How to Migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce
Move your Shopify store with a plan for variants, customer accounts, historical orders, app replacements and the final inventory transfer.
To migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce, build a separate WordPress store, transfer the products and other records you need through a compatible importer, replace Shopify-specific apps and rebuild the storefront. Test customer access, payments and redirects before changing the domain. Keep Shopify available until product images and the final orders and stock changes have been transferred and checked.
A product CSV is useful for a catalog move. A complete store migration also needs decisions about customer accounts, order history, subscriptions, gift cards and the apps that currently run your business.
Have Niwa handle an agreed Shopify migration
Niwa Business is USD 150 and includes a custom WordPress website or migration, hosting, maintenance and AI tools adapted to the business. For a Shopify move, agree which records and app workflows are included before work begins. A recurring-payment app or custom fulfillment connection needs its own transfer plan.
Once the WooCommerce catalog is checked, the Niwa assistant can help a customer compare products, choose an available variation and use supported website cart actions. On WhatsApp, Niwa uses the website's business context to complete connected sales workflows directly in the conversation. The owner can request authorized stock or product-content changes. That daily work depends on transferring the right SKU, price and variation relationships.
You can also manage the migration yourself and install the standalone Niwa AI plugin on the resulting WordPress store.
Record what Shopify currently does
Make a list of products and variants, collections, customers, addresses, orders, discount rules, pages and blog articles. Add features supplied by apps: subscriptions, reviews, loyalty credit, bundles, search, delivery scheduling and accounting exports.
For each item, record the destination and how you will check it. An imported review needs an author and product relationship. A subscription needs a working billing arrangement, not merely a copied order. Decide whether historical records must be available to customers or only retained for your team.
Export backups and a list of existing URLs. Keep the files private: customer and order exports contain personal information. Record a cutover time and who can authorize rollback if payment or fulfillment fails.
Build and configure the destination first
Install WordPress and WooCommerce on protected staging. Configure currency, shipping zones, tax treatment and the payment provider for your actual business. Use a WooCommerce theme and rebuild product templates, navigation and informational pages.
Shopify themes use a different platform. Copying Liquid theme files into WordPress will not reproduce a working storefront. Likewise, an app subscription does not install its functionality in WooCommerce. Test replacement extensions against the workflow you require, rather than matching their names.
Prevent staging from sending customer emails, fulfillment requests or live accounting updates during trial imports. Use the payment provider's supported test mode.
Choose the transfer method by record type
For a product-only route, Shopify provides Products > Export. Keep the original file, then map a working copy to the WooCommerce importer schema. Shopify's export instructions explain that product image files are not embedded in that CSV. Their source URLs must remain accessible during import.
For a fuller transfer, inspect a current migration extension's entity coverage and connection requirements. Shopify Data Migrator documentation describes product, customer, order and content imports, with import rules and logs. Its customer passwords are not imported. Do not select an old extension simply because a tutorial still links to it; check current availability and support.
Import a small sample before the full batch. Use stable source identifiers or SKUs to decide whether later runs update existing records. Repeatedly importing every record as new can duplicate products, accounts or orders.
Verify variants, collections and historical orders
Use one representative product with several options. For example, a linen shirt has three colors and four sizes. Check each sellable combination's SKU, stock, image and price, including one unavailable size. The parent product appearing correctly is not enough.
Check how Shopify collections become WooCommerce categories or other merchandising rules. Recreate any collection behavior that depends on conditions instead of a fixed product list.
For orders, compare a paid order, a refunded order and an unfulfilled order. Verify line items, totals, shipping, discounts, currency and customer ownership. Define how Shopify's financial and fulfillment states map to your new operational workflow. Disable historical-order notifications unless you deliberately need them.
Prepare customer access and app replacements
Do not promise that Shopify passwords will transfer. For the documented importer above, customers need WordPress password reset to sign in. Test the process using an account you control, including reset email delivery and access to the correct historical orders.
List what a returning customer will lose or need to set up again, such as saved payment details or app-specific credit. Ask the relevant payment or subscription provider how an authorized transition works. Exporting a customer CSV does not authorize copying payment credentials or restarting recurring charges.
Recheck the replacements that affect checkout: subscriptions, gift cards, delivery options, discounts and inventory synchronization. A visual match to Shopify is less useful than a purchase your team can fulfill correctly.
Map Shopify URLs and reconcile the final changes
Map /products/handle, collection URLs, pages and blog articles to their actual destinations. Install permanent redirects for changed paths, test them, and check that internal links point directly to the new pages. Preserve useful page titles and descriptions where they still fit.
Before launch, transfer records created since the first import and reconcile stock against the source. Decide which system accepts new orders during the final transfer. Two active checkouts sharing unsynchronized inventory can sell the same remaining item twice.
Run guest and returning-customer purchases on desktop and mobile. Check successful and failed payments, order emails, stock reduction, delivery charges and fulfillment. Change DNS only after these checks pass. Keep the previous environment and backups available for the agreed rollback period.
Put the migrated catalog to work
After launch, configure Niwa against the new product data and store policies. A customer can ask whether the shirt comes in blue in their size, compare its described material with another model and select the correct variation. The website supports the configured cart and checkout flow. On WhatsApp, Niwa can guide the product choice and carry out the connected sale in the conversation. Check that the resulting order records the chosen size, color and quantity correctly.
For an owner stock change, identify the specific variation, review the saved record and check the public result. The migration is useful when those everyday operations work, not only when the import reports completion.
Discuss your Shopify transfer
Send your store URL, approximate record counts, app list and customer-access requirements through Niwa's contact page. Include subscriptions or other workflows that must continue. Agree the migration scope, third-party licenses and acceptance checks before implementation.
