Today’s booming ecommerce industry offers many business opportunities. And, the changing landscape that comes with selling online means the ecommerce platform you originally chose might not still fit the needs of your online business. 

That’s when you might consider migrating from one platform to another. Moving to a different CMS has become a trending topic and there are several articles and guides available that explain the migration process in simple terms. 

There are also experts and agencies that offer migration services to assist with the process. As a result,  more entrepreneurs are open to the possibility of migrating to a new platform despite the challenges that can come with it. But, in many cases, it’s certainly a step worth taking when more long-term benefits can be attained.

Shopify is the most opted platform when it comes to migrating from Magento thanks to its scalability, user-friendly backend, cost-effective pricing, and sustainable solutions. The platform is regularly evolving and with a market share of 28%, it’s the most popular ecommerce platform.  

To ease the migration process further, there are also several apps available on the Shopify app store to ease and automate migrating. And, in just a few clicks, important data can be imported to Shopify. 

We’ll take a look in more detail at the migration process and in particular, discuss migrating a multilingual Magento store. 

Why migrate from Magento to Shopify

Though migration from one platform to another has become common, why exactly do merchants migrate from Magento to Shopify?

Some common reasons include:

Pricing

Shopify has several fair and reasonable pricing plans that are suitable for any size store. Additionally, they provide transparent pricing when it comes to charges and fees.  

Ease of use

Its unparalleled usability makes setting up and managing your store a breeze, even if you have no background in ecommerce. Customizing and editing your store is effortless with Shopify’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor, allowing you to create a distinctive shop that stands out from the rest. Moreover, Shopify’s comprehensive tutorials and guides mean you’ll never be stuck for help. The platform offers a fast, easy, and professional way to create and manage your online store.

Limited developer resources required 

Shopify is the perfect solution for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes who need to create and manage an online store but have limited developer resources. With its user-friendly, intuitive interface and no-code solution, Shopify makes it easy for anyone to set up their store with no coding required. The platform makes it simple and straightforward to create and manage your online store with minimal effort.

PCI-compliant high web security offered by the platform 

Shopify is a secure platform that meets PCI-compliance standards, making it an ideal choice for businesses that need a secure online store. The platform provides advanced security measures to protect customer information from unauthorized access and malicious third-party activities. As part of the platform’s ongoing security updates, it undergoes regular audits to ensure that it remains at a high level of security. With Shopify, customers can be confident their data is safe and secure.

Choice of themes

Shopify’s themes are easily customizable and allow you to achieve a solid design, and if necessary, they can also be custom coded. For additional features and functionalities again there are user-friendly apps that can be easily integrated. 

In short, after weighing the pros and cons of running a store on each of the platforms, Shopify turns out to be the best choice for merchants. 

The process of migrating from Magento to Shopify

Now on to the actual migration and creating your new international Shopify store. Naturally, with such a topic, there are several step-by-step processes required which we’ve summarized below.

UX/UI Design and branding elements

The UX/UI of a site is the first thing that comes into the picture from a user’s perspective. It’s like the identity of the store. So it’s an essential step in the migration process. The design and the brand aesthetics can easily be attained on Shopify due to the wide range of free and paid Shopify themes offered, as mentioned above.  

Data migration 

When it comes to the transfer of your store data, there are several factors to be considered, such as the number of products and the varying product details that need to be imported to Shopify. 

Yet most of the data can be exported and then imported like the name, description, SKU, prices, URL, meta title and meta description, weight, etc.

Similarly, customer data details, order details, and even customer reviews can be imported. Free migration apps provided by Shopify have also made it a super easy and completely automated process. 

Internal settings

Once the foundation has been set concerning your customer and store data,  your online store is almost ready. The next step to consider is your internal store settings. These include payments, the checkout process, shipping and delivery, taxes and duties, markets, domains, and languages.

These are some crucial settings that need to be done carefully.

While Shopify offers payment options, and there are some good apps to meet the shipping and delivery requirements, there is another aspect that plays a vital role in any international business. Language. 

Language settings

Communication is the key to any business, and in an ecommerce site, it goes without saying how important it is to allow users to access the site in their language.

The basic idea here is to publish the store in different languages based on the markets that the merchant would be selling in. There are many apps for this as well but when it comes to effectively translating the store into different languages, Weglot is consistently one of the highest-rated apps, allowing you to add languages with ease.  

Downloadable resource Any complex process can be simplified with a guide to help ease that process and ZAGO’s Ultimate Guide to Shopify Migration gives a detailed look at exactly what’s needed. 

Using Weglot to translate your Shopify store

Weglot is an effective way to translate any Shopify store. 

Store translation tends to be a highly complex subject and can require substantial team resources. This is where Weglot steps in to simplify things. Install Weglot directly inside your Shopify backend and your store will be instantly multilingual, without the need for multiple stores for multiple markets. 

Using a first layer of machine translation from leader providers, you can translate your store into more than 100 languages. Your store translations can then be fully managed and edited through your Weglot Dashboard, allowing you to review and make changes as needed. Or alternatively, you can keep your store 100% machine translation, you have full control. 

There’s also an export/import feature that allows you to import translations directly into your Weglot Dashboard and update the translations on your store. 

Another practical consideration when launching an international store is ensuring it’s also SEO optimized so you’ll be visible in searches. Weglot follows Google’s multilingual best practices by displaying your store under language subdomains or subdirectories, adding hreflang tags, and allowing you to translate your metadata. 

Weglot also continuously syncs with your store which is ideal for ecommerce merchants that regularly launch new products as it ensures your store is always 100% translated. 

Summary

Migrating to Shopify can be a great solution and one of the best ways to grow and manage your growing online business.

The complexity surrounding the topic can, however, prevent many merchants from taking the next step.

But, with a strategic approach and familiarity with the available resources, there are several steps that allow you to reduce the manual effort involved, so a smooth migration process can be achieved. 

Migrate from Magento and launch your new Shopify store with ease!