Migrating from Shopify Plus to Magento 2 is a strategic move many growing eCommerce businesses make to gain deeper control, richer features, advanced customization and greater scalability for enterprise stores. Unlike Shopify Plus — a hosted SaaS platform — Magento 2 is open-source, giving you full flexibility over store architecture, extensions, performance tuning, and personalized user experiences.
However, moving from one platform to another requires careful planning, robust processes, and reliable execution to ensure your data, SEO equity, and storefront continuity are preserved.
1. Understand Why You’re Migrating
Before you start, clearly define why you’re moving platforms.
Typical reasons include:
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Need for custom features or integrations not available on Shopify Plus
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Greater flexibility with checkout, promotions, and pricing rules
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Handling large catalogs, multi-store operations, or enterprise-grade traffic
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Reducing per-order or monthly platform fees
Magento 2’s ecosystem supports virtually any customization, making it ideal for medium to large businesses with advanced requirements.
2. Pre-Migration Planning
Thorough planning dramatically reduces risk and downtime. Key steps include:
📌 Audit Your Current Store
Review all existing data, including:
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Product catalog (variants, SKUs, bundles)
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Customers and segments
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Order history
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Pages, blogs, and CMS content
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SEO metadata and URLs
Prepare a list of store features and customizations that must be recreated or redesigned in Magento 2. Cart2Cart
📌 Backup Everything
Create complete backups of your Shopify Plus database. While Shopify itself maintains safety, exporting and storing your own backup ensures you can refer to it throughout migration. LitExtension
3. Set Up Your Magento 2 Store
Before importing data, your Magento 2 environment should be ready:
✅ Install Magento 2 on your server or cloud hosting
✅ Configure basic settings (store locale, currencies, taxes)
✅ Choose or design a theme compatible with your brand
✅ Set up payment and shipping providers
Setting these up early means imported data immediately maps to the right configurations.
4. Choose Migration Method — Manual or Automated
📍 Manual Migration
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Export CSV files from Shopify Plus for products, customers, and orders
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Import these directly into Magento using Magento’s import tools
This method gives full control over data transformations but requires meticulous formatting and validation.
📍 Automated Migration Tools
Using extensions like Cart2Cart, LitExtension, or Firebear Studio drastically reduces effort:
✔ Automatically migrate products, customers, orders
✔ Preserve SEO URLs and metadata
✔ Often migrate reviews, categories, images and more
✔ Optionally run a free demo migration first
Automated tools save time and avoid manual errors, especially for complex stores. Cart2Cart+1
5. Data Migration — Step by Step
🔹 1. Export Data from Shopify Plus
Export your Shopify store’s data (products, customers, orders) in CSV format. Ensure images and media are linked properly for later import. Cart2Cart
🔹 2. Prepare/Transform Data
Check CSV structures and adjust to meet Magento 2’s import schema. This may involve:
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Mapping Shopify fields to Magento fields
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Formatting product options (e.g., variants)
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Ensuring category paths are correct
🔹 3. Import to Magento 2
Use Magento’s Import interface or your chosen automated tool to bring data into Magento. Start with smaller datasets first (like products), then customers and orders.
🔹 4. Validate
After import, verify:
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Product listings operate correctly
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Customer accounts and order history are accurate
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SEO URLs match old URLs (with appropriate 301 redirects)
6. Migrating SEO, URLs & Redirects
Preserving SEO value is critical:
➡️ Ensure product and category URLs in Magento match Shopify paths
➡️ Create 301 redirects for pages that change
➡️ Migrate metadata (titles, descriptions) and structured data
Proper redirects mean you retain search rankings and organic traffic continuity.
7. Theme & Custom Functionality Recreation
Magento 2 themes differ from Shopify:
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Custom design elements must be rebuilt or re-implemented
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Extensions and plugins replace Shopify apps
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Advanced features like layered navigation, custom checkout rules, and loyalty systems may require development
Work with designers and Magento developers to replicate core functionality while enhancing performance where possible.
8. Testing Before Launch
Before going live:
🔎 Test every page on your Magento store
🚀 Complete end-to-end checkout simulations
👤 Validate customer logins and order histories
📱 Check mobile responsiveness
Thorough QA ensures a smooth customer experience at launch.
9. Launch & Post-Migration Tasks
Go live with your Magento 2 store by:
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Switching DNS to your new Magento host
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Monitoring performance and error logs
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Tracking SEO traffic and maintaining redirects
Continue to optimize based on real user behavior and analytics.
10. Maintenance & Support
Post-migration, ongoing support is essential:
🛠 Maintain extensions and security patches
📈 Optimize performance for traffic spikes
📊 Use Magento insights to improve conversions
Consider partnering with experienced Magento developers to help streamline future updates.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from Shopify Plus to Magento 2 isn’t just a technical switch — it’s an opportunity to scale your business on a more powerful, customizable eCommerce platform. With meticulous planning, the right tools, and careful execution, you can unlock Magento 2’s full potential — from advanced customization to enterprise-level operations.
Ready to migrate? Let’s plan your Magento 2 journey step by step.