As your business grows, it's important to evaluate whether your existing eCommerce platform can still meet your expanding needs or if it's time for a migration. Thus, a Magento to Shopify Plus migration will help you unlock faster growth opportunities.
If you are struggling with where to start, LitExtension – #1 Shopping Cart Migration Expert will be your guide. In today’s blog post, we’ll be covering these topics:
- How Shopify Plus benefits your business
- Complete guidelines to move from Magento to Shopify Plus
- Types of data to migrate Magento to Shopify Plus
Break Free from Magento Barriers on Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus's continuous improvements support scalability and flexibility as your business grows. Our accredited migration team streamlines the transition seamlessly.
Strategic Advantages of Migrating From Magento to Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus presents a compelling migration path for merchants, offering an array of compelling advantages over proprietary platforms like Magento. It comes with a composable architecture, and unmatched development speed, and world-class support services that empower digital-first brands to scale globally.
1. Loading speed & performance
Upgrade to Shopify Plus significantly enhances your infrastructure for dramatically improved site performance. When comparing Magento vs Shopify Plus, the latter provides unlimited scalable server capabilities hosted on a global network.
Despite your traffic growing at a fast pace, your Shopify Plus store can operate without delay or downtime. Similarly, page load speeds and response times will also be enhanced thanks to its powerful servers.
2. Security measures
Keeping customer data secure is crucial for any online business, no need to discuss it. With Shopify Plus, you gain advanced security measures without outsourcing through regular automated security updates and 24/7 monitoring.
Shopify Plus ensures that your website is hosted and safeguarded in complete adherence to Level 1 PCI DSS standards. If you migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus, a shield against sudden traffic surges will protect your store from viruses that compromise the website's functionality.
3. Customizability & flexibility
Magento, an open-source platform for developers, grants extensive freedom but demands in-depth knowledge of its complex architecture for basic content management. Not to mention, managing customizations on private servers adds risk and maintenance efforts.
On the contrary, building a custom enterprise online store with Shopify Plus only requires basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Liquid, Shopify's intuitive coding language. Additionally, developers can create customized shopping carts using Shopify Scripts, ensuring advanced functionality without compromising stability.
Besides, there are over 100 premium selections from the Shopify Theme Store, which reduces the need for manual page development. Make use of their comprehensive customization tools:
- Branding features
- Animations
- Bespoke checkout page
- AR and 3D product displays
- And so much more
Explore the best Shopify theme for your store: 30 best Shopify themes – Have you got one?
4. Multichannel selling
In an era where reaching customers on familiar channels is crucial, Shopify Plus Omnichannel facilitates eCommerce integration on social networks, blogs, apps, and third-party marketplaces. You can effortlessly list and manage products on over 20 channels, including Facebook, Messenger, Pinterest, Instagram, eBay, and more.
The Sales Channel SDK enables the addition of commerce to any mobile app, website, or marketplace, with Shopify handling essential aspects like payments, shipping, taxes, inventory, and analytics. The Buy Button strategy allows easy integration of eCommerce into any website using a code snippet, including embedded products and an on-site shopping cart.
In contrast, Magento lacks integration with common social channels and marketplaces, making omnichannel selling challenging and cost-prohibitive. This adds up to another reason to transfer from Magento to Shopify Plus.
Make the best out of omnichannel for your eCommerce business: What is omnichannel customer service & why it’s important?
5. Exclusive features
Of course, since Shopify Plus is the most premium pricing plan, merchants will be offered some one-of-a-kind functionality to guarantee the highest sales possible.
Discover some exclusive features you will receive after the Magento to Shopify Plus migration in the table below:
Feature | How they work |
Launchpad | Allows merchants to precisely schedule, and automate seasonal sales, promotions, etc. from the Shopify admin dashboard. |
Shopify Flow | Creates workflows that automatically connect apps, trigger actions based on events, and complete important jobs. |
Shopify POS Pro | Streamlines operations at high-traffic shops through staff scheduling, automated reorder alerts and customer relationship tools. It allows syncing of all omnichannel data and sales for a unified view. |
Avalara AvaTax | Supplies up-to-the-minute tax rates from over 12,000 tax jurisdictions. |
Unlimited staff | Enables limitless staff accounts, facilitating the expansion of your workforce without incurring extra expenses. |
ShopifyQL Notebooks | Allows you to inquire, investigate, and depict your business data within Shopify. |
Shopify Audiences | Helps you to identify potential customers in the United States and Canada, enabling the prompt initiation of targeted advertising campaigns. |
6. Customer support
In addition to round-the-clock support, Shopify Plus's Launch Manager offers continuous one-on-one guidance, aiming to have your business operational within 90 days.
Access to the exclusive Merchant Success Program is also granted, offering training and support for third-party integrations, products, and platforms to help you achieve your full potential.
7. Store setup
Implementing a new Magento 2 deployment often spans 4–8 months, involving developers, architects, deployment specialists, and quality assurance resources.
In contrast, Shopify Plus prioritizes speed by removing concerns about ecommerce architecture, hosting, and security. The time to migrate to Shopify Plus and deployments typically take 2–4 months, allowing merchants to prioritize customer needs.
8. Migration process
Why opt for Shopify Plus over the standard pricing plans by Shopify? First, Shopify Plus supports more complex and varied types of data entities. What’s more, since Shopify Plus aims at stores with a massive amount of data, it can be migrated all at once without the possibility of being crashed.
Furthermore, switching from Magento to Shopify Plus requires less time than the Shopify migration despite the complicated database. This is because our skillful LitExtension experts can customize, break down, and map the data into multiple migration threads for optimized speed.
You might be interested in our detailed comparisons of:
Guidelines to Prepare for Moving from Magento to Shopify Plus
1. Backup your Magento database
Even though the LitExtension team is guaranteed not to interfere with your database, we still recommend having a complete backup before making any platform changes. This will be a safety net in case anything goes wrong during the migration process.
Follow these steps to create a Magento database:
1. From your Admin Panel, open the System > Tools > Backups page.
2. Next, select the data type that you wish to include in your file, out of these following:
- System Backup: Generates a comprehensive backup encompassing both the database and the file system.
- Database and Media Backup: Produces a backup covering both the database and the media folder.
- Database Backup: Creates a backup exclusively for the database without including the file system.
3. Subsequently, fill in your information for the backup options pop-up:
- Backup Name: Assign a name to your backup using only letters (a-z/A-Z), numbers (0-9), and spaces.
- Maintenance Mode: Activating this mode will display a temporary error notification to all customers, indicating that the site is currently inaccessible during the backup process. Once the backup is finished, this mode will be automatically deactivated.
- Exclude: Tick this box if you want to exclude the media file from your backup.
4. Magento will send you a notification when the backup process completes.
⚠️ For Magento 2.x versions, the backups are saved in the var/backups directory, and they can be restored whenever needed using the Magento setup: Rollback command.
2. Create a new Shopify Plus store
After storing your Magento database in a safe place, it’s time to create your business a new Shopify Plus store.
However, the steps are quite different from the standard Shopify pricing plans, in which you can easily sign up for an account and pay to use the platform. This is because Shopify Plus pricing depends heavily on your business’s current statement as well as annual sales.
In more detail, if you want to migrate to Shopify Plus, you will have to get in touch with a Shopify representative.
As you can see in the image, submit the form with your full name, business email address, phone number, and company. After that, a Shopify expert will give you a comprehensive consultation and create your business profile.
Simple Steps to Perform Magento to Shopify Plus Migration
Just like any other migration pairs, there are multiple methods for you to choose when moving from Magento to Shopify Plus. However, be aware of the fact that both platforms come with complicated databases. In other words, it requires a higher level of technical expertise to ensure data accuracy and security.
With 10+ years working in the industry, LitExtension is well up on this problem. For those of you wanting to perform Magento to Shopify Plus migration, we have designed the All-in-One Migration Package to help you out.
A Personal Assistant (PA), who has gained in-depth knowledge of both platforms, will handle your project. Their job is to guide you through the process and keep you updated with the latest developments.
So, let’s jump to the tutorial now, shall we?
1. Schedule a meeting
First, reach out to our migration experts by filling in your contact details and choose a date/time for the meeting. You can participate in the video call through platforms like Google Meet and Google Calendar.
Shortly after receiving your submitted form, we will get back to you via email with the meeting information.
⚠️Kindly arrange a call with a minimum notice of 2 hours, and inform us about the matters you seek advice on. In this way, we can prepare a detailed analysis of your migration situation.
2. Receive technical consultation
In the meeting, our specialists will grasp your unique needs for the Magento to Shopify Plus migration. In addition, we will also assess your store compatibility and advise the most suitable approach. Aligning both parties' visions for the project is essential for achieving the optimal outcome.
Based on the amount of migrated data, the exact pricing range for your project will also be determined. Since you are using the All-in-One Migration Package, the LitExtension team will charge from $139.
If you have any additional questions related to our service, feel free to raise the topic with our experts during the meeting!
3. Configure the migration
To start the Magento to Shopify Plus migration, we'll configure the entities to migrate, like products, customers, and orders, along with relevant attributes and custom fields. If the basic fields haven’t fulfilled your requirements, take advantage of our Additional Options (completely free for the All-in-One Migration Package).
For instance, one of most people's concerns when switching platforms is losing the search engine rankings that they have worked hard to earn throughout the years. That’s when our Preserve Product, Order, Customer IDs on Target Store service comes into play.
We will maintain IDs for your products, orders, and other important data so that it can be easily tracked on the new platform. This video will clearly explain the process:
4. Run demo migration
Next, our LitExtension expert will perform a demo migration. This helps preview the mapping and data transfer process before the actual migration.
5. Review demo migration
At this step, thoroughly test the migrated sample data in your new Shopify Plus store. From then, provide feedback on any issues, missing fields, etc.
6. Activate full migration
Upon approval, our team will initiate the full Magento to Shopify Plus migration process. With the LitExtension Smart Controller overseeing your system, the LitExtension experts can promptly identify and address any issues that may arise.
7. Evaluate the result
LitExtension's team of specialists will carefully inspect the transferred data to verify the accuracy and completeness of the Magento to Shopify Plus migration. You have the opportunity to review the migration results and discuss any additional advanced requirements with the PA if necessary.
In the event of significant technical issues with your migrated data within 30 days, LitExtension guarantees a complete refund. Simply submit a ticket providing details of your order and the reason for the refund. Upon verification, your refund will be processed and issued within 7 days of the request.
Save Time Migrating Your Store to Shopify Plus
Trusted specialists streamline migrations that actualize ambitions.
- Personal Assistant
- Unlimited free demo
- Personalized migration
- Free additional options
8. Implement post-migration services
A highlighted feature of the LitExtension service is the 0% downtime assurance. This means that your previous store will still accept new orders seamlessly throughout the migration. So, how about the newly-appeared data?
We’ve got your back! For 6 months after your Magento to Shopify Plus migration, we offer post-migration services for updating new orders, products, or modified records to keep your store data in sync. In more details:
- Recent Data Migration: This service continuously syncs new information like orders and customer accounts between the old and new stores during and after the migration.
- Re-migration: Should the first migration fail to fulfill all requirements, another transfer can be initiated. This ensures any remaining issues or needs are resolved.
- Smart Update: New or altered data in the original store is concurrently imported into the Shopify Plus site. This keeps information consistent as changes continue to occur.
Here’s an explanation of the Recent Data Migration service:
Key Tasks to Accomplish After Migrating to Shopify Plus
1. Join Shopify Plus Academy
Shopify Plus Academy is a training hub filled with valuable resources essential for leveraging the full capabilities of the platform. This will ensure that you have the solid foundation required to succeed with Shopify Plus.
You can begin your journey by taking the onboarding course, which introduces all the advanced features and overall Shopify Plus benefits now available. From there, explore more in-depth courses covering key topics, such as marketing strategies or customizing the storefront experience.
2. Design storefront
Select one that most aligns with your personal branding from Shopify Plus' extensive library of professionally designed themes. Then, customize the Shopify theme in any way you want using the theme editor.
Moreover, you can try incorporating numerous themes into your store to create new looks for seasonal purposes. While you can preview any of these themes, only one theme can be actively published at a time.
3. Install apps
Next, establish crucial eCommerce functionalities by installing third-party applications available on the Shopify App Store. This ensures that your customers enjoy the most satisfying experience possible.
You can refer to the Shopify Plus Certified App Program for top-tier alternatives. Each application undergoes a thorough assessment by the Shopify App Review and Quality Assurance Team, ensuring it meets advanced criteria in proven utility, infrastructure and performance, merchant support, security, and privacy.
4. Customize checkout page
Checkout Extensibility is an exclusive feature that empowers brands on Shopify Plus to tailor their checkout process effortlessly. You won't need to delve into coding to personalize your checkout, driving higher sales. The intuitive interface allows you to adjust to specific customer segments or seamlessly align with your brand aesthetics.
For those seeking more advanced customizations, Checkout Extensibility provides three powerful tools:
- UI Extensions: Modify the user interface elements to create a unique and branded checkout experience.
- Shopify Functions: Leverage custom functions to implement tailored logic, whether it's special discounts, dynamic pricing, or conditional shipping options.
- Branding API: Maintain a consistent brand identity by integrating your branding elements into the checkout process.
5. Set up shipping & payment methods
Moving on, you should ensure a best-in-class checkout experience by configuring shipping and payments. Options like carrier accounts, rate tables, and workflow templates enable setting up comprehensive Shopify Shipping profiles.
Additionally, add payment methods for a seamless shopping experience. Whether you are opting for third-party payment gateways or the in-house alternative like Shopify Payments, Shopify Plus supports over 100 international providers for you to scale quickly.
Shopify Payments provides the most seamless all-in-one solution without additional interchange fees. Its transaction rates are tiered based on sales volume, going as low as 2.15% + $0.30 for very high volumes.
On top of that, Shopify Plus merchants also gain access to automated fraud detection tools like 3D Secure authentication and custom rules for suspicious orders. This helps block fraudulent purchases and attempts at account takeover before they impact sales.
6. Manage your B2B business
Shopify Plus gives merchants a powerful yet simple way to cater to both wholesale and retail customers seamlessly. The platform's integrated B2B functionality allows setting up dedicated B2B storefronts, or managing wholesale through an existing store—all within the familiar admin panel.
After the Magento to Shopify Plus migration, you will gain extensive tools needed to scale wholesale verticals including bulk pricing rules, tailored product catalogs, flexible payment terms, and order histories. Therefore, wholesale buyers can easily reorder past purchases and manage accounts through a self-service portal.
7. Explore multistore selling
For businesses operating multiple stores, the Shopify organization admin allowing for holistic changes impacting the entire organization rather than individual stores. Users endowed with permissions in the Shopify organization admin can execute actions across multiple stores, influencing users, stores, and Shopify workflows on an organizational scale.
Here are some key features within your Shopify organization admin to leverage:
- Analytics Overview provides a consolidated view of key metrics and performance for all stores over various time periods, allowing you to ensure business health.
- User Management centralizes viewing and assigning user permissions across stores, letting you efficiently allocate the right access for team members.
- Store Management gives a unified view of all stores to experiment with strategies, replicate data between new and existing stores, and simplify navigation.
- Organization Billing streamlines invoicing with a single payment consolidating fees for associated stores, and expediting invoice tracking and payment compared to separate store bills.
Data Types Available for Magento to Shopify Plus Migration
For your Magento to Shopify Plus migration, here are the data types that are available to move between the two platforms:
Data Entity | Detail |
Products |
|
Product Categories |
|
Manufacturers |
|
Taxes |
|
Customers |
|
Orders |
|
Coupons |
|
Reviews |
|
Multistore |
|
Cms Pages |
|
Multiple Languages |
|
Blogs |
|
🔶 If you have any questions about the supported data types in the Magento to Shopify Plus migration or cannot find the data type you want to migrate in the documentation, please contact us at LitExtension.We will do our best to support migrating as many data types as possible to ensure a smooth and successful migration.
Moving from Magento to Shopify Plus: Recap
You're now up to speed on everything about the Magento to Shopify Plus migration. Here's the essential information you might find helpful:
- Meeting Schedule – Discuss your unique needs and requirements.
- Technical Consultation – Evaluate the optimal migration approach for your migration to Shopify Plus.
- Migration Configuration – Select what data to transfer and other preferences.
- Demo Migration – See a sample migration in action.
- Demo Migration Result Testing – Review sample results before final migration.
- Full Migration – Move from Magento to Shopify Plus by transferring all of your data.
- Migration Result Testing – Check final outcomes and make adjustments as needed.
- Post-Migration Services Utilization – Leverage ongoing services to keep data synced over time.
Magento to Shopify Plus Migration: FAQs
Why migrate to Shopify Plus?
Migrating to Shopify Plus is beneficial for businesses seeking a robust, scalable eCommerce platform. It offers advanced features, customizable solutions, and a seamless user experience.
Shopify Plus provides exclusive tools like Checkout Extensibility, empowering businesses to enhance the customer journey, customize checkouts, and efficiently manage complex operations, making it a compelling choice for high-growth enterprises.
Is it worth Shopify Plus?
The decision to invest in Shopify Plus depends on the specific needs and scale of your business. For larger enterprises with high transaction volumes, complex operations, and a need for advanced customization, Shopify Plus is often considered worthwhile.
The platform's enhanced features, scalability, and dedicated support cater to the demands of growing businesses, offering a comprehensive solution for eCommerce success.
Is Shopify Plus better than Magento?
Shopify Plus is known for its ease of use, scalability, and extensive support, making it suitable for businesses focused on growth and efficiency.
Magento (Adobe Commerce) may be preferred by businesses with highly specialized needs, intricate customization requirements, and an in-house technical team.
Either Magento or Shopify Plus has its strengths, and the decision should align with your business goals and technical capabilities.
When should you switch to Shopify Plus?
Consider migrating to Shopify Plus when your business experiences rapid growth, requires advanced customization or needs a scalable solution to handle increased traffic and sales. More specifically:
- Monthly sales exceed $800,000, or transactions surpass 100 per minute.
- Expanding globally requires a highly customized website.
- More third-party app integrations are crucial.
- Additional staff accounts are needed.
- Concerns about overspending on IT, maintenance, and transaction costs arise.
Key Takeaways
In conclusion, the Magento to Shopify Plus migration marks a strategic leap forward for businesses seeking enhanced scalability, advanced customization, and a streamlined eCommerce experience. By making the move to Shopify Plus, businesses can not only adapt to their growing needs but also unlock the full potential of their online presence with efficiency and agility.
For a seamless Magento to Shopify Plus migration with error-free data, LitExtension stands out as a reliable service. When working with us, detailed instructions are provided for each step, making the transition from Magento to Shopify a straightforward experience.
Explore more insightful tips and tricks for your store via our LitExtension blog or join the Facebook community group today!