with and without the trailing slash, and fix any that land on a 404.
Redirect from,Redirect to
/product/blue-mug/,/products/blue-mug
/product-category/mugs/,/collections/mugs
/how-to-clean-ceramic/,/blogs/news/how-to-clean-ceramic
/about-us/,/pages/about-usShopify allows up to 100,000 URL redirects on standard plans and 20 million on Shopify Plus, and the redirects are permanent (301). They only fire for URLs that are broken on Shopify, and URLs with query strings might not redirect as expected.
Watch out
Shopify can’t redirect URLs that begin with /shop, /cart, /orders, /apps, /application, /carts or /services. If your WooCommerce products sit under /shop/ (the “shop base” permalink option), find this out before launch and decide with your developer which of those URLs matter and how you’ll handle them.
How do you protect your SEO during the move?
Shopify migration SEO comes down to keeping everything Google already trusts: the same content, the same titles and descriptions, and one permanent redirect from each old URL to its closest new page. Change as little as possible in the same launch.
- Keep slugs: matching handles turn /product/blue-mug/ into /products/blue-mug, which keeps the map simple and the new URL recognizable.
- Keep titles and meta descriptions: carry them over from Yoast, Rank Math or whichever SEO plugin you used.
- Keep category content: paste your category intro text into each collection’s description.
- Keep internal links working: update links inside blog posts and pages to the new URLs rather than relying on redirects.
- Check structured data: product markup now comes from your Shopify theme, so test a product page with Google’s Rich Results Test.
- Submit the new sitemap: Shopify generates /sitemap.xml automatically, covering products, collections, blogs and pages.
Google recommends keeping redirects for as long as possible, generally at least a year, and warns that rankings can fluctuate while it recrawls. For a medium-sized site, Google says it can take a few weeks or more for new URLs to replace the old ones in results. Our guide to website migration SEO covers the general process, and the Shopify SEO checklist covers what to improve once you’re settled.
What happens to payments, shipping and plugins?
Nothing on the WooCommerce side comes with you: payment gateways, shipping rules, taxes, emails and plugin features all have to be set up again in Shopify. Start with a plugin audit, because it tells you which apps you’ll need.
- Plugins: list every active plugin and mark each one as built into Shopify, replaced by an app, or no longer needed.
- Payments: set up providers in Settings > Payments. Shopify Payments is available only in some countries; elsewhere you use a third-party provider.
- Shipping and taxes: rebuild zones and rates in Settings > Shipping and delivery, and tax settings under Taxes and duties.
- Emails: set your sender address in Settings > Notifications and authenticate your domain so order emails reach inboxes.
- Tracking: reconnect GA4 and ad pixels, and record the launch date so you can compare before and after.
Our Shopify store setup checklist walks through each of these settings in launch order.
How do you test and launch the new store?
Test with real orders before launch, then switch everything in one planned window. The domain switch is the moment old URLs start reaching Shopify, so the redirects must already be in place.
Before launch
- Compare product counts, variants, prices and stock against WooCommerce.
- Place a test order with every payment method and check the confirmation email.
- Browse the store on a phone, from home page to checkout.
- Spot-check customers and imported orders against the originals.
On launch day
- Freeze product and content changes on WooCommerce.
- Import the orders and customers created since your main import.
- Import the redirect CSV.
- In Shopify, go to Settings > Domains, click Connect existing domain and update the DNS records it shows. Leave your email (MX) records alone.
- Remove the store’s password protection, then submit /sitemap.xml in Search Console.
- Keep a full backup of the WordPress site and database before you cancel hosting.
What should you monitor after launch?
Watch 404s, indexing and sales daily for the first two weeks, then weekly for three months. Most migration problems show up as missed redirects, and they’re cheap to fix once you spot them.
- Search Console Page indexing report: look for new “Not found (404)” URLs and add redirects for them.
- Search Console Performance report: compare clicks for your top pages with the weeks before launch.
- Backlinked URLs: check that your most-linked old URLs still redirect to relevant pages.
- Orders and checkout: watch conversion and payment failures, which point to checkout or gateway issues rather than SEO.
How TechZone can help
TechZone runs WooCommerce to Shopify migrations as one project: data mapping, the product and customer import, order history, theme setup, the full redirect map and post-launch monitoring. We’ve built both WooCommerce and Shopify stores, so we know where each platform keeps its data. Our Shopify migration and development services start with a free review of your current store and a written proposal covering scope, timeline and cost. For stores that are already live, Shopify SEO and speed optimization is often the next step. Book a free 30-minute consultation and bring your WooCommerce plugin list.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep my domain name when I move from WooCommerce to Shopify?
You can keep your existing domain when you move from WooCommerce to Shopify. In the Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Domains, and choose Connect existing domain, then update the DNS records at your domain provider. You don’t have to transfer the domain to Shopify, and your email can stay where it is if you leave its MX records unchanged.
Does Shopify automatically redirect my old WooCommerce URLs?
Shopify doesn’t know your old WooCommerce URLs, so it can’t redirect them automatically. You create the redirects yourself, one at a time or by importing a CSV of old and new paths in the URL redirects section under Content and Menus. Shopify does offer to create a redirect when you change the URL handle of a page that already exists in Shopify.
Can I migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify for free?
A WooCommerce to Shopify migration can be done without paying for tools if you use CSV files and Shopify’s free Store Migration app, which cover products and customers. Order history and reviews usually need a paid third-party app. The real cost of a free route is time: reformatting files, rebuilding collections and creating redirects by hand.
How long does a WooCommerce to Shopify migration take?
The length of a WooCommerce to Shopify migration depends on catalog size, how clean the product data is, how many plugins need replacing and whether order history must move. A small catalog with standard products moves far faster than a store with custom product options. Ask whoever does the work for a written timeline with a test import milestone.
What happens to customer accounts after the move?
Customer records move to Shopify, but passwords can’t, so customers can’t sign in with their old WooCommerce password. You can send account invitations, or use Shopify’s customer accounts, where customers sign in with a one-time code sent to their email instead of a password. Tell customers about the change in your launch email.
Sources and further reading
- Migrate from WooCommerce – Shopify Help Center
- Creating and managing URL redirects – Shopify Help Center
- Using CSV files to import and export products – Shopify Help Center
- Importing and exporting customer lists – Shopify Help Center
- Permalinks – WooCommerce Documentation
- Site moves with URL changes: how to move a site – Google Search Central
