What Shopify is, and where it fits
Shopify is a hosted SaaS ecommerce platform: you don't manage servers, PHP versions or database backups. Shopify runs the infrastructure and you manage the store through its admin and, for deeper customization, its APIs. Plans range from the standard tiers built for small and mid-size merchants up to Shopify Plus, aimed at higher-volume merchants who need more checkout customization and higher API limits.
Storefronts are built with Shopify's own templating language, Liquid, and themes come from the Shopify Theme Store or custom development. Because the platform is closed-source and hosted, you're working within Shopify's data model and extension points rather than modifying core code, which is exactly why migrations to or from Shopify hinge on API access and app configuration rather than a direct database copy.
Products, orders and customers: the data model
Shopify's product model is built around products and variants (a T-shirt with size/color variants, for example), organized into manual or automated collections rather than a free-form category tree. Migrating a catalog into Shopify usually means re-mapping your source platform's category or attribute structure into Shopify's product/variant/collection model, which is straightforward for simple catalogs and more involved for platforms with deep, multi-level categories or heavily configurable products.
Customer and order data can be moved through supported exports, imports and APIs, but the fields, historical depth and post-import behavior depend on the migration direction, API access and target workflow. We therefore define order-history acceptance criteria before choosing an import method. Metafields (Shopify's custom-field mechanism) are usually where non-standard product data ends up, and mapping your existing custom fields to metafields is one of the first things we scope.
Apps, themes and what doesn't move automatically
A working Shopify store usually depends on a handful of installed apps, for reviews, subscriptions, loyalty, search, or shipping rules. App data generally doesn't transfer with a platform migration; if you're moving off Shopify, app-stored data (like subscription schedules or loyalty points) needs a separate export from that app, and if you're moving onto Shopify, you'll be reinstalling equivalents from the Shopify App Store rather than carrying over app configuration.
The same applies to themes: a Liquid theme doesn't translate to another platform's templating system, so a move off Shopify generally means rebuilding the storefront design on the new platform, and a move onto Shopify means either customizing a Theme Store theme or commissioning custom Liquid development.
SEO, URLs and how we handle a Shopify migration
Shopify enforces its own URL patterns, such as /products/{handle}, /collections/{handle} and /pages/{handle}, which rarely match another platform's URL structure exactly. Moving to or from Shopify almost always means a redirect map from old URLs to new ones, since Shopify won't let you fully replicate an arbitrary URL structure from another system, and other platforms won't automatically know your Shopify handles.
As part of a managed migration we map your existing URLs against Shopify's structure (or the reverse, when you're leaving Shopify), set up 301 redirects, and carry over metadata that's still accurate on the new URLs, using the same approach described in our SEO & Redirect Migration service, just scoped specifically to Shopify's URL conventions and API constraints.
Frequently asked questions
Can you migrate my Shopify apps and their data?
We migrate the store data those apps rely on, but app-specific configuration and stored data usually need to come from a separate export by that app, or be rebuilt using an equivalent app on the target platform.
Does Shopify Plus change how a migration works?
Plus mainly affects checkout customization and API rate limits. The underlying product/order data model is the same as standard Shopify, so the migration approach doesn't fundamentally change, though higher API limits can speed up large catalog transfers.
Will my product URLs stay the same if I move to Shopify?
Only if your current URLs already match Shopify's /products/{handle} pattern, which is uncommon. In most cases we set up redirects from your old URLs to Shopify's required structure as part of the migration.
What happens to my theme if I migrate off Shopify?
Liquid themes don't transfer to other platforms' templating systems, so the storefront design is rebuilt on the new platform, matched to your existing design where the new platform allows it.