Migrating from Magento to Shopify

Is Magento to Shopify migration right for your business?

Shopify and Magento are among the most powerful and widely used platforms available for creating an eCommerce store.

Choosing between the two can be a challenging task for eCommerce business owners and not everyone will get it right the first time. Today, eCommerce is a fast-paced marketplace to be in. Even if you think you’ve selected the ideal platform initially, evolving business needs may require you to migrate to a different platform to remain competitive.

The platform that your website is built on is the foundation of your eCommerce business. Choose the right platform, and your business will have the structure and support that it needs to grow and reach new heights, whilst a weak or unsuitable platform will cause instabilities and weaknesses that could hold your business back.

Migrating an eCommerce website from one platform to another may seem like a huge and insurmountable task, but with some help from professionals, it is possible to migrate from one platform to another seamlessly.

In this article, we will find out more about the benefits and drawbacks of Shopify and Magento to help you decide if a Magento to Shopify migration is right for your business.

Why Migrate Magento to Shopify?

Over the past few years, the popularity of Shopify has been on the rise, particularly with the introduction of its enterprise service, Shopify Plus. Shopify is known for being a modern and user- friendly platform and it has been expanding its services and features rapidly, gaining a lot of attention and interest from eCommerce store owners.

Many online store owners using the powerful, open-source eCommerce platform Magento are being lured into jumping ship to try out Shopify for size instead.

Some reasons that eCommerce businesses are migrating from Magento to Shopify include:

• To improve operations.
• To reduce time spent maintaining the website.
• To reduce costs.
• To improve user experience (UX).
  To add new features and functionalities.

Whilst it’s easy to see the lure of Shopify, any website migration requires meticulous research and planning to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Before making the move, businesses should make sure they have a comprehensive understanding of both the benefits and limitations of Shopify to help them to make an informed decision about whether migrating to the platform would facilitate business growth.

What levels of service do Magento and Shopify offer?

Before we compare the two platforms, it’s important to understand that both Magento and Shopify provide different tiers of services.

Since Adobe’s acquisition of Magento in 2018 and the launch of Shopify Plus in 2014, both platforms now offer varying levels of basic and premium services. The four distinct services available are:

• Magento Open Source
• Adobe Commerce
• Shopify
• Shopify Plus

Shopify is more suited to small and medium-sized businesses, whilst Magento Open Source can support businesses of any size but will usually require a web developer.

Adobe Commerce is the premium, paid version of Magento Open Source. It includes advanced capabilities and support services that are not available in the open-source version.

Shopify Plus is the premium version of Shopify, aimed at larger organisations and enterprises with more complex and demanding requirements.

When it comes to migrating from Magento to Shopify, an eCommerce migration specialist will be able to advise you on whether your online store is more suited to Shopify or Shopify Plus.

What are the advantages of Shopify VS Magento?

Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of both Shopify and Magento will help eCommerce businesses to make an informed decision about whether migrating from one to the other is the right decision for them. Shopify benefits over Magento include:

Ease of use

Shopify and Shopify Plus are renowned for their intuitive and user-friendly backend interfaces that make everyday store maintenance quick and simple to carry out. In comparison, if you’re not a developer, you may find that there is a steep learning curve when it comes to getting to grips with Magento’s backend and most eCommerce businesses will need to hire a developer to make updates to their website.

Hosting is included in the price

Unless you are using Adobe Commerce Hosted Cloud, (which comes with a premium price tag) you will need to organise and pay for your hosting separately from any subscription costs with Magento or Adobe Commerce. With Shopify, both your domain and your hosting are always included in the price of your plan.

Low development costs

Whilst Magento Open Source may be free to use, it is not user-friendly, and you will likely need to pay a developer every time you need to change your store’s appearance or functionality. In comparison, Shopify’s user-friendly interface means that many changes and updates to the store can be made without the involvement of a developer and the associated costs.

Security

All Shopify stores are automatically PCI compliant to keep both your business and your customers’ important information and data secure. Shopify stores automatically receive an SSL certificate too. If you build an online store using the Magento Open Source platform, you are responsible for managing and implementing your own security certificates, patches, extensions, and updates.

What are the drawbacks of migrating to Shopify?

Although Shopify and Shopify Plus offer a comprehensive set of features and functionality that cater to the needs of most businesses, larger enterprises with more complex requirements may encounter some limitations that could prove to be problematic.

Limited customisation

If you have an in-house team of developers or are willing to hire one, Magento provides complete control and unrestricted customisation options for your website’s appearance and functionality. You can even create personalised experiences for specific audiences using Magento’s customer segmentation tools. In comparison, Shopify does not offer this unrestricted level of customisation.

Limited scalability

The limitless customisation offered by Magento means the sky’s the limit when it comes to scalability, whereas Shopify users are limited to the functionality and scalability offered by the platform. An example of this is the product variation limit set by Shopify. In Shopify, businesses are limited to 100 product variations. Businesses with lots of different product variations may find this problematic. In comparison, Magento and Adobe Commerce allow unlimited product variations. Magento also supports large businesses running multiple shops in different languages and currencies. Shopify Plus can support multiple stores and currencies, but there are limitations.

Limited integrations

Third-party apps and integrations can help you to improve the functionality of your website. Shopify offers over 8,000 third-party apps and integrations to help your business to streamline its operations, automate tasks, and provide customers with a better user experience (UX). Whilst this is an impressive library of integrations, you are restricted to Shopify APIs, whereas on Magento integrations are unlimited.

How much does Shopify cost compared to Magento?

The cost of Magento vs Shopify depends on the level of service that you require.

Shopify’s most basic plan starts at £19 p/m, whilst Magento Open Source is free to use. Shopify is still considered by many to be a more cost-effective option than Magento Open Source though as it offers an all-in-one solution. Included in the cost of a Shopify subscription you get hosting, support, access to advanced apps, security, and lots more. With Magento, you’ll need to organise and pay for all these separately, and if you already have an online store with Magento you’ll know just how quickly these costs add up.

Adobe eCommerce is less transparent with its costs than Shopify Plus. A Shopify Plus subscription starts at £1,650 p/m, whilst you’ll need to contact Adobe Commerce to get an accurate, customised quote on a subscription.

How much does it cost to migrate to Shopify?

The cost of migrating your online store from Magento (or any other platform) to Shopify and the time that this exercise will take, depends entirely on the size and complexity of your website.

Some important factors that will affect the cost of migrating your website and how long the job will take include:

The number of products you have – The cost of Magento to Shopify product migration increases as the number of products and categories on your website increases. The more products there are, the longer the migration will take.

Website design and customisation – If your online store has a custom design or unique features, then it may require some additional development work to ensure that everything is set up correctly and functions as it should after the migration.

SEO – When performing a Magento to Shopify SEO migration, websites with very established SEO may require some additional work to ensure that the migration does not negatively impact their search rankings.

Integration with third-party apps – If your website relies on third-party apps, then setting these up again and checking that they are functioning correctly in Shopify will take additional time.

Timeframe – If you require the migration to be completed in a very tight timeframe, then this could also bump up the bill.

Generally, the larger and more complex your website is, the more expensive migrating to Shopify will be, but if Magento is no longer meeting your business needs, think of it as an investment for your business’s future growth and success. Speak to a professional to get a quote on the price of Shopify migration services.

Find out more about Create8 and how they can help you with all your Shopify needs here.