WooCommerce to Shopify Migration: Zero Data Loss Playbook

Shopify’s native import tool handles products and customers cleanly. It does not touch your order history at all, and most store owners do not find that out until they are already mid-migration.

Your theme, your SEO metadata, and your entire URL structure do not transfer either, each one requires a separate, deliberate step.

None of this makes the migration risky if you know it in advance.

It makes it risky only when a store owner assumes the platforms map cleanly onto each other and finds out otherwise after launch, with search rankings and order history already gone.

This playbook covers every step, in the order that actually prevents that.

Key Takeaways

• WooCommerce has no native customer or order export. WordPress’s Tools, then Export screen handles content only, posts and pages in WXR format, not customer or user records. A dedicated plugin is required for both customers and orders, not merely helpful for finer control.
• Customer passwords cannot migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify directly. This is a real limitation specific to this pairing, not a universal rule true of every platform migration.
• SEO metadata migration depends on your tool. Shopify’s native importer does not carry this over, but Matrixify, LitExtension, and Cart2Cart can migrate SEO fields depending on configuration, verify with your specific tool rather than assuming manual re-entry is always required.
• Manual CSV migration and using a dedicated migration tool are separate workflows. This guide covers both completely and separately, rather than blending steps meant for one into a walkthrough meant for the other.
• Freezing new orders during cutover is one real approach, not the only one. Larger stores commonly use a delta migration instead, capturing orders placed after the initial export rather than pausing the store for hours.

What Does Not Transfer Automatically, Accurately Stated

• Your page builder content. Elementor, WPBakery, Divi, and Gutenberg blocks have no Shopify equivalent, your pages export as static HTML, not editable content
• Your theme and design. Shopify runs on its own templating system, Liquid, and requires a real rebuild, not a transfer
• Your URL structure. Every WooCommerce URL needs a corresponding 301 redirect built manually, nothing maps this automatically
• SEO metadata, depending on your tool. Shopify’s own native importer does not carry this over, but some dedicated migration tools do support it directly, confirm with your specific tool before assuming a full manual re-entry is needed
• Plugin-specific data, depending on the plugin and tool. Custom fields, Advanced Custom Fields data, subscriptions, and membership data can sometimes migrate with the right tool or custom development, this is not a universal, simple no across every plugin

Choosing Your Migration Method

This is the fork point, and picking one path clearly avoids mixing steps meant for a different method.

Method	Best For	Real Trade-off
Manual CSV export and import	Small catalogs, under 500 products, comfortable with WordPress and spreadsheet work	Free, but order history, customer export, and SEO metadata all need separate, deliberate handling
Matrixify	Larger catalogs, more reliable field mapping	Handles bulk import more cleanly than Shopify’s default tools, supports a dry-run import, and can migrate SEO metadata depending on configuration
LitExtension or Cart2Cart	Large catalogs, less manual work desired	Paid, handles products, customers, orders, and images in a more coordinated pass than separate manual exports

Pick one path and follow it through completely.

The Pre-Migration Checklist

1. Record your exact inventory counts. Products, variations, customers, orders, coupons, and categories. Screenshot the numbers so you can verify the import matches afterward.
2. Export your complete URL inventory, not just your top pages. Every product, category, page, and blog post URL needs a place in your redirect map, use Google Search Console’s top-clicked pages to prioritize which URLs to test first, not to define the entire scope of what needs a redirect.
3. Note your page builder. Elementor, WPBakery, Divi, or Gutenberg blocks, none of these migrate. Your product pages render to static HTML on export, and Shopify’s editor is a completely different system.
4. Check your product data for issues before exporting. Duplicate SKUs, products missing images, products exceeding Shopify’s variant limits, and customer records missing required fields all cause import errors if not cleaned first.
5. Decide your approach for orders placed during migration. Either pause new orders temporarily during final cutover, or plan a delta migration to capture orders placed after your initial export, larger stores commonly prefer the delta approach over freezing the store for hours.

Method A: Manual CSV Migration

Follow this path completely if you chose manual migration. Do not mix in migration-tool steps from Method B.

A1: Back Up Your Database (WooCommerce)

1. Take a full database backup directly, not just the CSV exports coming in the next steps
2. Store it somewhere completely outside your hosting environment

A2: Export Your Products (WooCommerce)

1. In WordPress admin, go to Products, then All Products
2. Click Export
3. Leave all columns and product types selected
4. Click Generate CSV

This produces a file with all your product fields, typically around 38 columns. WooCommerce’s built-in export handles this natively, no plugin required, this is the one entity type with a genuine native export.

A3: Export Your Customers (WooCommerce)

WooCommerce has no native customer CSV export built into core.

1. Install a customer export plugin, such as Customer/Order/Coupon Export for WooCommerce or WP All Export, a plugin is required here
2. Configure the export to include names, emails, addresses, and any custom fields your store collects
3. Run the export and download the resulting CSV file

A4: Export Your Orders (WooCommerce)

WooCommerce provides no native CSV order export suitable for a Shopify migration either.

1. Install an export plugin, such as Order Import Export Plugin for WooCommerce
2. Select Orders as the data type
3. Choose whether to include guest checkout orders
4. Export as CSV

A5: Import Your Products (Shopify)

1. Go to Products, then Import
2. Upload your exported product CSV
3. Confirm every product image URL is publicly accessible, or plan to download and re-upload any that are not, Shopify’s importer cannot fetch images it cannot reach
4. Run the import and review results against your recorded inventory count

A6: Import Your Customers (Shopify)

1. In Shopify admin, go to Customers, then Import
2. Upload your formatted customer CSV
3. Confirm field mapping, name, email, phone, and address fields map differently between the two platforms

A7: Import Your Orders (Shopify)

1. Convert your exported order CSV to match Shopify’s import format, or use a plugin capable of writing directly to Shopify’s order structure
2. Run the import and verify the order count against your pre-migration checklist

A8: Handle SEO Metadata Manually

1. Since manual CSV migration does not carry meta titles and descriptions automatically, export this data from your Yoast or Rank Math settings separately
2. Enter it into Shopify’s SEO fields for your highest-traffic pages first

Method B: Migration Tool Workflow

Follow this path completely if you chose Matrixify, LitExtension, or Cart2Cart. Do not mix in manual CSV steps from Method A.

B1: Set Up Your Shopify Store (Shopify)

1. Create your Shopify account and complete basic store configuration
2. Choose a starting theme, your migration tool will not transfer your WooCommerce design

B2: Configure and Run Your Migration Tool (Migration Tool)

1. Connect your tool to your WooCommerce site, either via direct connection or by uploading your export, depending on your specific tool’s setup process
2. Select which entities to migrate: products, customers, orders, and confirm directly whether images, SEO metadata, and specific plugin data like ACF fields or subscriptions are covered by your tool
3. Run a demo or test migration first if the tool supports it
4. Execute the full migration once results check out, most tools handle image downloading and re-hosting automatically as part of this process, confirm this with your specific tool rather than assuming manual work is required

B3: Verify the Results (Both Platforms)

1. Cross-check migrated product, customer, and order counts against your pre-migration inventory
2. Spot-check a real sample of each entity type
3. Confirm whether SEO metadata transferred, some tools carry this over directly, verify rather than assume it needs manual re-entry

Both Methods Converge Here

Send a Bulk Password Reset

1. Customer passwords cannot migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify directly, this is a real limitation specific to this pairing
2. Immediately after customer import, before the store goes live, send a bulk password reset email to every migrated customer

Rebuild Your Theme

1. Choose a Shopify theme matching your brand’s design intent, since your WooCommerce theme does not transfer
2. Rebuild key pages using Shopify’s Liquid templating system
3. Recreate any custom functionality your page builder previously handled, this is real development work

Set Up 301 Redirects

1. Using your complete URL inventory from the pre-migration checklist, map every old WooCommerce URL to its new Shopify equivalent, covering products, categories, pages, and blog posts, not only your top-traffic pages
2. Also check WooCommerce for any redirect rules already active, commonly managed through Yoast’s redirect manager, and rebuild those too
3. Set up 301 redirects for each one, either through Shopify’s native URL redirect tool or a redirect app for larger catalogs
4. Test a sample of redirects directly in a browser before considering this step complete

Test Everything Before Launch

1. Place a real test order through the new Shopify store, confirm payment processing, order confirmation, and email delivery all work
2. Spot-check a sample of migrated products, customers, and orders against your original WooCommerce counts
3. Confirm redirects work correctly for your top URLs, not just the homepage

Go Live

1. Update your domain’s DNS to point to Shopify
2. Keep your WooCommerce site accessible on a temporary URL for a short period, in case a rollback becomes necessary
3. Monitor Google Search Console closely for the first two to four weeks after launch for any indexing or redirect issues, incorrect redirects can significantly reduce organic traffic and revenue until indexing stabilizes

The Rollback Plan

• Lower your domain’s DNS TTL a few days before cutover, this reduces how long a rollback takes to propagate if you need one
• Keep your WooCommerce site fully intact and accessible on a subdomain or temporary URL for at least two to four weeks post-launch
• Do not delete your WooCommerce database or hosting until the new Shopify store has been stable through at least one full order cycle
• If redirects break or rankings drop sharply, the fastest fix is reverting DNS back to WooCommerce while you diagnose the issue

Real Migration Timeline

Store Size	Data Migration	Design, Testing, and Launch	Total
Under 500 products	A few days	1 to 2 weeks	Roughly 2 to 3 weeks
500 to 5,000 products	1 to 2 weeks	2 to 4 weeks	Roughly 1 to 2 months
5,000+ products, custom functionality	2+ weeks, often agency-assisted	4+ weeks	2+ months, sometimes longer

WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Questions Answered