Shopify is a wonderful resolution if you wish to get your ecommerce retailer up and operating in only a few minutes. However its restricted flexibility and costly add-ons don’t make it a great ecommerce resolution in the long run.
WooCommerce, then again, is ideal when you’re searching for an ecommerce platform that comes with extra customization at a decrease value.
When you’re fascinated about migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce, you’ve come to the correct place.
On this information, we’ll cowl the whole lot you should know to efficiently switch your Shopify retailer and all its merchandise to WooCommerce and likewise share some ideas to assist make the method run easily.
Causes emigrate from Shopify to WooCommerce
Switching ecommerce platforms may sound intimidating, particularly after you’ve invested a lot time in establishing your retailer on Shopify. However in the long run, the advantages of migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce far outweigh the prices.
Let’s discover a number of the prime explanation why it is best to contemplate transferring your on-line retailer from Shopify to WooCommerce.
Limitless design choices
Shopify has restricted choices in the case of designing the look and format of your retailer. Your selections are restricted to the platform’s out there templates, and inside these templates, you possibly can solely use Shopify’s in-house drag-and-drop instruments to make modifications.
Alternatively, WooCommerce advantages from being a WordPress plugin and so has entry to the 1000’s of themes out there within the content material administration system. A few of these themes are even particularly designed for constructing ecommerce shops.
Along with these intensive theme choices, you possibly can create your personal retailer format from scratch when you’d like.
Elevated flexibility
Shopify is a closed system, which means you must work throughout the boundaries it supplies.
As anybody who’s used it for an extended time period will inform you, you begin brushing up towards these boundaries fairly early on.
For example, Shopify restricts your skill to divide your merchandise into classes and sub-categories. This implies you can’t organize merchandise in hierarchies, like Ladies > Footwear > Sneakers. All of it has to go underneath one product class: e.g., Ladies’s Footwear.
In different phrases, if the characteristic you need isn’t supplied by Shopify or its third-party companions, you’re out of luck.
WooCommerce, then again, is open-source and free to make use of. Which means that no matter characteristic isn’t included could be added by writing your personal code.
Additionally, WooCommerce helps tons of various plugins that stretch its performance, from cost processors to delivery choices and reporting instruments.
Decrease value
The most cost effective Shopify plan begins at $29/month, billed yearly. From there, the worth rises as excessive as $2,000/month if you would like entry to the options that include the Shopify Plus plan.
Along with the worth of the plan, you might also must pay further for third-party add-ons that add important options like assist for added cost strategies or advertising and marketing instruments like Shopify E-mail.
With WooCommerce, so long as your area title and internet hosting plan are correctly arrange, you will get began totally free. There are even managed WooCommerce plans that simplify the setup course of by together with the whole lot you should get began in a single plan.
Nexcess has a WooCommerce Starter plan at $15.83/month (for an annual plan) that features the whole lot you should get began promoting for manner lower than what you pay with Shopify — and with far more flexibility.
Bigger ecosystem
WooCommerce is a part of the WordPress ecosystem, which suggests it has entry to the identical intensive assist community and developer neighborhood.
This neighborhood is a superb supply of inspiration for determining learn how to develop your on-line retailer. It’s additionally a wonderful useful resource for troubleshooting issues and discovering options.
Fewer transaction charges
When you choose to make use of a third-party cost possibility as a substitute of Shopify Funds, you’ll be charged a transaction price on each buy made out of your on-line retailer.
WooCommerce, aside from having its personal cost resolution, doesn’t cost you something further for selecting a third-party cost methodology. Fairly the alternative, it helps dozens of various cost strategies, together with choices which can be solely accepted in sure areas.
Having these third-party cost strategies out there helps make your ecommerce retailer extra internationally pleasant and enticing to a wider buyer base.
Steps for migrating from Shopify to WooCommerce
Now that we’ve gone over the explanation why it is best to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce, it’s time to elucidate how you are able to do this. We’ve damaged the method down into eight easy steps.
Register your area title
These are the preliminary necessities for utilizing WooCommerce in your on-line retailer. If you have already got a site title you beforehand used with Shopify, you possibly can redirect the area title to your new internet hosting plan.
Alternatively, you might register a brand new area. Most internet hosting firms supply free area registrations if you buy a internet hosting plan. These can include limitations although, so you should definitely learn the superb print.
Select your internet hosting plan
There are additionally a number of selections in the case of internet hosting plans. You possibly can go along with any of the widespread internet hosting sorts: shared, VPS, devoted, or cloud, relying in your wants.
We suggest selecting a managed internet hosting plan the place the internet hosting supplier handles a lot of the duties concerned in organising and managing a web site.
Nexcess at the moment presents WordPress ecommerce internet hosting plans that are particularly designed and optimized for making a WooCommerce retailer.
Set up WordPress
When you’ve chosen an internet host, it’s time for the WordPress set up. Many internet hosts have plans that include WordPress pre-installed. For example, Nexcess’s WordPress and WooCommerce plans include WordPress pre-installed.
In a number of others, you possibly can 1-click set up WordPress from cPanel. In case your chosen internet host doesn’t supply this, it’s possible you’ll set up WordPress manually.
Obtain and configure WooCommerce
When you’ve registered your area title, chosen an internet host, and put in WordPress, the following step is to obtain the WooCommerce plugin and configure it.
When you’re utilizing a managed WooCommerce internet hosting plan, the plugin ought to already be put in. In any other case, navigate to the plugins menu in your WordPress dashboard and seek for WooCommerce.
As soon as the set up is full and the plugin is activated, observe the steps within the WooCommerce Setup Wizard and supply the required data to finish the method.
We’ve created a WooCommerce setup tutorial with step-by-step directions you possibly can observe. At this stage, you might also must arrange supported currencies, cost gateways, and delivery strategies in case your retailer requires them.
As soon as the setup is full, it’s possible you’ll be prompted to put in some non-compulsory plugins and add new merchandise to your retailer, however you possibly can ignore that since you’ll be getting your merchandise out of your previous Shopify retailer.
Export your retailer knowledge from Shopify
There are a number of methods to do that step, and the kind of knowledge exported is dependent upon which methodology you employ.
You may export Shopify Retailer knowledge immediately from the dashboard utilizing CSV information. The forms of retailer knowledge you possibly can export utilizing this methodology are merchandise, prospects, orders, present card codes, low cost codes, and monetary knowledge.
An alternative choice for exporting your knowledge is the Cart2Cart migration instrument. This paid WooCommerce add-on permits you to carry out a full migration of your retailer knowledge from Shopify utilizing the Shopify APIs.
The price of utilizing this service is dependent upon the quantity of knowledge that’s being transferred, however you will get worth estimates on-line.
A 3rd various is WPBeginner’s shopifytowp.com, which is a free on-line service you should utilize to export your Shopify knowledge in a format that may be imported into WooCommerce utilizing a companion plugin.
Along with the migration instruments described above, there are a few paid third-party plugins you should utilize to export your Shopify retailer knowledge to WooCommerce. These plugins embody:
The Shopify app retailer additionally has just a few choices for backing up your retailer knowledge in normal codecs like CSV or JSON. One well-liked possibility is Rewind Backups ($9/month) which is primarily for Shopify backups however may also be used to export knowledge.
Import your retailer knowledge into WooCommerce
There are a number of methods to import your retailer knowledge into WooCommerce. Choosing the correct one is dependent upon the kind of knowledge you wish to import and the way that knowledge was exported from Shopify.
Notice: When you host your WooCommerce retailer with Nexcess, you get WP All Import Professional with the WooCommerce add-on plugin supplied at no extra value.
Nevertheless, for this instance we’ll use WooCommerce’s Product CSV Importer and Exporter to import product knowledge into WooCommerce.
Merely navigate to Instruments > Import out of your WordPress admin dashboard and click on the ‘Run Importer’ hyperlink underneath the WooCommerce merchandise (CSV) possibility. Then observe the steps within the import wizard.
Notice: This feature solely works for merchandise that have been exported from Shopify in a CSV file.
When you used the Cart2Cart knowledge migration service to export your knowledge, you possibly can observe the steps supplied by the service to utterly migrate your Shopify retailer data to WooCommerce. You’ll need to put in Cart2Cart’s plugin in WordPress to finish the method.
The shopifytowp.com service additionally requires you to put in a plugin in your WordPress website to import your Shopify knowledge.
Recreate your on-line retailer design in WooCommerce
You wish to present as seamless an expertise as attainable in your prospects who can be visiting your new storefront. To that finish, it’s necessary to try to replicate the feel and appear of your previous Shopify retailer as a lot as attainable.
When you could not be capable of reproduce the precise design you had on Shopify, you should utilize this chance so as to add enhancements utilizing the intensive variety of themes and customization choices out there with WordPress.
For instance, you should utilize Kadence Blocks to make professional-looking and customizable pages — and it’s included freed from cost with Nexcess WooCommerce internet hosting plans.
Above all, it is best to make sure that the cost and checkout expertise works as seamlessly as attainable earlier than continuing to the following stage.
Go dwell
If it is a completely new retailer with a brand new area title that you simply bought along with your internet hosting plan, all you must do is make it out there on-line and promote it to new and current prospects.
When you plan to make use of the identical area title as your earlier Shopify retailer, you’ll should direct your area title to your WooCommerce retailer.
This may be carried out by including DNS information out of your area registrar to your website hosting portal. In case your web site is hosted by Nexcess, you should utilize our step-by-step information to configure the DNS information and go dwell along with your website.
You can too test your internet hosting supplier’s data base or contact its customer support staff for help.
Troubleshooting ideas for migrating Shopify to WooCommerce
Whereas we want lets say the Shopify to WooCommerce migration course of is all the time seamless, this isn’t all the time the case. Hiccups do occur, and we wish you to be ready for once they do.
For example, when you’re doing handbook imports with the WooCommerce Product Importer, all the time make sure you map the columns for product data appropriately to stop knowledge mismatch.
Additionally, make certain of what data you wish to transfer throughout from Shopify. If it’s solely product knowledge, that’s simpler than transferring extra data like buyer knowledge, orders, product tags, variants, coupons, and bank card particulars.
When you do encounter points along with your migrations, you possibly can observe these WordPress troubleshooting ideas to find out what went incorrect.
Ultimate ideas: The way to migrate from Shopify to WooCommerce
Shopify definitely has benefits in the case of organising a web based retailer within the begin, however it may’t compete with WooCommerce by way of value, flexibility, and neighborhood assist.
And whereas migrating your Shopify retailer might sound daunting, the method is actually so simple as organising your WooCommerce website, migrating your retailer knowledge, and configuring all of it in order that your prospects have a seamless purchasing expertise.
When you’re able to get began on migrating your Shopify retailer to a extra sturdy ecommerce resolution, then it’s possible you’ll be thinking about our managed internet hosting providers for WordPress and WooCommerce.
Notice: This weblog was initially printed in Might 2020. It has since been up to date for accuracy and comprehensiveness.