Shopify is without doubt one of the finest ecommerce platforms available on the market at this time. Transferring your web site to Shopify may sound intimidating. Nevertheless it’s truly easy, and also you’ll be set as much as scale your ecommerce retailer as soon as the duty is full. 

Migrating from WooCommerce, Etsy, Sq., BigCommerce, or one other fashionable platform? Shopify’s importer app will velocity the method for small enterprise. Enterprise migrations to Shopify Plus take as little as 90 days.

Hold studying to learn how to get your retailer on Shopify. Or test it out proper now with a three-day free trial of Shopify, no bank card required.

Why Transferring a Web site to Shopify is Price It

As an all-in-one ecommerce platform, Shopify has every little thing it is advisable promote on-line from a single supplier. That is a lot simpler than having to fret about webhosting, procuring cart software program, stock administration, and a fee gateway from a number of suppliers. For brick-and-mortar companies increasing to ecommerce, Shopify even has a retail POS system that integrates together with your on-line retailer.

Shopify is constructed particularly for promoting on-line, which might’t be mentioned for different CMS platforms. Which means every little thing about your web site shall be optimized for promoting, together with your product catalogs and pricing pages. See why Shopify is a pacesetter among the many finest ecommerce web site builders.

If you happen to’re promoting only one or two merchandise on-line, you won’t want a full-blown ecommerce platform. However if you wish to scale your on-line retailer and proceed including lots of or 1000’s of merchandise, including a procuring cart plugin to your present web site gained’t be sufficient to get the job carried out.

When you’ve moved to Shopify, all the backend administration will get simpler as nicely. You’ll have entry to insightful analytics associated to how your web site is performing, which merchandise are doing one of the best, and the place individuals are abandoning purchases. Shopify even has a built-in e-mail advertising platform that’s free with all plans.

If scalability and ease is your aim, Shopify is a no brainer. You may get every little thing you want from a single platform, making your life a lot simpler. Shopify can also be constructed for limitless progress, so that you’ll by no means outgrow the platform.

The Funding Wanted to Switch a Web site to Shopify

You’ll must hold your present web site up and working when you make the change. So that you’ll nonetheless should pay on your present CMS or web site builder, along with your internet hosting prices, area title charges, and different web site upkeep charges. You’ll be able to seemingly finish most of those ongoing subscriptions inside a month or so of the switch.

Along with your present prices, you’ll want to enroll in a Shopify plan. These begin at simply $39 per thirty days, and it can save you cash by pre-paying for the yr, which brings it right down to $29 per thirty days.

There are two different packages to select from—Shopify and Superior, beginning at $105 and $399 per thirty days, respectively. The processing charges are cheaper at every tier, and also you’ll even have entry to discounted delivery charges. Excessive-volume retailers that want an enterprise-grade answer ought to take into account Shopify Plus, beginning at $2,000 per thirty days.

Relying on the scale of your present web site, you must be capable to full the switch in lower than every week. In lots of circumstances, you possibly can knock out your entire switch inside just a few days. 

The precise migration value is free in the event you do it by yourself. Alternatively, you possibly can rent a Shopify knowledgeable to deal with every little thing for you. Pricing from high quality consultants sometimes ranges from $500 to $5,000, relying on the complexity of your present retailer. 

9 Steps to Switch a Web site to Shopify

Able to get began? Simply observe the straightforward steps beneath, and your web site shall be transferred to Shopify very quickly.

1 – Backup and Export Your Present Web site Knowledge

Earlier than you begin migrating knowledge or making modifications to your web site, it is advisable ensure you have a latest backup of every little thing.

Typically, issues can go awry once you’re transferring knowledge and pointing URLs to new locations. You need to be certain your present web site stays up in the course of the course of. In any other case, you may lose out on gross sales or have disillusioned prospects that may’t attain you.

So having a backup of every little thing from the start will assist put your thoughts relaxed. Even when one thing goes fallacious and knowledge will get deleted, you’ll have the backup prepared.

As soon as every little thing is backed up, both regionally or to the cloud, it is advisable export your whole product knowledge, buyer data, orders, evaluations, blogs, retailer credit, present playing cards, and touchdown pages.

The precise export steps will look a bit bit totally different for everybody, relying in your present CMS platform. However whether or not you’re utilizing WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or one other ecommerce web site, there needs to be fairly clear directions for going via this course of. It often solely takes one or two clicks. 

Begin together with your merchandise and prospects. This can often be the best, and you’ll often export that knowledge as CSV recordsdata. Selecting this format may also make issues simpler once you’re importing that knowledge to Shopify. 

2 – Set Up Your New Shopify Account

Subsequent, you want to enroll in Shopify and create an account. I’d suggest leaping straight right into a paid subscription in the event you’re going via the complete course of. However you may at all times join a three-day free trial in the event you simply need to get your toes moist with out doing a full switch. 

Most of you may be wonderful with a Fundamental or Shopify package deal, beginning at $39 and $105 per thirty days, respectively. If you happen to’re already working a bigger retailer with greater than 5 stock areas and over six workers accounts, you’ll want to enroll in an Superior subscription.

There are a number of prompts in the course of the sign-up course of that can information you in the correct route in the course of the setup. 

For instance, in the event you reply the primary query saying that you just’re already promoting on-line or in particular person, the second query will ask in the event you’re transferring an present web site to Shopify.

The prompts change based mostly in your response to the earlier query.

You’ll have the choice to pick out the platform you’re transferring from as nicely. Examples embrace:

• Amazon
• eBay
• WordPress
• Squarespace
• ShopKeep
• Sq.
• WooCommerce
• Etsy
• BigCommerce
• Lightspeed
• OpenCart
• PrestaShop
• Volusion

You must also arrange your whole administrative settings, workers accounts, billing data, and fundamental particulars throughout this step. 

3 – Import Your Knowledge to Shopify

As soon as your account has been arrange and verified, you possibly can import the info you’ve beforehand exported again in the 1st step. You’ll should import every kind of content material individually, and there are a number of choices for every.

In some circumstances, you may determine to simply copy and paste touchdown web page content material out of your previous web site to Shopify. Or you possibly can switch knowledge manually utilizing CSV recordsdata—though this feature solely works for buyer data and merchandise. CSV file migrations don’t assist buyer passwords.

Head to your admin dashboard and choose Merchandise from the left sidebar. Then click on the Import button throughout the All Merchandise menu.

When you’ve got developer assets in-house, you may as well import knowledge utilizing an API connection. However for many DIY customers, that’s most likely not value trying. 

By way of significance hierarchy, you’ll need to begin with product knowledge, buyer data, and historic orders. Finishing the imports on this order ensures you may have full entry to buyer transaction historical past, with earlier orders linked to the suitable objects and prospects.

4 – Arrange Your Product Catalog

Don’t assume that every little thing has been migrated completely after the info import. You continue to must undergo every little thing to substantiate the accuracy. 

Typically the CSV export doesn’t align precisely with Shopify’s import tips. You must double-check issues like product descriptions, product variants, meta descriptions, and pictures. 

From right here, you possibly can create collections inside your product catalog to group comparable merchandise into classes. There are two forms of collections you possibly can create—handbook or automated.

A handbook assortment requires you so as to add every product one after the other. However automated collections allow you to group present and future merchandise into a bunch based mostly on particular circumstances.

Examples of circumstances embrace worth, tag, coloration, sale objects, and extra. 

When you’ve added a set, you may have the choice so as to add them to your retailer’s navigation menu. This makes it simpler for purchasers to shortly discover totally different product classes. 

5 – Configure Your Area on Shopify

Now it is advisable arrange your Shopify area.

There are two choices to contemplate right here. You’ll be able to both buy a brand new area or switch your present area to Shopify. Most of you’ll seemingly select the latter, however there are some one-off cases the place you could simply desire a new area altogether.

For instance, let’s say you had been beforehand utilizing an internet site builder that had a subdomain in your URL. You’d clearly need to remove that when you switch your web site to Shopify.

You should purchase new domains instantly via Shopify. 

Alternatively, you should buy a site from a registrar service of your selection. Though getting a site instantly from Shopify is usually the best selection. 

If you happen to already personal a site from one other supplier, you simply want to attach it to Shopify from that third occasion. All your area settings and renewal choices will nonetheless be managed and maintained outdoors of Shopify. 

6 – Allow Funds

Ensuring you possibly can obtain funds from prospects is clearly a high precedence for each ecommerce enterprise. 

You’ve gotten two choices. One, you possibly can simply use Shopify Funds for built-in processing. Two, you should use a third-party fee supplier that’s supported by Shopify.

On-line processing charges for Shopify Funds differ based mostly in your plan.

• Fundamental — 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Shopify — 2.6% + $0.30 per transaction
• Superior — 2.4% + $0.30 per transaction

Excessive-volume retailers may simply justify a higher-tiered plan only for fee processing financial savings. 

7 – Set Up Your Gross sales Taxation

Shopify makes it very easy so that you can configure your gross sales taxes. That is one thing that may be a headache for some retailers in the event that they’re not utilizing the correct software program. 

Relying in your location, there are totally different legal guidelines and tips about gross sales tax on your merchandise. It will probably additionally depend upon the situation of the place the merchandise are being shipped, and you could owe taxes in a number of states. 

Shopify will robotically apply tax charges to totally different delivery zones. 

That can assist you hold monitor of your taxes all year long, you may as well combine an accounting software from the Shopify Market into your web site. You’ll see choices like Quickbooks, Xero, Sage, and different fashionable accounting instruments to select from.

8 – Get Your URL Stay and Set Up Redirects

Now you’re prepared for the positioning to go stay.

It’s only a matter of pointing your area to your Shopify retailer. Head over to your area registrar and edit this feature in your DNS settings. 

Shopify has a video that explains this connection course of in higher element. You should use this as a reference that can assist you with this step. 

The modifications are often made inside just a few hours, as DNS servers don’t replace in actual time. So it is advisable wait till the DNS server spots these modifications. 

You may see a change in your finish, however an worker or another person visiting your web site won’t see it but. That is fully regular and nothing to fret about throughout the first few hours. 

For the cleanest potential transition, it’s in your finest curiosity to do that throughout hours when visitors is at its lowest. So in the event you’re a US-based ecommerce retailer, doing this between the hours of two AM and 5 AM might be your finest wager. 

9 – Energy Down Your Outdated Website (After A Whereas)

Don’t instantly energy down or delete your previous web site.

Be certain that the transition has been easy for no less than a month. You might in the end wait to export sure content material, like previous weblog posts or low-traffic touchdown pages. 

However when you’re assured that your new web site is all set and also you’ll by no means must entry the previous one, you possibly can go forward and cancel it. 

Canceling your subscription is the best choice, because the platform will seemingly energy every little thing down for you, versus manually powering issues off by yourself. 

Subsequent Steps

Now that you just’ve transferred your web site to Shopify, there are just a few different alternatives so that you can go after. 

First, take a look at our information on 20 tricks to double your ecommerce conversion charge. This can assist guarantee your Shopify web site is primed to transform from day one, so you can begin promoting instantly.

I additionally suggest studying our full information to how Shopify works. It’s stuffed with ideas, methods, and finest practices for getting probably the most out of your Shopify subscription. You’ll additionally be taught extra concerning the totally different options and performance accessible inside Shopify. 

If you happen to’re nonetheless on the fence about whether or not or not Shopify is best for you, our full Shopify evaluate might help you determine. You may also take a look at our checklist of one of the best ecommerce platforms and software program to see the place Shopify stacks up towards different instruments on this class.