We work with both BigCommerce & Shopify as eCommerce platforms. BigCommerce’s popularity is waning in recent years as it struggles to keep up with Shopify and attract developers willing to build apps on its platform. Without developer support the platform begins to fall behind in the features that modern store owners expect.
Changing eCommerce platforms may seem like a daunting task, but it’s a necessary move for many businesses seeking more functionality, better user experiences, and greater growth opportunities. One such transition is migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify. Shopify offers a more intuitive interface, greater customization options, a large app marketplace, and robust marketing tools.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key steps for a successful migration from BigCommerce to Shopify.
1. Preparing for Migration
Before you begin the migration process, it’s crucial to plan and prepare to ensure a seamless transition. Here are some steps you should take:
- Audit Your Current Site: Determine what needs to be migrated, including products, customers, order data, blog posts, and any other information. Identify any existing issues that need to be addressed before migration.
- Backup Your Data: Make sure to backup all your data. This includes your products, customers, orders, content, and any other important data. It’s a crucial step in case anything goes wrong during the migration process.
- Set Up Your Shopify Store: Before migration, you should set up your Shopify store. This involves choosing a plan, picking a theme, setting up your domain, and configuring basic settings like shipping and taxes.
2. Migrating Your BigCommerce Products
You can use Shopify’s built-in importer to import your products from BigCommerce to Shopify. Here’s how:
- Export Products from BigCommerce: In your BigCommerce admin, go to ‘Products’ > ‘Export’. Choose the ‘Bulk Edit’ template and click ‘Continue’. Download the CSV file that gets generated.
- Import Products to Shopify: In your Shopify admin, go to ‘Products’ > ‘All products’. Click ‘Import’ and upload the CSV file that you exported from BigCommerce. Make sure to check ‘Overwrite existing products that have the same handle’ if you’re updating existing products.
Keep in mind that the BigCommerce CSV file might not perfectly match Shopify’s CSV file structure, so you might need to make some adjustments to the CSV file before importing. Specifically, you’ll want to make sure your images are hosted on a publicly accessible URL, as the CSV can only contain image URLs, not the images themselves.
3. Migrating BigCommerce Customers
Similarly, you can migrate your customer data using the built-in importer:
- Export Customers from BigCommerce: Go to ‘Customers’ > ‘Export’ in your BigCommerce admin. Choose the ‘Default’ template and click ‘Continue’. Download the CSV file.
- Import Customers to Shopify: In your Shopify admin, go to ‘Customers’. Click ‘Import customers’ and upload the CSV file that you exported from BigCommerce.
Again, you might need to make some adjustments to the CSV file before importing to ensure it matches Shopify’s file structure.
4. Migrating BigCommerce Orders
Migrating orders is a bit more complicated because Shopify doesn’t provide a built-in tool for order migration. However, there are several third-party apps available in the Shopify App Store, like ‘EZ Importer’ or ‘Excelify’, that can help with this.
5. Migrating BigCommerce Content
For migrating static pages and blog posts, you’ll need to manually recreate these pages in Shopify. However, you can copy and paste the text from your BigCommerce store into your Shopify store.
6. Setting Up Redirects
To maintain your SEO rankings and avoid broken links, you should set up URL redirects in your Shopify store. This involves mapping each of your old BigCommerce URLs to the corresponding new Shopify URL. You can add URL redirects in your Shopify admin under ‘Online Store’ > ‘Navigation’ > ‘URL Redirects’.
7. Testing
After you’ve completed the migration, it’s critical to test your Shopify store thoroughly. This includes checking your product details, images, links, customer information, order history, and checkout process. It’s also a good idea to place a few test orders to ensure everything is working properly.
8. Launching Your Shopify Store
Once you’re satisfied that everything has been correctly migrated and is functioning correctly, you can go ahead and launch your Shopify store. This involves pointing your domain to your new Shopify store.
To sum up:
Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify can be a complex process, but with proper planning, organization, and attention to detail, it can be successfully accomplished. Once the migration is complete, you can take full advantage of Shopify’s rich features and functionalities to grow your online business. Always remember to keep backups of your data and double-check everything after the migration to ensure a seamless transition for your customers.
If you would like help with your BigCommerce or Shopify migration needs – please reach out using the form below:
