Migrate your website from Shopify to WooCommerce
Do you run a Shopify website, and want to migrate to use WooCommerce instead? If so, we will be explaining how, and why you would want to migrate your Shopify website to use WooCommerce as a more suitable technology for your business.
Note that this is a general solution, and may not work for every particular instance, especially if there has been custom development work done on the Shopify website.
Why use WooCommerce instead of Shopify?
Let’s explore some of the pros and cons of using WooCommerce.
Woocommerce is a WordPress plugin that provides eCommerce capabilities. WordPress is the most used CMS to date, and with that said, WooCommerce is one of the most used eCommerce solutions available. Many people are using WooCommerce as a solution for their eCommerce business and may be more suitable for some businesses particular needs over using Shopify.
Let’s explore some of the pros and cons of using WooCommerce.
Pros:
- It has an intuitive UI (User Interface). Much like WordPress, it has an easy to use UI.
- Easy to integrate. You can use WooCommerce with any WordPress theme.
- You have more control over the site since you are in charge of the hosting, and other aspects of the site. This means that WooCommerce is a more customizable solution for developers.
Cons:
- Although it is a great product, if you encounter any issues, you may not have support available to help you when you need it most. You may likely need a dedicated developer/developers to run the site.
- Although you can install and activate the plugin, it is not free to use. There are other hidden costs. There is hosting fees and additional fees for other functionality.
There you have it. Depending on your particular needs, you may want to use WooCommerce over Shopify, or vice versa.
If you have already made the decision to use WooCommerce, but are already using a Shopify website, then fear not! Below are the steps you can take to migrate your Shopify website to use WooCommerce.
Step 1. Sign up for Cart2Cart
For this demo we are going to be using Cart2Cart. It is an easy way to take the current data, and products from your Shopify website, and migrate them over to using WooCommerce. You can use the following link to go to Cart2Cart.
Click on the signup button at the top right corner of the screen.
Sign up for Cart2Cart
Step 2. Start the migration process
To start, you will have to choose to migrate the Shopify website to use WooCommerce on the home page:
Migrate Shopify to WooCommerce
Step 3. Start filling out the information
Once you choose what you would like to migrate, you will be prompted with the first steps to migrate your site.
Provide Cart2Cart with your URL, Admin Username, and password. You will later be alerted by Shopify that there has been a new login from another machine. This is Cart2Cart entering your Shopify website.
Step 4. Target cart setup
In the dropdown menu, WooCommerce should already be selected. If not, select WooCommerce as your target cart.
Target Cart Setup
Next, you will have to download the connect bridge. To do this, you will need to have a WooCommerce store already set up on a WordPress website. If you have not already installed and activated the WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress website, go to the WordPress website and add the WooCommerce plugin first.
You will also need access to the site files so make sure your hosting services will allow you to access your WordPress site files.
In the Download the Connection Bridge section, click on download bridge.
Download connection bridge
Once downloading the connection bridge zip file, you will have to extract the bridge folder into your WordPress root folder with WooCommerce already installed.
Once successfully extracting the files, you will see on your screen the Connection bridge was successfully installed. You can now click on the green “Choose entities” button.
Connection bridge was successful
Step 5. Choose the entities
Now that you have provided the Admin login, and have extracted the connection bridge files into your WooCommerce store, you can choose which data you would like to migrate into your WooCommerce site. Once you are finished with choosing the entities, you can start the migration process.
Choose migration entities
You are now finished with migrating the website. Check to make sure that all of the data has been successfully transferred.
If you have custom development work done on your site, then these steps may not be sufficient. In cases such as this, where you are experiencing issues with exporting your data, it is best to consult with professionals. DevRadius provides such migration services for any website including Shopify to WooCommerce websites. For inquiries to use migration services from DevRadius, you can use the following link to contact DevRadius. Learn more by watching the video below: