WooCommerce to Shopify migration

WooCommerce powers a huge share of UK small and mid-size stores — often on WordPress hosting that was cheap to start but expensive to maintain. When plugin conflicts, security patches and performance issues start eating your time, Shopify becomes an attractive alternative.

Migrating from WooCommerce is generally simpler than Magento — the product model is closer to Shopify's — but subscriptions, custom plugins and WordPress content still need careful handling.

What transfers cleanly

Simple and variable products, images, descriptions, basic customer data and order history all migrate well. Collections map to Shopify collections (or smart collections with rules). Standard WordPress pages and blog posts can be migrated as Shopify pages and blog articles.

URL structures are often similar enough that redirect mapping is straightforward — but check category URLs, product permalinks and any custom post types.

What needs extra attention

WooCommerce Subscriptions require migration to Recharge, Skio or Shopify's native subscriptions. Complex shipping rules, dynamic pricing plugins and membership plugins need Shopify equivalents scoped before launch.

Custom WordPress functionality (calculators, configurators, trade portals) will not transfer automatically — plan custom app or theme development for anything business-critical.

SEO during migration

Export your top-performing URLs from Google Search Console before migration. Map each to its Shopify equivalent and implement 301 redirects. WooCommerce category and tag URLs often differ from Shopify's collection structure — do not assume a 1:1 match.

Update your sitemap, resubmit to Search Console, and monitor for 404 spikes in the first month after launch.

Timeline and cost

A straightforward WooCommerce store (under 5,000 SKUs, minimal custom plugins) typically migrates in 4–6 weeks. Stores with subscriptions, B2B pricing or heavy customisation need 6–10 weeks.

Agency migration costs for this kind of move sit in our migration band of £15k–£50k+, fixed after discovery. A move that lands on Shopify Plus is the same band. Download our migration checklist or speak to us for a scoped quote.