The Ecommerce Migration Checklist

Ecommerce Migration Checklist Guide for Shopify 📝

Over the past 15 years, Shopify has taken the world of ecommerce by storm as the platform is now the go-to solution provider for online businesses.

Convenience and simplicity for the customer are at the heart of Shopify’s ecommerce strategy, which is no doubt why more than 600,000 merchants are utilising Shopify's platform in 2021.

So, what better time could there be to take a word of advice from our team of Shopify experts and read through Karmoon's ecommerce migration checklist?

If you’ve ever thought about migrating your product data to a reliable platform that has an outstanding reputation, we can tell you that Shopify is the next natural step for those looking to make the migration transition.

What is the Purpose of Product Migration? 💻

Before we dive into the details of our ecommerce migration checklist, let's talk about the purpose of product migration.

It goes without saying, but managing an online business is a capital-intensive venture in this day and age of fluid economic dynamics.

So, for online businesses to stay ahead of the curve (and their competitors), migrating to Shopify enables online merchants to cut off the fat as we say here at Karmoon.

Of course, by ‘fat’ we are referring to unnecessary expenditure, but don’t stop here, because there's much more to learn, as n today’s article you will discover the greatness of Shopify through our ecommerce migration checklist:

N0.1: One-Stop-Shop -

Shopify is the one-stop shop for all of your ecommerce business needs, which we believe is well worth mentioning within today's ecommerce migration checklist.

One specific advantage of the Shopify platform is that its alluring package combines; security, hosting, cart functionality and channel integrations in one bulk for the brands that choose to create or migrate their stores with Shopify.

This is a huge advantage for ecommerce businesses, as they will be able to continue with their trade without any interference from little or major setbacks.

N0.2: Cost Reduction -

Additionally, Shopify plays a crucial role in the reduction of initial cost, as small businesses will not be charged on a separate basis for each service used.

Due to this perk of the platform, companies will be able to compete on a global scale with already established brands, without the all too expected hefty price tag, which is something to consider as you read through our ecommerce migration checklist.

N0.3: Easy to Interface -

For those of you who are just warming up to Shopify, it's worth noting that the platform is also incredibly easy to interface within today's ecommerce migration checklist.

See, time has been a fundamental factor in the evolution of this appealing feature and over the years, improvements and adjustments can be expected on a platform such as this.

Currently, interface development has never been in such a strong position, as it has been developed with a purpose in mind.

N0.4: Simplistic Back-End -

For those of you who don't know, Shopify offers users a simple back-end configuration that ensures its businesses will be able to manage; orders, customer profiles and target audiences, which is more than ideal for the businesses finding their feet with it all.

N0.5: Customisable Themes and Apps -

It's also essential to note that Shopify has a record number of 2200 additional apps that ecommerce businesses can access at their fingertips within today's ecommerce migration checklist.

In our opinion, it is characteristics such as this that makes each Shopify store different from the next.

Shopify merchants are granted access to a host of app extensions including but not limited to; Mail Chimp, Yotpo Reviews, Bold Subscriptions, and Shogun Page Builder. Each of these app extensions has its distinctive role to play in the functionality of a Shopify store and we would recommend trying out each one of them to reap the most benefit from your store’s online presence with the platform.

With personalisable options and free themes to choose from, there will be a variation to meet the requirements of every single company's taste.

N0.6: Security Certification -

Next up on our ecommerce migration checklist is the level 1 PCI security certification that is provided by Shopify. If you’re wondering why this is important, allow us to shed some light on the subject:

With increasing cybersecurity incidents occurring across the web, Shopify has invested a significant amount of time and money to develop a fool-proof system to give an extra blanket of confidence to merchants using the platform.

Reputed as one of the most secure ecommerce platforms on the internet with a Level 1 PCI certification, Shopify businesses are assured of one thing - security. If this is something that weighs heavily on your mind with your current ecommerce store, this would be a huge lift for the merchants who pursue the migration website process.

N0.7: Round-the-Clock Support -

Even with a 99.8% assurance of no downtime, Shopify still manages to uphold an offer of 24-hour support via telephone, live chat and email for merchants who require assistance with their online store.

Shopify is super simple to manage and its ecommerce migration checklist is just as easy to follow, but should you require help from a trusted member of support or external developer, Shopify’s call centre comes in super handy for troubleshooting all system issues and we would be all too happy to provide migration services to the platfrom.

If necessary, the team will implement customised solutions to prevent failures for the merchant’s store in future.

N0.8: Hidden Charges -

If we had to pick one advantage of using Shopify as an ecommerce business solution, we’d have to say that the no hidden charges factor would have to take first place. We should make it known that this rule of thumb even applies to stores that are not native to Shopify’s platform.

In other words, if your business is looking to start making its way through the ecommerce migration checklist, you’ll find that there are no hidden charges in the moving or management of the online business.

With affordable plans, it is attainable for merchants to upgrade and purchase; security, hosting and credit card processing should they wish to, so there are options here for merchants considering the move.

N0.9: SEO-Friendly Migration Website Process -

When merchants decide to make the virtual move to Shopify, it should be noted that product links will be required to change for the better. If you’re wondering what we mean by this, read with us as we break it down:

With a great migration plan, merchants can; minimise on-page changes, create page redirects, maintain page performance and delete duplicate content. In other words, migration will curate a new website that is extremely user-friendly and geared towards SEO.

How is this possible? Well, with shorter URLs, targeted keywords and simpler directories, a combination of these characteristics will ensure that products are SEO-friendly, which is exactly what every ecommerce store on the web should be hoping to achieve.

In short, the better the SEO, the more likely a website and its products are to be discovered by browsing customers.

Based on the above points within our ecommerce migration checklist, if you have an online business and are considering Shopify migration for your store, we’d highly recommend getting started with the process.

Need more information? No problem. Let's look at the ecommerce migration checklist for Shopify in further detail:

The Ecommerce Migration Checklist: Moving to Shopify

Any ecommerce migration checklist from our agency wouldn't be complete without a section on getting started with the migration process to Shopify, as the migration of products into a Shopify store is a delicate process.

However, the platform has made the steps as easy as possible for those who wish to make the move.

It should be noted that it does not matter to Shopify how many Stock-Keeping Units (SKU) a merchant has in its threshold, as planning, strategy and execution are key areas of focus for the platform.

See, the fact that merchants take years upon years to develop product catalogues, this fact not taken lightly by Shopify as a platform.

So, ensuring that a business' hard work is upheld during the migration process is a core value within today's ecommerce migration checklist.

For Shopify merchants, getting started with an ecommerce migration checklist is not like starting from scratch, as the platform has no desire to rewrite the story of a brand or its ethos.

Shopify only wishes to aid, support and enhance the stores that wish to move onto the platform for improved merchants and customer experience.

To the merchants out there who are concerned for their businesses, identity and data will not be lost in the process of website migration.

Preparation for the Ecommerce Migration Checklist

Before an ecommerce migration checklist can truly be followed by merchants looking to make the move to Shopify, the team will engage directly with online stores on a one-to-one basis to access the business’ catalogue and chart with an agreeable mode to export data.

Much of the information discussed here will be centred around the nature of the data to be migrated.

This includes the various product attributes alongside whether the catalogues have third-party dependencies that define how the catalogues should be constructed.

The key advantage of thorough planning at the onset of following an ecommerce migration checklist for Shopify is that the platform’s developers will be better able to understand the merchant’s interactions with the catalogue before migration takes place.

This knowledge will enable Shopify's team of developers to ensure that the key processes involved in the daily transactions, maintenance and operations of the business are considered to the fullest extent.

In other words, this means that the business will run as smoothly as possible for everyone involved.

Data Mapping

Immediately after completing the initial assessment of product data, Shopify developers will then proceed with the ecommerce migration checklist by creating an interactive mapping document that covers the current state of the catalogue and the business processes at hand.

This document will also cover how previous data should be transferred to the new website platform on Shopify. It is at this point which the merchant and Shopify team will analyse the different behaviours of the two platforms and work around the logistics of harmonising into an efficient Shopify business.

To get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, merchants will have the opportunity to read a Shopify Migration document that highlights everything from; products, tags, meta fields, variants and so on.

Migrating to Shopify

As soon as the ecommerce migration checklist is complete and a strategy has been devised for the store moving onto Shopify’s platform, it is time to go full-throttle.

Of course, the first two stages of planning and strategy should not be rushed, but once these factors have been considered, it is then down to Shopify developers to conduct several small-scale project migrations using partners’ products to complete frontend development.

It is during this phase that the merchant will truly become exposed to Shopify's development process since following the ecommerce migration checklist.

Then, it is in the hands of the merchant to approve further progression in the next stage of website migration.

From this point, merchants will be able to view how the products are mapped as well as how the sales process goes from start to finish, not to mention all of the marketing tools used and their effectiveness will be highlighted here.

Then, once the merchant has made the necessary changes on the new platform, they can then give developers the go-ahead to effect a full migration of all the products and their associated data.

Through the use of SQL queries and a host of other tools, Shopify developers can expedite the migration to their platform.

While this process involves a host of delicate processes to ensure that the merchant does not lose crucial products and their previously-held online presence, Shopify developers have mastered the knack for getting the job done.

Final Considerations for the Ecommerce Migration Checklist🤔

Before making your way through the ecommerce migration checklist, it’s important for every business owner to feel confident in the steps that they are about to take, which is why we believe that merchants should understand what they can expect before they settle on their decision.

As we mentioned earlier in our guide to the ecommerce migration checklist, one great thing about Shopify is that the platform offers a simple interface for both the merchant and buyer.

Additionally, Shopify is an extremely reputable brand with guaranteed security, performance and customisation apps on the side.

For the ecommerce businesses out there who want to avoid the ‘cookie cutter’ experience and walk down a unique path, the thousands of customisable apps and themes allow every store to break away from this preconceived idea, which is far from the reality of Shopify stores across the web.

As we’re sure you realise, website migration is a multi-step project so, merchants will need to participate in steps such as; data reorganisation, migration of static content (such as FAQ, shipping), design, customer accounts and orders, redirects and marketing tools.

Naturally, these characteristics weigh in favour of Shopify migration and with sufficient planning, we believe that merchants have a chance to increase their online presence to a wider audience with an improved appearance for less expenditure thanks to this ecommerce migration checklist.

If you want our advice, it’s time to make the Shopify move! Has this article persuaded you to work through the platform's ecommerce migration checklist?

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us to get started!