Fashion & Apparel Store: From Shopware to Shopify

Based in the Netherlands, our client creates its own women’s fashion collections and has built a strong reputation for statement leather jackets. Beyond outerwear, shoppers can browse dresses, trousers, knitwear, tops, shoes, and accessories, many crafted from leather and suede.

With a large base of returning shoppers and a busy content calendar of lookbooks and style blogs, the client decided to replatform from Shopware to Shopify. However, their store relied on rich collection content, image-heavy blog posts, and custom cart rules, so all of this had to work correctly on Shopify from day one.

What tipped the decision toward LitExtension was the technical depth of the project. The client needed a team that could transform custom content structures, not just copy them. Our track record with Shopware to Shopify migration projects gave them that confidence and we became their trusted partner in platform migration.

Before the migration began, the client set out a clear list of priorities:

• Transfer customers, orders, pages, blog posts, collection descriptions, and collection metafields from Shopware to Shopify.
• Keep all blog images working by replacing old media URLs inside the blog content.
• Turn HTML collection descriptions into content that Shopify’s rich text metafields can accept.
• Bring over the orders placed on Shopware after order synchronization had been switched off.
• Get expert help with migrating custom cart and checkout rules.

Most of the complexity came down to how differently the two platforms handle content and store logic. For instance, the blog posts contained HTML that still pointed to images hosted on Shopware, whereas Shopify delivers images through its own Content Delivery Network. The collection descriptions raised a similar issue: they were written in HTML, but Shopify’s rich text metafields require a structured JSON object.

Store logic was another point of difference. In Shopware, merchants set cart conditions, such as a minimum cart value, through the Rule Builder. Shopify takes another route, using Shopify Functions to run custom logic for discounts, delivery options, and cart validation. On top of that, orders kept arriving on Shopware after order synchronization was turned off, leaving a gap in the order history.

Our work started with the core records. Customers, orders, pages, and blog posts were transferred from Shopware to Shopify. While moving the blog content, our team rewrote every media URL inside the HTML to its new Shopify CDN address. That way, each image loaded correctly from the moment the posts went live.

With the content in place, attention shifted to the collection data. We began by comparing Shopware’s HTML with Shopify’s Rich Text JSON structure to pinpoint exactly where the formats diverged. From there, our custom backend scripts converted the HTML, rebuilt the collection metafields, and mapped each one to the matching Shopify metafield definition. This made the Shopify Metafield Migration both accurate and fully compatible with the new theme.

To close the gap in order history, we ran a Recent Data Migration as soon as the client disabled order synchronization. Every order placed on Shopware in the meantime was moved to Shopify, so no sales record was left behind.

Alongside this, our migration experts tackled the Custom Cart & Checkout Rules Migration. We reviewed the client’s cart and checkout setup in Shopware, then applied a tailored approach to bridge the differences with Shopify’s cart functionality and checkout configurations.