Migrate From Magento To Shopify...Easy Or Not?

[Mister B]

Having used Magento for our site for a fair old while now, we've finally tired of it being so clunky and buggy. Having looked at the options, we quite like the look of Shopify.

We've started a paid trial, and initial feel for it is quite good, so, we think that we're going to migrate over. We're toying with the idea of migrating over from Magento ourselves, and the online advice seems to suggest that it is relatively straight forward. However, history tells us that this is not always the case so would appreciate if anybody could offer any pearls of wisdom.

Should also add that we asked our current Magento devs to quote for the migration, and the cost was eye wateringly high so again, if anybody has a ball park figure of how much it should cost, that would be appreciated. (Site is not too large, around 1,200 products. )

Any comments gratefully received.

TIA

 

[finleydesign]

Not wanting to question your choice, but we spend most our days migrating people from shopify, after they realise how stuck they are and can't progress and build on anything, Shopify and others are all closed systems.

You would often move from Shopify to Woocommerce (our favourite) or if you have the budget Magento, Magento is good but costs a lot of money and time to keep running smoothly.

 

[Mister B]

Magento is good but costs a lot of money and time to keep running smoothly.

In a nutshell, this sums it up. We find the hosting cost to be very high, development costs even higher, and the slightest change tends to knock something out of kilter. Factor in the ongoing upgrade of extensions and it's becoming a real pain in the backside.

Hence the reason for the change...we're spending time looking at the options, may move, may not, but it's looking increasingly likely.

 

[thetiger2015]

What are you hoping to achieve from the move? Will it offer big time savings to offset the migration cost?

Shopify is great, but, you will probably need additional apps and integrations to make it work like your current site.

The number of products is not a big issue, it's things like product personalisation, shipping integrations, integration with your email marketing platform...lots of little things that you're currently using but will also need migrating across or connecting up.

You'll also need to handle the URL setup correctly as Shopify has Collections instead of Categories etc. Sub categories are also handled differently from what I remember.

 

[fisicx]

As others have suggested, moving the products to shopify isn’t the problem. It’s getting all your current functionality and integrations configured that is the complicated and expensive part. It could even make your monthly costs as high as your current spend.

Talk to @antropy. It may be that opencart does everything you want at a fraction of the cost of running a shopify site.

 

[antropy]

Having used Magento for our site for a fair old while now, we've finally tired of it being so clunky and buggy. Having looked at the options, we quite like the look of Shopify.

Thanks @fisicx !

Also consider OpenCart and PrestaShop - both are open source and much more customisable than Shopify.

Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more about what those platforms can do: [email protected]

Paul.

 

[dx3webs]

What version of Magento are you on?

 

[Mister B]

Thank you all, for taking the time to reply.

After looking into this further, it looks like the savings and simplicity aren't quite as obvious as I first thought.

So, we're going to persevere in the short term with Magento, but in the meantime explore all other options.

Thank you again for your replies.

 

[SeanOF]

We moved from Magento (old version) to Shopify last year and it was tricky but mainly because I insisted we bring all orders and customer data with us and that was the part that held us up. A lot of people tried to tell me that it was normal to just start afresh on a new platform and leave all the old orders behind but that didn't feel right to me so I persevered. It was a palaver but we got there in the end and I'm glad we kept the old data.

Now we're on Shopify Advanced (as we have a multi-currency store) and I will confess that we're not making the most of it. As well as the $499 per month I've realised I also need to take the counsel of someone who knows how to get the most out of Shopify. As with so much in business, it's about finding the right person (and we're still looking).

But, despite this, I'm going to stick with Shopify for now. It seems to have a good ecosystem of apps and if we can leverage some of these then I think we'll make it work. Watch this space, I guess!

Should you decide to look at Shopify again and have any questions about the transition, just let me know.

 

[LPB 123]

Now we're on Shopify Advanced (as we have a multi-currency store) and I will confess that we're not making the most of it.

You dont need advanced for multi currency. You can have multi-currency on Shopify and even on basic Shopify as well.

 

[SeanOF]

You dont need advanced for multi currency. You can have multi-currency on Shopify and even on basic Shopify as well.

What? Really?? OK, maybe there's another reason we're on Advanced so I will check with my developer. In any case, thank you for commenting and flagging this.

I guess this goes back then to my other point: we still need to find someone who can help us get the most out of Shopify. If you happen to know a freelance expert then I'd be grateful for the connection.

 

[LPB 123]

What? Really?? OK, maybe there's another reason we're on Advanced so I will check with my developer. In any case, thank you for commenting and flagging this.

I guess this goes back then to my other point: we still need to find someone who can help us get the most out of Shopify. If you happen to know a freelance expert then I'd be grateful for the connection.

Yes really.

It could be for the Duty and Tax calculator for IOSS? As that's only available on Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus. We're considering switching to advanced for this reason.

Other than it could be to set custom rounding rules / exchange rates? Personally I like the dynamic exchange rate and standard rounding rules that are available on normal Shopify.

Or it could be if you process a large volume to save the 0.2% card fees from 1.7 standard to 1.5 advanced?

 

[SeanOF]

Yes really.

It could be for the Duty and Tax calculator for IOSS? As that's only available on Advanced Shopify or Shopify Plus. We're considering switching to advanced for this reason.

Other than it could be to set custom rounding rules / exchange rates? Personally I like the dynamic exchange rate and standard rounding rules that are available on normal Shopify.

Or it could be if you process a large volume to save the 0.2% card fees from 1.7 standard to 1.5 advanced?

Ah yes, that's it.... we wanted custom exchange rates as we offer free shipping to the UK and US so standard exchange rates wouldn't allow us properly reflect this.

I appreciate your help though. You clearly know Shopify a lot better than I do!

 

[Mister B]

Thanks again for all of these additional replies.

It was suggested to me that Shopify could be the next golden goose but having popped the proverbial bonnet up for an inspection, there's more to it than we first thought.

So, as I said before, we'll continue to monitor it but in the short term persevere with Magento.

 

[Clodbuster]

We moved from Magento to Shopify some years back and it was not a straight move, functionality was different and some features not available we were able to replicate them with a work around.

In the last few months I've been badgered by Shopify to change to Shopify Hydrogen and it looks like we will go with it. Perhaps you should skip a levewl and go straight to Hydrogen....??

 

[Gibson46]

Having used Magento for our site for a fair old while now, we've finally tired of it being so clunky and buggy. Having looked at the options, we quite like the look of Shopify.

We've started a paid trial, and initial feel for it is quite good, so, we think that we're going to migrate over. We're toying with the idea of migrating over from Magento ourselves, and the online advice seems to suggest that it is relatively straight forward. However, history tells us that this is not always the case so would appreciate if anybody could offer any pearls of wisdom.

Should also add that we asked our current Magento devs to quote for the migration, and the cost was eye wateringly high so again, if anybody has a ball park figure of how much it should cost, that would be appreciated. (Site is not too large, around 1,200 products. )

Any comments gratefully received.

TIA

We Migrated from Magento to Shopify Last May and it was fairly straightforward. Far easier than the previous migration from Opencart to Magento 2. I personally love Shopify. The costs are a fraction of Magento development and most of the functionality you need is built in. Wish I had switched years ago. If you want more customisation you can always opt for Shopify Plus.

 

[ProjectOcto]

I'd also question the move to Shopify - they've got great marketing but their new customer churn is huge (and they male 80% of the revenue as a kickback from Stripe processing payments).

Shopify does suit plenty but the costs go up quickly when you add apps.

Re : migration- it depends how customised your magento site really is. Magento is an old beast and I'd guess you've had it modified a decent bit.

I'd suggest you get a consultation with an ecommerce consultant to properly map out a migration plan

 

[Clodbuster]

It costs me $27/month and has done so for ages. I use only 2 free apps, one to attach a blog and the other to add 404 links.

 

[dx3webs]

They are literally running on an 83% 1 star rating on trustpilot.. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.shopify.com

 

[neo116]

Thank you all, for taking the time to reply.

After looking into this further, it looks like the savings and simplicity aren't quite as obvious as I first thought.

So, we're going to persevere in the short term with Magento, but in the meantime explore all other options.

Thank you again for your replies.

Hi, We have been working with both Shopify and Magento for many years. Choosing which platform really depends client's need and budget. If you still use Magento and look for support, we may help you. We can offer a support plan with a very reasonable price. And we have quite a lot of customers who are using the support service now.

 

[anonuk]

Thanks @fisicx !

Also consider OpenCart and PrestaShop - both are open source and much more customisable than Shopify.

Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to know more about what those platforms can do: [email protected]

Paul.

Do you do Prestashop sites? I always thought it was just opencart you did.

 

[EcomAlistair]

There's a lot of emphasis in this thread about the customisation limits of Shopify, which is definitely an important issue - but you've got to weigh that against the other side of the coint, which is that it works off the shelf better than almost any other option, is very hard to break and is highly performant.

WooCommerce on Wordpress is VERY flexible - but you cannot just let it sit, it is a constant race to stay updated and plugin clashes can be very frustrating.

If you are a massively design driven business, where the aesthetic of your store must be totally custom and fancy - then Wordpress + Woo will probably suit you. But you're going to need to 1) be very active to keep it up to date, 2) customise it a lot.

If you only need a simple site with a moderate level of customisation, and the key feature you want is 'easy' then Shopify is hard to beat. Dawn, the default theme, is very very good.

Overall Shopify has limitations but it just works.
Woo on WP has less limitations but it doesn't just work.

In terms of the migration from Magento to Shopify, I would classify Magento similarly to Woo but in a much more premium ecosystem.

It would be great if you elaborated on what's most important to you, then more granular feedback can be given on specific issues and considerations.

Thanks,
Alistair

 

[dx3webs]

I don't understand how anyone gets past this..

Shopify is rated "Bad" with 1.1 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Shopify's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 1,498 customers have already said.

uk.trustpilot.com

 

[EcomAlistair]

I don't understand how anyone gets past this..

Shopify is rated "Bad" with 1.1 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Shopify's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 1,498 customers have already said.

uk.trustpilot.com

Valid point about some of their business practices around trademark and regulations.... But one thing to consider with this category of product is that reviews will always skew negative, since there's no defined workflow in the course of using their products where users are invited to rate it on trustpilot or the like. I'm sure that for every terrible story there are hundreds of great ones, for all the platforms.

By the way - I'm not anti Woo or Magento, I'm pro picking the tool which best suits the usecase and preferences of the business.

Shopify = 1.4
Woo = 2.2
Magento = 3.4

WooCommerce is rated "Poor" with 2.2 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with WooCommerce's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 62 customers have already said.

www.trustpilot.com

Magento is rated "Average" with 3.4 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Magento's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 16 customers have already said.

www.trustpilot.com

 

[AlanJ1]

I don't understand how anyone gets past this..

Have you read the reviews?

Half of them (or more) are from customers thinking they are buying from Shopify...

 

[AlanJ1]

I don't understand how anyone gets past this..

Oh and go and look at Shopwares reviews on Trustpilot who you actively promote to sell the services for .

 

[goivvy]

It's in the middle, not easy and not that hard. Just make sure you keep URLs structure intact and prepare for a slight google rankings drop (in most cases it bounced back in a few months).

 

[Johnny Be Good]

Talk to @antropy. It may be that opencart does everything you want at a fraction of the cost of running a shopify site.

I would stay clear of Opencart. Two years ago we had a hacker on our opencart website and Visa called me to say unless I get a It forensic company to examine it and sort it out they would have charged me €80,000! for the cost of replacement of the cards of those affected by the hacker.

Great software but you need constant attention to the latest security issues. I found it restrictive going to Shopify with regards to design options and plug ins but the stability of the trading environment for me is number one priority.