Get Ready for the Move

Assess Your Current Setup: Take stock of everything you’ve got—products, customers, orders, content, and design. Work out what you want to bring over and what can be left behind.

Pick the Right Shopify Plan: Shopify offers a few different plans. Pick the one that suits your needs, depending on how big your store is and what features you need.

Back Everything Up: Make sure you back up all your important data — just in case anything goes awry during the move.

Set Up Your New Shopify Store

Sign Up & Choose a Theme: Create an account on Shopify and pick a theme that suits your vibe. Shopify has plenty of great themes that are fully customisable to match your brand.

Configure Basic Settings: Set up your basic store details—currency, tax rates, shipping options, and payment gateways (Shopify Payments, PayPal, etc.).

Get Your Domain Sorted: If you’ve got a custom domain, you can easily connect it to Shopify. If not, you can always buy one directly through Shopify.

Migrate Your Store’s Data

Product Migration: Transfer all your product data, including names, descriptions, prices, and images. Shopify lets you import products via CSV files. For larger catalogs, third-party apps or experts can help make things smoother.

Customer Data: Migrate customer information like emails, addresses, and order history. This will keep your customer relationships intact.

Order History: If you want to keep a record of past orders, Shopify lets you import those too.

Design & Customise Your New Store

Customise Your Theme: Shopify themes are great out of the box, but you might want to tweak them to make them truly yours. You can customise everything from logos and colours to layout and fonts.

Apps & Integrations: Shopify’s app store is packed with tools that help with everything from inventory to email marketing. Choose what works best for your store’s needs.

Navigation: Make sure your menus and categories are well-organised, so customers can find what they’re looking for without any hassle.

Testing, Testing, Testing

Test the User Experience: Pretend you’re a customer and navigate through your store. Test product searches, filtering, browsing, and the checkout process to make sure everything’s smooth.

Mobile Optimisation: Shopify themes are mobile-friendly, but give your site a good test on smartphones and tablets to make sure it looks perfect on all devices.

App Testing: Make sure all your apps are working correctly—no broken links, glitches, or errors.

SEO Basics

Set Up 301 Redirects: If you’re moving from another platform, set up 301 redirects so customers and search engines get sent to the right pages. This helps keep your SEO rankings intact.

Optimise Your Pages: Make sure your product pages, meta descriptions, and images are all optimised for search engines. This will help boost your visibility online.

Launch Your Store

Give Everything One Last Check: Before you go live, make sure all your data has transferred correctly, your site looks great, and everything’s working as it should.

Spread the Word: Once your store’s up and running, shout about it! Use email, social media, and ads to let people know you’ve made the move.

Keep an Eye on Performance: After launch, watch how your store performs. Keep track of traffic, sales, and customer feedback to make sure everything runs smoothly.

After the Move: Keep Things Rolling

Monitor Everything: Even after the migration is complete, keep an eye on things. You may need to fix small issues that pop up.

Let Your Customers Know: It’s a good idea to let your customers know you’ve made the move—whether through an email or a special promotion. Make them feel part of the journey!

Support and Training: If you or your team are new to Shopify, make use of their resources. Shopify’s support team and community are great for getting help.