Expert Advice: Migrating from Magento to Shopify
Has your Magento solution become an expensive, technical hindrance rather than a commercial springboard?
Many companies find that Magento requires intensive development and costly specialists to keep the machine running — diverting attention from what's most important: growing and operating the business.
Shopify offers a more intuitive user interface, automatic updates, and a vast app ecosystem — all with a focus on performance and operational reliability.
At DTAILS, we've helped several companies like Kalle Børnetøj and The Army Painter smoothly transition to Shopify, and we're sharing our experiences and recommendations here — so if you're considering switching platforms, read on.
Why migrate from Magento to Shopify?
- Technical complexity: Magento often requires developer resources and technical know-how for both operations and further development.
- Maintenance costs: Hosting, security, and updates are your responsibility with Magento, while Shopify handles this for you.
- Ease of use and scalability: Shopify is designed with businesspeople in mind — not developers. The platform makes it easy to set up products, run campaigns, and work with marketing, even without a technical background. Plus, Shopify grows with your business, so you avoid server upgrades and manual scaling.
- Future-proof platform: Shopify offers ongoing updates, a robust app ecosystem, and built-in security.
"Migrating to Shopify has freed up time, added flexibility, and made it much easier for us to work with our webshop. We're delighted to now have a webshop that represents our unique Kalle universe online!"
— Valdemar Worsøe, Web Manager, Kalle Børnetøj & Sko
How do Magento and Shopify differ?
Hosting
With Shopify, you get a fully hosted SaaS solution where all operations, servers, uptime, and security are included. Shopify ensures your webshop runs quickly and stably — without you having to worry about maintenance or technical issues.
Adobe also offers a hosted version of Magento (Adobe Commerce Cloud), but it is typically much more expensive, and you still need technical expertise to maintain and configure the solution. Magento Cloud offers more flexibility — but also requires you to get your hands dirty with the mechanics.
Additionally, Magento is available as open-source — where you handle everything yourself: hosting, servers, operations, and security. This provides maximum freedom but also maximum complexity and responsibility.
With Shopify, you get scalable, fast, and hassle-free hosting that just works — from day one.
Customization and Development
Magento is very flexible as it is open source, but even small changes require a developer's help. High technical insight can feel like a necessity.
With Shopify, you have limited access to the core code, but you won't miss it, as you can make a wide range of layout changes without a developer's help thanks to Shopify's theme editor and add apps to further expand functionality. The entire admin part is intuitive, and because you largely stick to the standard, it's much easier to get support and seek help. You can learn more about Shopify themes here.
With a developer team like DTAILS’s, you get even more options — and afterward, you can take over quite a bit yourself.
Updates
Shopify offers automatic updates and industry-leading uptime — even during peak times like Black Friday and holiday shopping. New features and security improvements are continuously rolled out without downtime or the need for manual intervention.
Magento, on the other hand, requires manual updates, and there is often a high risk of outages, especially if the solution is heavily customized. Updates in Magento need to be planned, tested, and executed by technical specialists — and this can quickly become both expensive and cumbersome.
With Shopify, you're always on the latest version — and can focus on selling while the platform takes care of itself.
App Ecosystem
Magento offers many extensions, but the quality can vary. Shopify offers a comprehensive app store where all apps are screened by Shopify to ensure they meet the platform’s technical requirements and security standards. Apps can also be custom developed, but they too must follow strict Shopify requirements. DTAILS has built several apps, both for the Shopify App Store and custom apps, specially tailored for DTAILS's clients. You can learn more about DTAILS apps here.
Scalability
You probably already know that growing with Magento requires server and resource scaling. With Shopify, you can grow at lightning speed. Shopify keeps up — completely automatically.
Security
When working with Magento, security is your responsibility — including PCI Compliance, patches, and server backups. It requires both time and technical insight. On Shopify, all this is included, and if you want extra peace of mind, a backup app can help with easy data restoration.
Pricing Structure
With Shopify, you pay a fixed subscription price, transaction fees, and possibly for apps — but hosting, operations, and security are included in the price, so you avoid unforeseen expenses for servers and maintenance. At DTAILS, we are happy to help you get an overview so you get the best price and don't pay for anything you don't need.
What should you be aware of when migrating from Magento to Shopify?
Migrating from Magento to Shopify is not just about moving data. Magento uses a complex data model, meaning products, variants, and customer data often need to be transformed before they can be imported to Shopify. Particularly complex product types, customer segments, and large order histories require extra attention.
- Data complexity: Magento has an advanced EAV data model that requires thorough data preparation.
- Product types: Bundles, configurable products, and custom fields often require special tailoring.
- Customer data and order history: Customer segments, loyalty points, and large volumes of historical orders require extensive mapping and validation.
- SEO and redirects: Maintain your SEO value with proper 301 redirects and updated URL structures.
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Data cleansing: Clean out old, unused, or obsolete data before migration to ensure a clean setup on Shopify.
"DTAILS made a fantastic project plan, which they adhered to perfectly. They also helped us deliver what we needed on time. They worked tirelessly day and night, weekends, and even during the Christmas holidays to ensure our successful launch. I'm running out of superlatives."
— Mikkel Cort, Head of E‑Commerce, The Army Painter
How to ensure a smooth migration from Magento to Shopify
Switching eCommerce platforms is not just a technical project — it’s also an investment in your business's future. Your Magento shop has been built over time with products, content, and a structure that may have evolved somewhat randomly. It can be tempting to clear everything and start from scratch, but it's essential to be diligent, especially if you want to maintain your visibility on Google and avoid losing valuable traffic.
When we at DTAILS help with the migration from Magento to Shopify, we plan the process step-by-step to ensure all the right data is transferred — and nothing is forgotten along the way. You get a dedicated project manager guiding you safely through the entire process.
Step 1: Planning and Data Export
A successful migration always starts with an overview. Therefore, we map out your current data together to know what needs to be transferred: products, customers, orders, discount codes, content pages, SEO data, and URL structure.
It’s important to know how much data your Magento shop can export directly and what may require more manual work.
We also view the migration as an excellent opportunity to clean up old content and ensure that only relevant, updated material is transferred. This creates a stronger foundation for your new Shopify shop — both for your customers and for your search result rankings.
Step 2: Data Migration and Preparation
Once data from Magento is extracted, the work of adapting it to Shopify begins. The two platforms handle data differently, so it requires a thorough transformation before products can land correctly in your new shop.
We ensure that all essential elements like product descriptions, images, prices, variants, customers, orders, and discount codes are transferred correctly. Additionally, we manage the structure of your categories and collections so they make sense in Shopify and ensure that content pages and legal texts like "Privacy Policy" and "Terms and Conditions" are also included.
Step 3: Design, Functionality, and Sales Setup
Alongside data migration, we're building a new, scalable Shopify solution that matches your brand — both visually and technically. We start with a modern Shopify theme, which we customize for your business, or develop a custom design if you have specific needs.
In collaboration with you, we define how the shop should function: everything from navigation and checkout flow to language, shipping, and payment methods. If you plan to sell internationally, we help you determine whether Shopify Markets or expansion stores is the right setup for you. If you're curious about international sales on Shopify, you can read about Shopify Markets here.
We don't just build a webshop that looks great — we ensure it's ready to do business, handle growth, and convert visitors into customers.
Step 4: Testing, Redirects, and Go-Live
Before going live, we review the webshop together with you to ensure everything functions as it should — both technically and practically. We don’t just test if buttons work, but also if your workflows are cohesive, so you feel completely confident using Shopify.
SEO is a crucial part of any migration, and therefore we set up redirects from your old Magento URLs to the corresponding Shopify pages. This preserves your visibility and avoids dead links that can harm your search result rankings. Additionally, we install an app that monitors any 404 errors, so nothing gets lost and your customers always end up in the right place.
When everything is approved, we point the domain over, remove the password protection — and your Shopify shop is live. It's often less dramatic than many fear, but we’re happy to celebrate with you if you want the champagne corks to pop.
The first few weeks after go-live, we’re ready with support, and we always have a hypercare period where we can catch and resolve small issues that may only appear in operation. Many also choose to continue the collaboration with a DTAILS Care agreement, so the webshop can continuously evolve along with the business.
