replatform from Magento 2 to Shopify Plus

by Amba Wilkes

Two of the most popular eCommerce platforms for high growth, enterprise retailers, Shopify Plus and Magento 2 are designed to cater to the unique needs of eCommerce brands that operate at scale. However, the past few years have seen a staggering number of retailers replatform from Magento to Shopify Plus. While each individual store has their own reasons for doing so, common factors that push a merchant to migrate from Magento 2 includes excessive expenses, technical issues, reliability and security concerns. If you are considering making the switch, this blog will act as a starting point on what to consider when replatforming from Magento to Shopify Plus.

Two of the most popular eCommerce platforms for high growth, enterprise retailers, Shopify Plus and Magento 2 are designed to cater to the unique needs of eCommerce brands that operate at scale. However, the past few years have seen a staggering number of retailers replatform from Magento to Shopify Plus.

While each individual store has their own reasons for doing so, common factors that push a merchant to migrate from Magento 2 includes excessive expenses, technical issues, reliability and security concerns. If you are considering making the switch, this blog will act as a starting point on what to consider when replatforming from Magento to Shopify Plus.

Planning your migration.

If you are looking to move from Magento 2, Shopify Plus provides all the tools and resources needed to ensure the migration process goes as smoothly as possible.

All Shopify Plus merchants are able to liaise with consultants and Solutions Engineers. These people will work closely with you to map out your business requirements and understand your organisational goals, taking your industry’s competitors into consideration. You will then be assigned a Launch Engineer who will assist with third-party integrations and find partners to help you with your specific project objectives to get your store live faster.

Your chosen Shopify Plus agency also plays a vital role within this. The agency will work with you to map out your needs and requirements, helping you to make the best choices while migrating your store. Alternatively, you could also work with a replatforming consultant such as Paul Rogers of Vervaunt who can offer guidance and support on your replatforming project.

Design considerations.

The design of your store will need to be taken into account before replatforming. Many merchants use a migration as the time to refresh the look and feel of their store, or to completely redesign it. Either way, design will require thought when you migrate from Magento 2 to Shopify Plus.

An example of this is considering whether you want a bespoke build or a customised theme. Shopify Plus is highly customisable with a range of high-quality theme designs to choose from. The platform also provides the capability to create your own bespoke design. Whether you opt for a theme customisation or decide to design something entirely bespoke, Shopify Plus’ flexibility allows you to easily achieve the benefits of either.

Data migration.

Data migration is an incredibly important aspect to keep in mind when replatforming from Magento 2 to Shopify Plus. While this may seem risky at first, Shopify Plus makes shifting your data easier and quicker with the use of secure apps and integrations.

You may choose to handle your data migration in-house if you have the expertise, experience and resource to do so. However, in many cases, your appointed agency will often take the lead on this as part of your wider project, providing guidance to make your data migration as simple as possible.

With Shopify Plus, you will have access to apps such as Transporter - a command line tool with accelerated import speeds. While this is still in development for Magento 2, the principles can assist with migration. Apps such as Excelify can also provide a lot of assistance with data transfer.

Shopify’s API and ready-made SDKs integrate with all major PIMs, ERPs, CRMs and more, making it easy for the different systems to communicate with one another. This provides a range of secure options for transferring your data and content.

Apps and integrations.

Shopify Plus integrates with some of the most popular and common eCommerce apps and third-party tools, ensuring you are provided with the required functionality and resource.

Shopify Plus vet every app and plugin before adding it to their app store ensuring it’s safe and optimised for the end user. With Shopify apps, you will be sure to find the necessary functionalities needed for your store.

The enterprise platform also comes with free to use apps designed to specifically cater for the complex needs of high growth brands. These include:

  • Flow: The powerful automation tool
  • Launchpad: A feature which allows you to preschedule campaigns and site changes
  • Scripts:A checkout customisation feature.

Together with your agency, you can map out your requirements and outline exactly what you need on your new store. Your agency will then help you find the right apps that fulfil these requirements and can also source apps that will replicate the required functionality from your existing store. And if that wasn’t enough, if the available apps do not suit or meet your store’s requirements, Shopify Plus allows you to build custom functionality to cater to your individual needs.

SEO.

Replatforming an eCommerce store can impact your site’s SEO rankings. However, a Shopify Plus agency can work with you, providing the guidance, relevant apps and plugins to prevent your SEO from being majorly impacted. Shopify Plus comes with a number of SEO apps and plugins such as SEO Manager, Crush.pics and SEO Doctor, which, when installed and integrated with your store, will help to fix and improve your SEO.

However, it’s a good idea to use a checklist of procedures that will help in minimising the risks replatforming could have on your SEO and prevent the impact of changes in search engine results pages. This checklist could include, but is not limited to:

  • Installing page redirects
  • Monitoring duplicate content
  • Tracking 404 errors
  • Optimising for mobile
  • Testing site speed
  • Setting up 301 redirects

Some Shopify agencies will have experience with SEO migration and be able to help you with this. At Statement, we’re well versed in migration projects. We’ve had plenty of experience dealing with SEO migration and have created our own, tried and tested, in-house processes to see you through this stage. However, we are also one of the specialist agencies that makes up idhl, one of the UK’s largest digital Groups. For more complex SEO migration projects, we have the support of Ingenuity Digital, our connected agency, who specialises in international search marketing. While the team behind WMG, also a connected agency, have bolstered organic visibility for a variety of renowned brands.

Your next steps.

Replatforming from Magento 2 to Shopify Plus requires careful thought and planning, but once you begin the move, you can experience the full benefits of the platform. We’ve covered some of the main aspects you’ll need to consider before replatforming, including:

  • Planning
  • Design
  • Data Migration
  • Apps & Integrations
  • SEO

Shopify Plus is fast becoming the platform of choice for high growth eCommerce brands. Many merchants are moving away from Magento 2 in favour of a platform that guarantees increased security, reliability and scalability, all for a more cost-effective option.

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If you’re looking to replatform but unsure on where to start, get in touch with us. We have a full team of Shopify Plus experts ready to help and a wealth of experience helping renowned brands, including NEOM and Slendertone, replatform their Magento 2 store to Shopify Plus.

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