Migrating Your Existing Website to Shopify: What Can Be Transferred and What Needs to Be Rebuilt? Complete Migration Guide (2026)
Once a brand decides to migrate to Shopify, the first question is almost always the same: "Can I just move everything over as-is?"
The short answer: most of your data can be migrated, but no platform migration is ever a true 1:1 copy-paste. That's because every platform — Shopline, Cyberbiz, WACA, WordPress, or even a fully custom-built site — structures products, customers, orders, and templates differently. So when you migrate, some data can be imported directly, some needs to be cleaned up first, and some has to be rebuilt from scratch. This guide walks through what typically falls into each bucket so you know what to expect before you start.
- Product data
- Product images
- Blog content
- Customer data
- Order history
- Theme / storefront design
- Features & apps
- Payment gateway
- Shipping integrations
- E-invoicing setup
What can usually be migrated
Product data
Title, description, price, SKU, barcode, weight, variants, inventory, images, product type, and vendor are the easiest to migrate. As long as your old platform can export a CSV, it can usually be reformatted for a Shopify import.
Product categories / collections
Categories aren't a direct migration — they need to be re-planned. Your old site might use a nested tree structure, like "Women's Shoes" > "Flats" > "Sandals" > "Boots." Shopify works differently, using Collections, Product Type, and Product Tags, combined with Search & Discovery filters, to build browse paths.
Product images
These usually migrate fine, and it's a good opportunity to clean up file names, dimensions, aspect ratios, and alt text — inconsistent image sizing is common on older sites, and migration is a natural time to fix it.
Blog content
Titles, body content, publish dates, authors, and featured images can all be migrated. If your existing posts already have SEO traction and are indexed by Google, we strongly recommend keeping them rather than starting fresh just because you're switching platforms.
Customer data
Name, email, phone, and address can typically be imported — but passwords never migrate. Every platform encrypts passwords differently, and no platform will export plaintext or reversible passwords for security reasons.
Order history
Order number, line items, totals, customer, and creation date can usually be exported. But it's worth asking: do you actually need every historical order sitting inside your new Shopify admin? If it's purely for reference, a read-only backup in Excel or your old system may be sufficient.
What usually needs to be rebuilt
Theme / storefront design
This is the most misunderstood part of any migration, and the biggest chunk of the work. Every platform runs on different technology — WordPress runs on PHP, Shopline uses its own proprietary template system, and Shopify runs on Liquid. Because the underlying language is different, templates can't be carried over directly — your homepage, product pages, collection pages, blog templates, and landing pages generally all need to be rebuilt.
Features & apps
Loyalty points, membership tiers, reviews, pre-orders, add-ons, and email marketing (EDM) tools all typically have equivalent apps on Shopify — but they need to be reconfigured from scratch, not copy-pasted. The setup logic is often completely different from your old platform.
Payment gateway
If you're switching providers (e.g. to ECPay, TapPay, or HiTRUST), you'll need to reapply for merchant approval. Even if you keep the same provider, the API integration usually has to be reconfigured for the new platform.
Shipping & fulfillment
Carrier integrations (courier services, convenience-store pickup, home delivery) also need to be rebuilt. If your old site connects to an ERP, WMS, or POS system, confirm early whether that system supports Shopify — the integration method can differ significantly from your old platform.
E-invoicing
This also needs to be reconfigured — API integration, invoice number ranges, company registration details, B2B/B2C issuance logic, and credit note workflows. We recommend confirming this with your accountant or e-invoice provider early, so it doesn't become a blocker right before launch.
SEO: partly portable, partly needs rework
SEO titles, meta descriptions, and the body content of your posts can generally be carried over as-is, but URL structure, sitemaps, canonical tags, and image alt text should all be reviewed.
301 redirects: the most overlooked, most costly step
Skip your 301 redirects and every URL Google has already indexed goes dead — effectively resetting the rankings and traffic you've spent years building, and it can take months to earn back. Shopify supports native 301 redirects. We'll help you build a full old-URL-to-new-URL mapping and get redirects in place before launch, so you don't lose customers or rankings.
Theme code, CSS, JavaScript functionality, custom scripts, third-party plugins, and back-office workflows generally can't be migrated at all — they need to be rebuilt on the new platform. Rather than asking "can this be moved," it's more useful to ask: can Shopify do this natively? Is there a mature app that already solves this? Or does it genuinely need custom development? Many brands end up simplifying processes that had become overly complex on their old platform.
The real value of migration isn't "moving your data"
Before you migrate, confirm these first
- ✓Can your product catalog be exported as a CSV?
- ✓Are your product images complete and high enough quality?
- ✓Do you need to retain customer data?
- ✓Does order history actually need to be imported into the new admin?
- ✓Do old URLs need to be preserved with 301 redirects?
- ✓Do you have existing Google rankings you need to protect?
- ✓Are you planning a redesign alongside the migration?
- ✓Will you need to reapply for payment gateway approval?
- ✓Do you need to integrate an ERP or warehouse system?
- ✓Does your collection/category structure need to be replanned?
Working through this checklist upfront makes the migration go significantly faster, and helps you avoid discovering missing data — or a ranking drop — only after launch.
Wrapping up
Migrating to Shopify isn't a straight copy of your old site — it's a chance to rebuild your products, storefront, payments, shipping, and SEO around Shopify's architecture. Products, blog content, and customer data can largely be carried over; theme design, feature configuration, and payment/shipping integrations typically need to be rebuilt or reconfigured.
Done well, a migration isn't just a platform switch — it's an opportunity to improve site speed, operational efficiency, and the overall customer experience.
Considering a move to Shopify?
If you're evaluating a migration from Shopline, Cyberbiz, WACA, WordPress, or another platform, ORNG Studio can help you assess what can be migrated directly, what needs to be rebuilt, and put together a migration plan that gets you live smoothly — while minimizing the impact on SEO and day-to-day operations.
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