Easy Step By Step Shopify To WooCommerce Migration Tutorial (With Cart2Cart)

Thinking of trying out Shopify to WooCommerce migration?

It doesn’t seem easy at all, now does it?

Well, it turns out you’re not alone. Website migration is one of the most dreadful procedures for site owners. Moving from one hosting provider to another is bad enough already. Now, imagine the horror of migrating an online store between two different ecommerce platform architectures.

Since there are many variables involved here, a lot of things could go wrong midway. Even a simple mistake could develop into pretty serious technical problems for your ecommerce business.

Hence, it’s understandable why you might feel compelled to hire a developer who’ll migrate the online store on your behalf. After all, isn’t that the safest Shopify to WooCommerce migration option?

Well, hate to disappoint you but it just so happens it’s not. At least not anymore. Automated migration tools like Cart2Cart have proven to not only be cheaper, but also much faster and more accurate than manual methods.

And you know what? They further allow you to perform the whole Shopify to WooCommerce migration without any technical assistance or knowledge.

Now that’s precisely what this article is all about. It explains how Cart2Cart works, and then walks you through the entire process of leveraging the tool to perform a fully automated Shopify to WooCommerce data migration.

That said, let’s start from the bottom and then progressively make our way to the top. And speaking of which, one of the biggest issues overall is the dilemma on the whole point of migrating.

Is Shopify to WooCommerce migration really worth the effort? Or should you forget about it and hang on to Shopify for the long haul?

Why You Might Want To Migrate Shopify To WooCommerce

There’s no denying that Shopify is one of the biggest names in the ecommerce industry. In fact, it boasts a global ecommerce market share of about 20%. And when you focus on the U.S. alone, it turns out that Shopify powers more than 31% of the country’s online stores.

So, in short, Shopify happens to be one of the most dominant ecommerce platforms today, and for many good reasons.

You see, Shopify is not just an all-inclusive digital business platform. We principally like it because of how it has managed to simplify the whole concept of ecommerce.

Shopify currently gives even technically unskilled merchants the power to build their own online stores from scratch, embed supplementary functionalities, tweak the built-in features, as well as manage all their business operations through an intuitive, easy-to-use UI.

In addition to that, Shopify has proven to be flexible enough for all types of businesses. It can effectively support startups, small businesses, medium-sized businesses, as well as large enterprises with multiple stores across different locations and countries.

So, why exactly would you want to drop such a platform for WooCommerce?

Well, the thing is, while Shopify is many things, it also has its fair share of weaknesses. And, as it turns out, WooCommerce provides just what you need to mitigate most of these issues.

Here’s a brief breakdown of some of the main ones. Or rather, you could think of them as the principal reasons why you might want to proceed with the Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

Reduced Costs

So far, many, including us here at ecommerce-platforms, have praised Shopify for its overall cost-effectiveness. It combines everything you might need over the long haul in one holistic ecommerce platform at very reasonable rates.

Shopify Lite, for instance, will start you off at only $9 a month. And then there’s the Shopify Basic plan, which offers pretty much all the essential ecommerce features for only $29 a month. Medium-sized businesses and enterprises, on the other hand, get to unleash their full power through the Shopify plan for $79 a month, Advanced Shopify for $299 a month, or maybe the Shopify Plus package- which goes for a custom rate.

Not bad. Not bad at all, especially considering the neat features that each of these plans comes with.

Sadly, however, the usage charges don’t end there, as Shopify will bill you separately for some of its themes, add-ons, plus transaction processing via the default Shopify Payments service.

And that’s not all. Things can get worse if you choose to proceed with any of the alternative third-party payment processors. Shopify will consequently penalize you by charging an extra rate for each transaction.

Now that’s a heck of a lot of costs, particularly when you take into account the cumulative figures you stand to incur over a prolonged period of time. Even the subscription charges alone add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars every year.

Fortunately, WooCommerce offers a thoughtful way out of all that mess.

How?

Well, for starters, WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin. It won’t charge you anything for installation or subscription. Plus, WordPress itself is a free CMS platform. So, of course, a Shopify to WooCommerce migration would automatically reduce your monthly subscription charges to zero.

And while WooCommerce has its fair share of premium themes and add-ons, it still provides a heck of a lot more free options than Shopify. That means you could reduce your standard usage costs quite substantially over the long haul.

Increased Customization Capabilities

One of the best things about Shopify, as we’ve mentioned, is its extensive customization capabilities. In addition to a solid array of elegant pre-built website themes, you get a responsive and easy-to-use site builder.

Experience developers, on the other hand, get the chance to work on the accompanying HTML and CSS using Shopify’s Liquid templating language. Then if you ever need extra functionalities, you just need to embed an app from Shopify’s App Store.

Well, that’s pretty generous of Shopify. It certainly outdoes most of the other ecommerce platforms when it comes to customization. But, get this- Shopify is nowhere near WooCommerce’s customization capabilities.

You see, WooCommerce is an open-source ecommerce platform. That means that as long as you know your way around its code, you can edit pretty much anything. It allows you to configure its underlying code based on your precise needs and overall business framework.

What’s more, even if you’re not that great of a coder, WooCommerce has still got your back. You’ll find a couple of intuitive site builders on WordPress, as well as thousands of pre-built themes and plugins. You could also source for additional compatible options from third-party platforms, as WordPress and WooCommerce are both supported by an expansive community of developers.

Get Support From a Larger, More Vibrant Community

Since Shopify is a dominant ecommerce platform with a huge market share, you can bet it has quite an impressive community of supporters behind it. The Shopify Community Forum alone hosts more than 600,000 Shopify merchants, experts, and partners who collectively engage in helpful conversations.

There’s a lot you could potentially gain from that. But, despite its huge numbers, the Shopify Community is nothing compared to WooCommerce's equivalent.

Picture this. Nearly half a billion websites are running on WordPress, and about 4 million of them are specifically using WooCommerce. What’s more, WordPress and WooCommerce and both open-source platforms that freely distribute their source code worldwide.

Consequently, WooCommerce and WordPress have, with time, managed to build a large global community that’s made up of millions of users, experts, and developers. They continue to come up with compatible apps and themes, as well as exchange helpful tips on troubleshooting and optimizing the platforms. Hence, you can easily get answers on pretty much anything.

Enhanced Search Engine Optimization

One of the things that the default Shopify platform takes into account is SEO. In addition to configuring its core elements in line with web search protocols, Shopify allows you to dive into your website’s structure for custom optimization. You get to work on your page and product URLs, keywords, meta-data, etc.

But, while that’s admirable, WooCommerce happens to go much deeper. A Shopify to WooCommerce migration will give you the chance to perform high-level SEO optimization on all the critical site elements. Plus, you could further take advantage of proven SEO plugins like Yoast for WordPress to fine-grain your customization.

In the end, it becomes easier to enhance your online’s store’s search engine ranking when you migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.

Shopify To WooCommerce Migration Options

Now that you’re ready to move forward with your Shopify to WooCommerce data migration, what methods can you possibly use?

Well, the truth is, there are many different ways to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce. But, for the sake of simplicity, we’ve categorized all of them into three major options:

• Manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration
• Assisted Shopify to WooCommerce migration
• Automated Shopify to WooCommerce migration

Manual Shopify to WooCommerce Migration

The manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration method, as you’ve probably figured out already, entails transferring your website elements and data between the two platforms manually. Basically, you export data from your Shopify system then subsequently deploy everything on your WooCommerce platform.

Make no mistake about it though. This is not a simple copy-paste procedure. Rather, it’s an intricately complicated procedure that involves a lot of technical configurations on both sides. That means you need adequate technical skills and experience if you intend to proceed without any difficulties.

It’s also worth noting that the rate of error here is relatively high. Manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration procedures are prone to all sorts of human-triggered problems, most of which can be potentially detrimental.

Assisted Shopify To WooCommerce Migration

If you don’t possess the skills or knowledge required to perform a manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration, an assisted migration would be an understandable alternative.

Technically, the procedure itself is a form of manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration. But, unlike the previous method, the assisted option involves a third-party expert. That means you hire a professional developer to handle everything and migrate Shopify to WooCommerce on your behalf.

Not a bad option when you come to think of it. Besides, there are many experienced professionals out there who are great with both Shopify and WooCommerce.

But, here’s the kicker. It doesn’t come cheap at all. A single Shopify to WooCommerce data migration procedure could cost you hundreds or thousands of dollars, especially if you choose to hire a specialized agency.

That notwithstanding though, the whole thing is still a manual procedure. So, of course, it comes with the same old challenges. In addition to the risk of human error, it takes a lot of time to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce. A typical ecommerce site could have you waiting for days.

Automated Shopify To WooCommerce Migration

Automated Shopify to WooCommerce migration is yet another method that’s quite popular with technically unskilled merchants. And while the assisted procedure engages human experts, the automated Shopify to WooCommerce migration option relies on software tools.

Yes, that’s right. The entire Shopify to WooCommerce data migration procedure is conducted automatically by a specialized software solution. And as you’ll ultimately find out, there’s an endless list of different tools on the web that claim to offer the service.

Fortunately for you though, we’ve sampled many already and narrowed down the options to the few that have consistently proven to be reliable.

Cart2Cart happens to be one of them, and we’ve unanimously decided to focus on it because of the many outstanding benefits it offers when it comes to Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

Here’s a brief explanation of what it entails plus the accompanying benefits you should expect:

Reasons to Consider Cart2Cart For Your Shopify To WooCommerce Data Migration

If you’ve read our previous data migration articles, then you might have noticed that Cart2Cart is no ordinary site transfer tool. Instead, Cart2Cart is an all-inclusive automated migration tool that specifically focuses on shopping carts and ecommerce platforms. This is the type of solution you turn to when you need to move your online store from one platform to another- not just Shopify to WooCommerce.

And in case you’re wondering, Cart2Cart has, so far, partnered with over 85 prominent shopping carts- from the likes of Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, OpenCart, Magento, PrestaShop, and osCommerce, to Etsy, Wix, SquareSpace, and Weebly. In short, it has a stake in all the popular ecommerce-hosting platforms you can think of.

But, get this- that’s not even the best part. The most impressive bit is that Cart2Cart is capable of facilitating automated data between all these platforms. It provides tools for importing and exporting your online store elements in one piece across more than 850 different platforms.

That said, here are the primary benefits of leveraging Cart2Cart for your Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

Easy To Use

Forget all the horrors of migrating your store from Shopify to WooCommerce. You won’t need any advanced technical skills here, as Cart2Cart has simplified the whole process through a pleasantly easy to use interface.

Basically, it comes with a straightforward migration wizard, on which you just enter your store details and the system picks it up from there.

In the end, it only takes you 3 steps, and voila! The system proceeds to conduct the data transfer process in the background.

No Downtimes

Chances are, you’d expect to have your ecommerce site offline as you migrate Shopify to WooCommerce. Then you’d subsequently resume your normal operations when all the data has been transferred, and the site is up and running on the destination platform.

While this is the standard migration procedure for most digital merchants, Cart2Cart tends to operate differently. Instead of taking over your website, it conducts everything in the background while keeping your store online. You won’t experience downtime or any form of service interruption.

Consequently, you should be able to maintain your normal business operations throughout the data transfer process. You can even continue processing transactions as you prepare to direct all the customers to your new WooCommerce store.

No Programming Involved

Cart2Cart seemingly understands that manual configurations can be a bit intimidating. Hence, it saves you the trouble by handling all the technical bits on your behalf.

The only thing you’ll be left to do here is filling the source and target store details, as well as specifying the type of entities you’d like to transfer. Otherwise, you should be done with the configuration widget in a matter of minutes, and Cart2Cart will take care of the rest. Eventually, you’ll have a fully-functional WooCommerce store without any technical input.

And since none of that requires any programming skills or knowledge, beginners should have an easy time advancing through all the stages.

Free Demo Migration

Before you even commit to paying for the service, Cart2Cart is willing to prove its capabilities and walk the talk through a free demo migration. This comes after installing the Shopify to WooCommerce migration module for free, creating an account, filling in your store details, and specifying the entities you’d like to migrate.

Then when the free demo gets underway, you’ll notice that it’s designed to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce only partly. Essentially, the tool transfers only a limited number of entities within 30 minutes or so to give you an insight into what you should expect from a full-scale migration.

More specifically, you get to assess your target store’s overall outlook, plus the front-end and back-end framework. Then if everything seems okay, you can go ahead and pay for a full Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

Flexible Case-By-Case Pricing

Cart2Cart doesn’t come with a uniform pricing rate for all its Shopify to WooCommerce data migration procedures. And neither does it offer standardized pricing plans.

Instead, what you end up paying here depends specifically on how you intend to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce. Cart2Cart applies a flexible pricing system, whose rates are based on the number of entities you’ll be transferring between the two ecommerce platforms. The more the entities in your store, the higher the data transfer volume, and subsequently, the costlier the service will be.

Pricing starts at $29, but it’s worth noting, though, that the final billing rate could be higher than your initial estimate due to supplementary add-ons like migration insurance, or premium customization options.

24/7 Customer Support

Although Cart2Cart appears to be pretty confident about its capabilities, the company doesn’t leave you to sail through the whole Shopify to WooCommerce migration process alone. You’ll be backed by a team of experts who’ll be on standby 24/7 for any technical assistance you might need along the way.

You’re free to get in touch with them via web ticketing, live chat, or phone. And, I must say that after contacting them and raising a couple of technical questions, I was quite impressed by their level of knowledge.

In short, therefore, I can confirm that the level of customer support here is pretty advanced.

 And with that, let’s now explore in detail the whole process of migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce using Cart2Cart

The Complete Cart2Cart Shopify To WooCommerce Migration Tutorial

Premigration Step

Before you even begin performing the actual Shopify to WooCommerce migration, you’ll need a valid target store where all the data will be transferred. This should, of course, be built entirely on WordPress and WooCommerce, without any extra customizations.

So, begin by getting yourself a reliable WordPress and WooCommerce hosting provider. You could check out some of the services we’ve featured in our Best WordPress Hosting guide for some worthwhile considerations.

Then with a good hosting service, you can go ahead and launch WordPress, after which you should search for the WooCommerce plugin and install it. This, however, might not be applicable in all the cases as some hosting services come with both WooCommerce and WordPress already pre-installed.

All in all, you still have to create your online store by running the WooCommerce setup wizard and filling in the store details accordingly.

A word of caution though. Do not customize your WooCommerce store at this point. Leave it with the default theme for the time being, as you’ll get the chance to configure it further after migrating Shopify to WooCommerce.

Step 1: Create Your Cart2Cart Account

Go to Cart2Cart’s main site and sign up for an account using your personal details. Alternatively, you could log into the system with your Google or Facebook account.

Whichever method you choose, Cart2Cart will automatically direct you to its main dashboard at no cost at all.

Once you’re in, you can go ahead and jump straight into the Shopify to WooCommerce migration setup by picking Shopify as the source platform, and WooCommerce as the target platform, and then clicking on the “Start Free Demo Now” button. This will immediately launch the migration window.

Step 2: Fill In Your Source Cart Details

The first part of the Shopify to WooCommerce migration wizard is all about your source cart. Cart2Cart basically requires you to point it in the right direction by entering your source cart info.

So, on the Source Cart field, pick Shopify from the dropdown list of ecommerce options. Then move to the Source Store URL section and type in your Shopify store’s URL.

Once you’re done, you’ll need to connect CartCart with your Shopify account through an API password, which can only be obtained directly from your Shopify system.

At this point, therefore, you should log into your Shopify account through a separate tab. Then from the admin panel, go straight to the Apps menu option and click on it.

Next, click on Manage Private Apps and then hit the Create a New Private App button. Shopify will launch a form, on which you should enter your Cart2Cart system details. Fill in Cart2Cart as the app name, followed by your contact details, and then proceed to apply Read and Write on all the API access options.

The last step is hitting the Save button and Shopify will immediately generate the API credentials. So, go ahead and copy the API password and then paste it to the corresponding Cart2Cart source cart field.

Step 3: Enter Your Target Store Details and Set Up Its Connection Bridge

Scrolling down past the Source Cart Setup section will land you on the Target Cart Setup, on which you should enter the corresponding target store details.

For starters, ensure that WooCommerce is the selected platform on the Target Cart field. Cart2Cart is built to apply your initial target cart selection as the default option. Otherwise, you could still simply pick WooCommerce from the dropdown list of target cart options.

After that, proceed to the next set of fields and enter your target store details. More specifically, type in or paste the URL to your WordPress admin login page, as well as the accompanying login ID and password.

Cart2Cart will subsequently set up a connection bridge on your WooCommerce store, which will ultimately act as the main data import point.

Step 4: Pick The Entities You Want To Migrate

With the system fully connected to both your source and target carts, Cart2Cart will then require you to select the specific entities you want to transfer from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Now, for the sake of clarity, you can think of the entities as distinct sets of data that represent your core online store elements. I’m talking about your product information, as well as the corresponding customer data, order variables, etc.

Fortunately for you, CartCart’s Shopify to WooCommerce migration covers all the fundamental online store elements. It goes above and beyond what its competitors provide by allowing you to transfer not just the main data entities, but also the accompanying sub-elements.

When it comes to product data, for instance, Cart2Cart includes all the entities related to your inventory items. You get to migrate every single Product Name along with its SKU, Full Description, Status, Manufacturer, Tax Class, Price, Sale Price, URL, Meta Title, Meta Description, Variants, Base Image, Additional Images, Quantity, etc.

The corresponding Product Categories include Names, Descriptions, Images, URLs, and Meta Info- such as Meta Titles plus Meta Descriptions.

Orders, on the other hand, are transferred with their precise IDs, Order Dates, Order Status, Order Products ( Name and SKU), Product Prices, Quantities, Discount Prices, Shipping Prices, Total Price, Order Comments, Billing Addresses, and Shipping Addresses.

As for the customers, Cart2Cart allows you to migrate their entire profiles- from the First Name, Last Name, and Email Address, to the full Billing Address as well as the Shipping Address.

Another component that Cart2Cart will preserve is your web content. The Shopify to WooCommerce migration is capable of moving all your blog posts plus the accompanying Titles, SEO URLs, Blog posts, Title, Full Description, Short Description, Tags, Created Time, Modified Time, SEO URL, Blog IDs, Comments, Post Redirects, and Images.

But, that’s not all. The system further throws in your CMS pages, allowing you to migrate their Titles, Created Dates, URLs, Status, and Content Headings.

Then to top it off, you also get to proceed with coupon entities such as the Name, Coupon Code, Type Discount, and Discount Amount, as well as your manufacturer's names and images.

Please note, however, that you don’t have to click on every individual entity. You could simply pick all the data elements plus their entities by clicking on the Select All checkbox. Then to exclude any specific entity, just unselect its checkbox without touching the rest.

Step 5: Optimize Your Shopify To WooCommerce Migration With Additional Options

Cart2Cart figures that you might want to optimize your Shopify to WooCommerce migration further. So, in addition to the online store entities, it gives you a list of additional options for tweaking various data migration parameters.

To access them, scroll past the entities section, and then proceed by clicking on the checkboxes of all the optimizations you need.

And while you’re at it, you’ll notice that Cart2Cart treats them like supplementary add-ons, complete with pricing tags for the most advanced options.

You can also choose to migrate images from product descriptions, categories descriptions and blog posts descriptions for an additional $49. Then preserving the Order IDs on your target store will have you paying a similar rate of $49, while creating 301 redirects after migrations comes at a cost of $59.

On a brighter note though, not everything here is priced. At least you get the chance to clear data on your WooCommerce store before migration, skip product thumbnail images migration, plus strip HTML from category, product names and descriptions for free.

So, in the end, even merchants on a tight budget can optimize their Shopify to WooCommerce migration in several different ways.

Step 6: Perform a Free Demo Migration

Cart2Cart doesn’t want you to dive in head-first without first confirming what you’re actually getting yourself into. It allows you to perform a demo Shopify to WooCommerce data migration before the real thing.

The whole point is to give you an idea of what to expect once you launch a full-scale migration. It’s also a good form of assurance, especially to skeptics who might not be willing to make a blind commitment before confirming that the tool can indeed migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.

Most importantly, though, a demo migration is a fair way to review all your data variables and make adjustments in good time. You might flag up an issue that could otherwise have forced you to repeat the full Shopify to WooCommerce migration at an extra cost.

So, whichever way you look at it, Cart2Cart’s demo migration is critically important. Skipping it would not be a good idea.

Now, if you choose to go on with it, performing a demo Shopify to WooCommerce migration is as easy as hitting the Start Demo Migration button. Cart2Cart will then transfer only a fraction of your data entities from Shopify to the target WooCommerce store.

The whole procedure should take about half an hour or so, after which you should thoroughly analyze the demo target store. Pay special attention to the overall store layout plus your entities’ organization structure on both the front and back ends of the site.

In case of any issues, you can revert to the migration wizard and reconfigure your data transfer options. Alternatively, you can get in touch with Cart2Cart’s customer support team for technical assistance.

But, if everything seems to be in order, you can move on to the next step for a full-scale Shopify to WooCommerce migration.

Step 7: Pay For The Service and Launch a Full Shopify To WooCommerce Migration

Since Cart2Cart is a prepaid service, it’ll bill you for everything right before you start the full data transfer process.

In most cases, the system ends up generating a final quote that reflects the initial pricing projections obtained from the estimation tool. But, for merchants who choose to throw in some of the premium additional migration options, expect a slight bump in the pricing.

And speaking of which, you could also purchase what Cart2Cart calls Migration Insurance. It’s intended to protect your Shopify to WooCommerce data migration by giving you the privilege of restarting the whole procedure.

Ok, now hang on a minute. What exactly am I talking about here? And why would anyone consider restarting their Shopify to WooCommerce migration?

Well, the fact is- while Cart2Cart is an extensively experienced automation tool that you can count on to seamlessly migrate Shopify to WooCommerce without any problems, there's always the possibility that external variables could trigger unforeseen difficulties.

A service interruption on the part of your hosting provider could, for instance, affect the data transfer process. Similarly, an incorrectly configured target store could corrupt your data or cause all sorts of errors during transmission.

In that case, Cart2Cart usually offers a remigration service at a discounted rate of 50% of the total migration price. For Migration Insurance holders, however, Shopify to WooCommerce remigration procedures are completely free of charge.

And for such protection, Cart2Cart will charge you an extra fee of about 9-13% of the total data transfer price. 9% allows you to conduct just 1 remigration within 14 days, while 11% grants you 2 instances within 28 days. The 13% rate, on the other hand, translates to 3 remigration opportunities within 80 days.

So, pick your desired insurance package, pay for everything, and start a full migration. You can then go back to running your business on the main site as you wait for Cart2Cart to complete the full Shopify to WooCommerce data transfer.

In fact, you don’t even have to keep the transfer window open. Cart2Cart is built to run silently in the background while maintaining an optimum tempo. Consequently, you can expect it to migrate a typical online store from Shopify to WooCommerce in only a couple of hours.

That’s much faster than the manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration procedures performed by expert agencies. All for a fraction of the cost.

Conclusion

When the data transfer process is complete, you’ll receive an email alert, after which you should take the time to analyze every single thing in detail.

Log into your new WooCommerce store and explore all the transferred entities. Do they reflect what you previously had on Shopify?

You could even compare the individual orders with what you have on your source cart to rule out any anomalies.

Then to examine your WooCommerce store’s functionalities, conduct a test purchase while carefully going through all the stages that a standard customer would.

In the meantime, Cart2Cart’s customer support team will be on standby in case you need any assistance. You can pose questions to them or request technical help if you happen to experience difficulties.

Finally, when you’re done with everything, you can go ahead and start customizing your new WooCommerce store. Then, of course, work out a way to seamlessly transition your customers to the migrated site.

From there onwards, it should be a smooth sail as you capitalize on the raw power that WooCommerce provides.

The post Easy Step By Step Shopify To WooCommerce Migration Tutorial (With Cart2Cart) appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

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