Shopify migration
Custom platform to Shopify when the homegrown stack is done.
Homegrown carts and ageing stacks. If it holds products and customers, we can plan the move. The platform matters less than the state of the data.
Custom carts, legacy ERPs with a bolted-on storefront, or platforms with no active vendor support. If it holds products and customers, we can plan a Shopify migration.
We reverse-engineer the data, map what matters, protect SEO where URLs exist, and rebuild commerce on Shopify or Shopify Plus with integrations the business still needs.
Why people leave Custom platforms
A custom store made sense when the business was the only one with that checkout. Years later the same code is the reason a campaign takes a developer and a release.
Teams leave when the founder-developer has gone, the framework is old, and every integration is a private script.
The catalogue and the customers are the asset. The platform is not. Shopify is chosen so the next change is a setting, not a deploy.
We have moved custom builds where the export was a database dump and a folder of images. The work is the mapping, not the theme.
What breaks in the data
No standard export
There is no Magento or Woo button. We read the schema, write the extract and agree the fields before anything is imported.
Hidden business rules
Price, tax and stock often live in code. We write them down. If we cannot see the rule, we do not pretend it moved.
Images and files
Paths break. We take the files, rename them to something Shopify can store, and check the top products by hand.
URLs you invented
Custom routes do not follow a pattern. The crawl is the source of truth for redirects.
Timeline and cost
Weeks 1 to 3
Schema, sample extract and a list of rules that must survive. This discovery is longer than on a packaged platform.
Weeks 4 to 8
Import, theme and the integrations that replace private scripts.
Weeks 8 to 10
Redirects from the crawl. Rehearsed orders. A decision on what custom code is retired.
Cutover
The old app stays available for a short rollback window. DNS moves only after the redirect file is on Shopify.
Migrations and builds typically run £20,000 to £35,000, plus a monthly retainer. A smaller catalogue with a clean export sits at the lower end. Wholesale, an ERP and years of messy data sit at the higher end. We confirm the range after we have seen the store.
How the project runs
There is no export button. Discovery is a schema, a sample of products and a written list of price, tax and stock rules that live in code. If a rule cannot be seen, it is not marked as migrated.
Images are taken as files. URLs that die with the old server are not a migration plan. The crawl, not a sitemap someone remembers, is the redirect source.
Private scripts are replaced one by one with an app, Flow, or a decision to stop doing that job. The theme is the visible part. The retired code is the part that makes the monthly cost fall.
DNS moves after redirects are on Shopify. The old app stays available for a short rollback, and then it stops taking orders.
Checklist
- Get a current database schema and a sample of live products.
- Write down price, tax and stock rules that live in code.
- Collect image files, not just URLs that will die with the server.
- Crawl every public URL.
- List private scripts and name the Shopify app or Flow that replaces each one.
- Agree a rollback window before the launch date.
What makes a Custom platforms migration different
Unknown data shapes
Exports are rarely clean. We audit early, name the gaps, and refuse to invent structure at the last minute.
Hidden business logic
Pricing rules, bundles and fulfilment quirks get written down before they disappear with the old code.
SEO on unusual URLs
Odd path patterns still need redirects. We crawl what Google knows and map it deliberately.
How it runs
01
Audit
We inspect the current platform, catalogue health, traffic URLs, integrations and what regular customers rely on.
02
Map
Data fields, URL redirects and cutover risks get written down. You see the plan before we move a product.
03
Migrate
Catalogue and customers move into staging. Structure is cleaned. Integrations and the storefront come together.
04
Rehearse
Redirects, accounts, checkout and the top landing pages are tested. Cutover is practised, not hoped for.
05
Launch and watch
Go live on the agreed window. We monitor Search Console, 404s and the first trading days with you.
Also in the move
Design and build
The new storefront, product structure and content templates that make the migration worth doing.
Apps and integrations
ERP, 3PL and the tools around the store, connected so stock and orders stay true after cutover.
Ongoing support
Monitoring and improvements once the new platform is live. Month to month, no lock-in.
Custom platform to Shopify questions
What if we have no documentation?
Common. We start with the live site, the database or exports, and interviews with the people who run orders every day.
Can any platform move to Shopify?
If it has a catalogue and customers, yes. The work is in the data and cutover plan, not the brand name of the old stack.
Other platforms
Talk about your Custom platforms move
Send the store URL and what you are most worried about losing. We will tell you what to protect first.
Prefer a call? Book a call.