Are you thinking of migrating Shopify to WooCommerce?
It’s not easy, doesn’t it?
It turns out, you are not the only one. Site owners find website migration one of the most difficult and frustrating processes. It is already difficult enough to move from one hosting provider into another. Imagine the horror that comes with migrating your online store to two different ecommerce platforms.
There are many variables to consider, so there could be problems mid-stream. Even the simplest mistake can lead to serious technical issues for your ecommerce company.
It’s easy to understand why you feel the need to hire a developer to migrate your online store. Isn’t this the best Shopify to WooCommerce migration option for you?
It just so happens that it isn’t. It’s not. The automated migration tools such as Cart2Cart have proven to be not only cheaper but also faster and more precise than manual methods.
You know what else? You can also perform the entire Shopify to WooCommerce migration with no technical assistance.
This is exactly what this article is about. This article explains how Cart works and walks you through the process of using the tool to automate a Shopify data migration to WooCommerce.
Let’s begin at the bottom, and work our way up. Lastly, let’s not forget the problem of migration itself.
Is Shopify to WooCommerce migration worth it? Do you want to forget all about it? Or should Shopify be trusted for the long-term?
Why Shopify Might Be a Good Choice To Migrate to WooCommerce
Shopify has been a major player in the ecommerce market for years. It boasts an estimated 20% global share in the ecommerce market. Shopify powers 31% of all online stores in the United States, if you only focus on the U.S.
Shopify is, shorthand, one of the most prominent ecommerce platforms, and it’s for good reason.
Shopify is more than a digital business platform. It simplifies the entire concept of ecommerce, which is why we love it.
Shopify allows even the most novice merchants to create their own online shops, add additional functionalities, modify the built-in features, and manage their business operations via an intuitive, user-friendly interface.
Shopify is flexible enough to work with all kinds of businesses. Shopify is able to support small and medium-sized businesses as well as large businesses with multiple locations in different countries.
Why would you drop this platform for WooCommerce?
Shopify has many strengths, but it also has some weaknesses. WooCommerce is able to address most of these problems.
Here is a quick overview of some of them. These are the main reasons you might want to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.
Lower Costs
Shopify’s overall cost-effectiveness has been praised by many, including us at ecommerce platforms. Shopify combines all the features you may need over the long-term in one ecommerce platform. It is very affordable.
Shopify Light will cost you $9 per month. The Shopify Basic plan offers all of the essential ecommerce features at $29 per month. Medium-sized enterprises and businesses, on the contrary, can unleash their full potential through the Shopify plan at $79 per month, Advanced Shopify at $299 per month, or the Shopify Plus package, which is available for a custom rate.
It’s not bad. It’s not bad, especially when you consider the unique features each plan comes with.
Unfortunately, the usage fees don’t stop there. Shopify will invoice you separately for certain themes, add-ons and transaction processing via the default Shopify Payments service.
But that’s not all. If you decide to use any third-party payment processors, things can get even worse. Shopify will therefore charge an additional rate per transaction.
This is a huge amount of money, especially when you consider the cumulative costs you will incur over a long period of time. Subscription fees alone can add up to thousands or hundreds of dollars per year.
WooCommerce is a clever way to get out of that mess.
How?
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that’s free. You won’t be charged any fees for either installation or subscription. WordPress is an open-source CMS platform. A Shopify to WooCommerce migration would reduce your monthly subscription costs to zero.
WooCommerce offers more options than Shopify, even though it has some premium themes and add-ons. This means that you can reduce your monthly usage costs by a lot over the long-term.
Increased Customization Capabilities
Shopify’s extensive customization capabilities are one of its best features, as we have already mentioned. You get an easy-to-use website builder that is responsive, in addition to an impressive selection of pre-built themes.
Shopify’s LiquidTemplating language allows experience developers to create the HTML and CSS. If you need additional functionality, you can embed an App from Shopify’s App store.
Shopify is quite generous with this. Shopify is certainly more customizable than most other ecommerce platforms. Shopify’s customization capabilities are far superior to WooCommerce’s.
WooCommerce is an open source ecommerce platform. This means that you can modify almost any part of WooCommerce’s code as long as your knowledge is good. You can customize its underlying code to suit your business needs.
WooCommerce is a great choice for anyone who doesn’t know how to code. There are a few intuitive WordPress site builders, as well thousands of pre-built themes. An alternative source of compatible options could be found on third-party platforms. WordPress and WooCommerce both have a large developer community.
Get support from a larger, more vibrant community
Shopify is an ecommerce platform that dominates the market. You can bet there are many people who support it. Shopify Community Forum hosts over 600,000 Shopify merchants and experts. Partners also participate in the forum’s helpful discussions.
You could gain a lot from this. The Shopify Community, despite its large numbers, is not as powerful as WooCommerce’s.
Imagine this. Imagine this. WordPress powers nearly half a billion websites, with approximately 4 million using WooCommerce. WordPress, WooCommerce, and both open-source platforms WooCommerce are freely available for worldwide distribution.
With time, WordPress and WooCommerce have built a large global community of experts and users. They continue to create compatible themes and apps, and share helpful tips and tricks on optimizing and troubleshooting the platforms. You can find answers to almost any question.
Enhanced SEO
SEO is one of the features that default Shopify platform considers. Shopify lets you access your website’s structure to customize optimization. You can work on the page, product URLs, keywords and meta-data.
While that’s admirable and all, WooCommerce goes deeper. You can perform high-level SEO optimization for all site elements by migrating Shopify to WooCommerce. To fine-grain your customization, you can also use proven SEO plugins such as Yoast WordPress.
It is easier to improve your online store’s search engine ranking if you migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.
WooCommerce to Shopify Migration Options
What methods are available to help you move your Shopify to WooCommerce data transfer forward?
There are many ways to migrate Shopify from WooCommerce. We’ve simplified the process by separating them into three main options.
- Manual WooCommerce to Shopify migration
- Shopify to WooCommerce migration assisted
- Automated Shopify to WooCommerce Migration
Manual Shopify to WOOCommerce Migration
As you probably know, the manual Shopify to WooCommerce migration process involves manually transferring website elements and data between both platforms. You export your Shopify data and then deploy it on your WooCommerce platform.
It is important to remember this. This isn’t a simple copy and paste procedure. It’s a complex and complicated process that requires a lot technical configurations from both sides. If you want to make it easy, you will need the necessary technical skills and experience.
Noting that there is a high chance of errors, it’s important to note. Manual Shopify to WooCommerce migrations are susceptible to many human-triggered issues, many of which could be potentially harmful.
Shopify To WooCommerce Migration
An assisted migration is an option if you don’t have the knowledge or skills required to manually migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.
The procedure is technically a manual Shopify to WooCommerce conversion. The assisted option, however, involves a third party expert, which is not the case with the manual method. This means that you can hire a professional developer who will handle everything and migrate Shopify from WooCommerce for you.
It’s not a bad choice, if you think about it. There are also many skilled professionals who can help you with WooCommerce and Shopify.
Here’s the catch. It’s not cheap. A Shopify to WooCommerce data transfer could cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, particularly if you hire a specialist agency.
The whole process is manual, however. It comes with the same challenges. It takes a long time to move Shopify to WooCommerce. You could be waiting days for an ecommerce site.
WooCommerce Migration
Another popular method is automated Shopify to WooCommerce conversion. This is a very popular option for technically inept merchants. While the assisted process involves human experts, the automated Shopify-to WooCommerce migration option relies upon software tools.
Yes, that’s right. A specialized software solution automates the entire Shopify to WooCommerce data transfer process. As you will see, there are many tools available online that claim to provide this service.
We’ve already tried many and narrowed down to those that have been reliable.
is one of them. We’ve decided to concentrate on it due to the outstanding benefits it provides when it comes to Shopify-to WooCommerce migration.
Let’s take a look at what it means and the benefits that you can expect.
Why You Should Consider Cart2Cart for Your Shopify to WooCommerce Data Migration
You might have seen our data migration articles before. Cart2Cart is not your average site transfer tool. Cart2Cart is an automated tool that focuses exclusively on shopping carts as well as ecommerce platforms. This is the solution that you should use to move your online shop from Shopify to WooCommerce.
In case you were wondering, Car2Carthas partnered with 85 of the most popular shopping carts, including WooCommerce and WooCommerce as well as Magento, PrestaShop and osCommerce. It has stakes in every popular ecommerce hosting platform you can imagine.
This is not the best part. The best part is that Car2Cart can facilitate automated data transfer between all these platforms. It allows you to import and export your online store elements from more than 850 platforms.
These are the main benefits of using Cart2Cart for your Shopify to WooCommerce conversion.
Simple To Use
You don’t have to worry about migrating your Shopify store to WooCommerce. This process is simple and doesn’t require any technical knowledge. Cart2Cart has simplified it through an easy-to-use interface.
It basically comes with a simple migration wizard. You simply need to enter your store details, and the system will take it up from there.
It takes only 3 steps and you are done! The data transfer process is completed in the background.
No Downtime
You can expect your ecommerce site to be offline while you migrate Shopify and WooCommerce. Once all data has been transferred, you can then resume normal operations.
This is the most common procedure for digital merchants. Cart2Cart works differently. It does not take over your website. Instead, it runs everything behind the scenes while you shop online. There will be no downtime or interruption in service.
You should be able continue to operate your business as usual during the data transfer process. Even if you are preparing to redirect all customers to your WooCommerce store, you can still process transactions.
No Programming Required
Cart2Cart seems to understand that manual configurations can seem intimidating. It saves you time and takes care of all technical details.
Only thing left is to fill in the target and source store details as well as the type of entities that you wish to transfer. You should be done with this configuration widget within minutes. Cart2Cart will take care of everything else. You’ll eventually have a fully functional WooCommerce store.
All of this is possible without any programming knowledge or programming skills. Beginners should find it easy to move through the various stages.
Demo Migration
Cart2Cart will offer a free demo migration so you can see the capabilities of the service before you commit to paying. After installing Shopify to WooCommerce’s migration module, creating an account and filling out your store details, you can specify the entities that you wish to migrate.
When the demo starts, you will notice that it is only partially designed to migrate Shopify to WooCommerce. The tool transfers a small number of entities in 30 minutes to give you an idea of what you can expect from a full-scale migrating.
You will also be able to evaluate the overall outlook of your target store, as well as its back-end framework. If everything looks good, you can pay for a complete Shopify to WooCommerce migration.
Flexible Case-By-Case Pricing
Cart2Cart doesn’t offer a uniform pricing structure for all of its Shopify to WooCommerce data transfer procedures. It also doesn’t offer standard pricing plans.
The actual cost of Shopify to WooCommerce migration will determine what you end up paying. Cart2Carthas a flexible pricing structure. The rates are determined by the number of entities that you intend to transfer between the two ecommerce platforms. The data transfer volume will increase the more entities you have in your store. The service will also be more expensive.
Pricing starts at $29 but it is worth noting that your final billing rate may be higher than the initial estimate due to add-ons such as migration insurance or premium customization options.
24/7 Customer Service
Cart2Cart seems to be quite confident in its capabilities. However, the company won’t let you go it alone when it comes to the Shopify to WooCommerce migration. A team of experts will be there to help you every step of the way.
They are available via live chat, web ticketing or telephone. After contacting them, and asking a few technical questions, I was impressed at their level of knowledge.
I can therefore confirm that this company offers excellent customer support.
Let’s now look in detail at the process of migrating Shopify to WooCommerce with Cart2Cart
Complete Cart2Cart Shopify to WooCommerce Migration Tutorial
Premigration Step
Before you can begin the Shopify to WooCommerce conversion, you will need to have a target store for all data transfer. The target store should be entirely built on WordPress and WooCommerce.
Start by finding a trustworthy WordPress and WooCommerce hosting company. For some valuable considerations, you might want to check out our Top WordPress Hosting guide.
After you have a reliable hosting service, you are able to launch WordPress. Next, search for the WooCommerce plugin, and then install it. However, this might not apply to all cases. Some hosting services include both WooCommerce or WordPress pre-installed.
You will still need to set up your online store using the WooCommerce setup wizard.
However, be careful. Don’t modify your WooCommerce store before this stage. You can leave it as is for now, but you will be able to customize it after you migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.
Step 1 – Create Your Cart2Cart account
Sign up using your personal information to create an account at Cart2Cart’s main website. You can also log in with your Facebook or Google account.
Cart2Cart, regardless of the method you choose will automatically take you to its main dashboard without any cost.
Once you are logged in, you can jump right into the Shopify-to-WooCommerce migration setup. Select Shopify as your source platform and WooCommerce to be the target platform and click on the Start Free Demo Nowbutton. The migration window will be launched immediately.
Step 2: Fill In Your Source Cart Details
Your source cart is the first section of the Shopify-to WooCommerce migration wizard. Cart2Cart basically requires that you point it in the correct direction by entering your source shopping cart information.
Select Shopify in the dropdown menu of ecommerce options. Next, move to the Source Store URLsection. Type in your Shopify store URL.
After you are done, you will need to connect cartCart to your Shopify account via an API password. This can only be obtained from your Shopify system.
You should now log in to your Shopify account via a separate tab. Next, navigate to the Appsmenu tab and click it.
Next, click Manage Private Apps and then hit the Create A New Private Appbutton. Shopify will open a form where you can enter your Cart2Cartsystem details. Enter Cart2Cart as the app name. Next, enter your contact details. Finally, apply Read and writeon all API access options.
Hit the Savebutton to generate your API credentials immediately. Copy the API password, then paste it into the Cart2Cartsource field.
Step 3 – Enter your Target Store Information and Set up Its Connection Bridge
Scrolling past the Source Cart Setup section will bring you to the Target Cart Setupon where you can enter the target store details.
First, make sure WooCommerce is selected on the Target Cartfield. Cart2Cartis designed to use your initial target cart selections as the default option. You can still choose WooCommerce in the dropdown menu of target cart options.
Next, enter the details of your target store in the next set. You will need to paste the URL of your WordPress admin login page along with the login ID and password.
Cart2Cart will then set up a connection bridge in your WooCommerce store which will eventually act as the main data import point.
Step 4 – Choose the Entities You Would Like To Migrate
Once the system is fully connected to your source and target carts will ask you to choose the entities that you wish to transfer from Shopify into WooCommerce.
For clarity sake, let’s consider the entities as separate sets of data that are your core online store elements. I am referring to your product information as well as the customer data, order variables, and so forth.
CartCart’s Shopify WooCommerce migration includes all of the essential elements for online stores. This service is superior to other providers, allowing you not only to transfer the main data entities but also any sub-elements.
Cart2Cart includes all entities that are related to your inventory items. Each Product Name, its Full Description, Status and Manufacturer can be migrated 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.
Names, Descriptions and Images are the relevant Product Categories. URLs and Meta Info, such as Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions, are also included.
On the other hand, orders are transferred with their exact IDs and Order Dates.
Customers can also be migrated using Cart2Cart. This includes their First Name, Last Name and Email Address. The full Billing Address and Shipping Address can also be accessed.
Cart2Cart will also preserve your web content. All your blog posts and the associated Titles, SEO URLs, Tags, Created Time. Modified Time. SEO URL. Blog IDs. Comments. Post Redirects. Images.
This is not all. You can also migrate your CMS pages by importing their CMS pages.
You can also access coupon entities like the name, coupon code, type discount, and amount, as well your manufacturer’s names, images, and logos.
You don’t need to click on each entity, however. Click on the Select allcheckbox to select all data elements and their entities. To exclude a specific entity, simply uncheck its checkbox and leave the rest.
5: Optimize your Shopify to WooCommerce Migration with Additional Options
Cart2Cart figures you may need to further optimize your Shopify WooCommerce migration. It gives you additional options to modify data migration parameters.
Scroll past the entities section and click on the checkboxes for all the optimizations that you require.
While you’re at the same time, you’ll see that Cart2Cart treats them as supplementary add-ons.
For an additional $49., you can choose to move images from product descriptions, category descriptions, and blog posts descriptions. You will pay $49 to preserve the Order IDs in your target store, and $59 for creating 301 redirects following migrations.
However, prices are not necessarily the only thing that matters. You have the opportunity to clear your WooCommerce store data before migration, skip product thumbnail image migration, and strip HTML from category, products names, and descriptions.
Even merchants with tight budgets can optimize their Shopify-to WooCommerce migration in many different ways.
Step 6 – Perform a free demo migration
Cart2Cart doesn’t want to see you jump in head first without you checking what you are actually doing. You can perform a demo Shopify-to WooCommerce data transfer before you do the real thing.
This is all to help you understand what to expect when you start a large-scale migration. This is a great way to give assurance to skeptical people who may not want to commit blindly before verifying that the tool can migrate Shopify to WooCommerce.
A demo migration allows you to examine all data variables and make any necessary adjustments. A demo migration can help you identify an issue that might have otherwise forced you to repeat the entire Shopify to WooCommerce conversion.
Cart2Cart’s demo migrating is crucial, no matter how you view it. It would be foolish to skip it.
If you decide to continue, it is as simple as clicking the Start Demo Migratingbutton. Cart2Cart will then transfer only a portion of your data from Shopify to the target WooCommerce shop.
This process should take approximately half an hour. After that, you will need to thoroughly examine the demo target store. You should pay particular attention to the layout of your store and the organization structure of your entity on the front and back end.
If you have any problems, you can always revert back to the migration wizard and configure your data transfer options. For technical assistance, you can also contact Cart2Cart’scustomer service team.
If everything looks in order, you can continue to the next step to complete a full-scale WooCommerce to Shopify migration.
Step 7 – Pay for the Service and Launch a Shopify to WooCommerce Migration
is a prepaid service. It will bill you for everything before you begin the data transfer process.
The system generates a final quote that is consistent with the estimation tool’s initial pricing projections. However, merchants who add premium migration options to their pricing projections will see a slight increase in the final quote.
Cart2Cart also offers Migration Insurance. This insurance is designed to protect Shopify to WooCommerce data migrating and allows you to restart the entire process.
Okay, let’s just wait a moment. What is this all about? Why would you want to restart your Shopify to WooCommerce migration again?
While Cart2Cart is an extremely experienced automation tool that can seamlessly migrate Shopify to WooCommerce with no problems, there are always external variables that could cause unexpected difficulties.
For example, a service interruption by your hosting provider could affect data transfer. In the same way, a target store that is not properly configured could cause data corruption or other errors during transmission.
Cart2Cart usually offers a remigration option at a 50% discount on the total migration cost. For Migration Insurance holders, however, the Shopify to WooCommerce migration procedures are free.
Cart2Cart will charge an additional fee of approximately 9-13% of total data transfer price for this protection. You can only conduct one remigration within the 14-day period, while 11% allows for two within 28 days. The 13% rate allows you to remigrate three times in 80 days.
You can now choose your preferred insurance package, purchase everything, and begin a full migration. While you wait for Cart2Cart to complete the Shopify to WooCommerce data migration, you can resume running your business from the main website.
You don’t even need to keep the transfer window opened. Cart2Cartis designed to run quietly in the background and maintain a high tempo. It will migrate an average online store from Shopify into WooCommerce within a few hours.
This is much quicker than manual Shopify to WooCommerce conversions performed by experts agencies. All at a fraction the cost.
Conclusion
After the data transfer is completed, you will receive an email alert. You should then take the time to review everything in detail.
Explore all transferred entities by logging into your WooCommerce store. Are they the same as what you had previously on Shopify
To rule out anomalies, you could compare individual orders to what is on your source cart.
Next, examine the WooCommerce store’s functionality and make a test purchase. Then go through each stage as a normal customer.
In the meantime, Car2Cart’s customer service team will be available for assistance if you require it. If you have any questions or need technical assistance, they can be reached.
Once you are done, you can start customizing your WooCommerce store. Next, you will need to figure out how to seamlessly transfer your customers to the new site.
