Need to switch platforms without losing product information, SEO positions, and store structure? You’re in good company. While WooCommerce has flexibility and control unmatched anywhere else, migrating Shopify products to WooCommerce isn’t quite as easy as it appears to be.
Many store owners rush the process—only to discover broken images, missing product variants, or messed-up URLs. In this article here, we will touch on the most common mistakes that users make when they migrate products and provide you with tips to avoid them so that your process of migrating to WooCommerce is simple, secure, and stress-free.
Shopify to WooCommerce conversion is a business-saver for business owners who want more control, flexibility, and customization.
But as much as the conversion appears straightforward, most merchants experience unexpected issues—especially when they try to migrate products from Shopify to WooCommerce.
No matter, if you are moving a Shopify to a WooCommerce through a migration plugin or manually, avoiding common pitfalls, is crucial so that this can happen as smoothly as possible.
Here in this blog post, we will be pointing out the most common store owners’ product migration pitfalls and how you can steer clear of them.
1. Not Backing Up Your Shopify Store
One of the first and most important things to do before initiating the migration process is to back up your Shopify store entirely. It is a simple procedure, but the least attended-to thing.
In case there is an error during the transfer, a backup can avoid the loss of critical product information, customer data, and order histories.
A few store owners assume Shopify automatically saves all of it, but it’s always a good idea to export your customer data, orders, and products as a backup.
2. Ignoring Product Data Structure Differences
Shopify and WooCommerce handle product information differently. Shopify’s product option system is more organized, while WooCommerce offers more flexibility using variable products and attributes.
When importing Shopify product to WooCommerce, not mapping correctly can lead to disorganized listings of products. Product variations might be displayed in the wrong manner, or options like size and color might not be imported as wished.
3. Choosing the Wrong Migration Tool or Plugin
Not all Shopify to WooCommerce migration plugins are created equal. Some plugins lack support for all data types, including product images, categories, SEO metadata, or custom fields.
- Make sure that you choose a reputable plugin that can:
- Import Shopify products to WooCommerce completely
- Keep product images and categories
- Supports inventory quantity, SKUs, and versions
- Manage SEO-friendly URLs
Some of the most popular tools are Cart2Cart, LitExtension, and FG Shopify to WooCommerce. Before selecting a migration tool, always review reviews, compatibility, and support options.
4. Forgetting to Check Image Compatibility
Another common issue when importing/exporting your products from Shopify to WooCommerce is that images are incomplete or rendered useless. Shopify stores pictures in its CDN, and while exporting/importing, the image URLs might not be transferred correctly.
After importing Shopify products into WooCommerce, always double-check that your product images are showing as desired on the WooCommerce product list pages. Manually download and upload the images to your WordPress media library and replace the image URLs if needed.
5. Overlooking SEO Settings and Permalinks
- If you are migrating an existing store with natural traffic, preserving your SEO settings is important. Shopify employs a different URL structure than WooCommerce, and if you don’t address this, you could lose your rankings and natural traffic after migration.
To avoid this:
- Enforce 301 redirects from previous Shopify URLs to new WooCommerce URLs
- Import metadata like titles and descriptions using SEO plugins like Rank Math or Yoast
- Monitor your Google Search Console for crawl errors after the migration
6. Not Testing After Migration
Once you have executed the product migration, don’t assume everything is fine. The majority of store owners don’t test their newly migrated WooCommerce store fully prior to going live.
Testing should include:
Check product lists
- Testing add-to-cart and checkout processes
- For product option assurance and SKUs
- Checking product types and filters
- Testing mobile responsiveness
- Test on a staging environment if present to test completely prior to migrating your domain.
7. Ignoring Inventory and Stock Settings
Stock management is managed differently in WooCommerce, and you might have oversold or out-of-stock products if you manage it incorrectly. If you manage stock quantity, in-stock/out-of-stock, and stock options wrongly when you import Shopify products into WooCommerce, you might have oversold or out-of-stock products.
Also, if you were utilizing Shopify’s fulfillment services or third-party apps, ensure that your WooCommerce setup is in harmony with the same inventory management tool.
8. Not Considering Third-Party App Dependencies
All except a few Shopify stores are dependent on product reviews, upsell, and automation apps. If you move Shopify to WooCommerce, app-specific information like that will not move over unless you perform a custom migration or have WooCommerce alternatives.
Before migration, list necessary Shopify apps and identify the equivalent WooCommerce plugins. This provides feature continuity as well as customer continuity.
9. Failing to Inform Customers or Update Links
If your store is live, your customers will still have active links to live product pages through email, bookmarks, or social media. In migration, these will not be live unless you have implemented proper redirects.
Also, think about alerting your current user base to the migration. A brief announcement email regarding the new experience, advantages, and login updates (if any) will avoid confusion and keep customer trust intact.
Conclusion
Moving your store goods from Shopify to WooCommerce isn’t always a nightmare—if you know what you’re doing, and you’re aware of the most prevalent mistakes to sidestep.
By sidestepping these most typical mistakes, you can experience a smoother transfer, maintain your store structure and SEO, and give your customers a smooth shopping experience.
Make sure you choose the proper Shopify to WooCommerce migration tool, double-check your product data, and test carefully. Whether importing Shopify products manually to WooCommerce or using an automatic tool, planning will save you time and provide you with a clean slate with WooCommerce off to a great start.