• Masifa Bukhari
• Shopify
• 18 April, 2024

The potential of e-commerce cannot be denied. This industry has grown by 39 percent in the past decade or so. Global e-commerce sales reached an all-time high of 5.8 trillion USD in 2023. By 2027, it is expected to reach 8 trillion USD. Businesses are increasingly creating their own e-commerce stores via platforms like Wix and Shopify to capture this potential. While Wix is a relatively good platform for building a small e-commerce store, it is not built to accommodate large-scale e-commerce businesses like Shopify and BigCommerce are. Moreover, Shopify is easy to use, has a greater user base, and a larger bandwidth to run your store smoothly. These are just a few reasons entrepreneurs are rapidly migrating from Wix to Shopify.

In this blog, we will discuss Wix to Shopify migration in great detail. But before diving deep, let’s stop to understand what these platforms are all about.

What is Wix?

Wix is a popular no-code website builder. It comes with a large number of tools that help you build websites for personal and professional needs. People can use it to build their blogs, while businesses can build enterprise-grade hubs for online businesses. Wix has built-in features for e-commerce marketing, branding, scheduling, and more.

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) sales platform. It offers different plans to choose from. Businesses can choose any Shopify plan that aligns with their business needs. It helps build an easy-to-use, reliable, and streamlined e-commerce platform that aids businesses in building their stores and selling their products online. It offers a wide range of theme options and third-party applications to facilitate business operations and maximize returns.

In the following sections, we will discuss the various features, benefits, and steps involved in setting up and using Shopify for your online store.

Reasons for Migrating from Wix to Shopify

While both Shopify and Wix are remarkable e-commerce website builders, there are distinct reasons behind why people transfer from Wix to Shopify. In this section, we’ll discuss them in detail:

Shopify 

Plan	Pricing/month	Pricing/year
Basic	$25	$19
Shopify	$65	$49
Advanced	$399	$299
Plus	Starting at $2,300	Starting at $2,300

Wix

Plan	Pricing/month
Basic	$17
Unlimited	$25
VIP	$35
Enterprise Plans	Negotiable

See our latest relevant exploration BigCommerce to Shopify Migration

Who should you choose? 

As a business owner looking to scale their business cost-effectively, Shopify is the obvious choice. You should choose Shopify if:

• You’re looking to develop a brand
• Want a well-designed website
• Have a wide variety of features and app integrations to choose from
• Want to use excellent built-in analytics tools
• Aren’t well-versed in coding
• Want to set up your store easily

Steps for Migration

Now that you have all the right reasons to migrate from Wix to Shopify let’s dive into the process:

1. Backup Database of Wix Store

It is essential to back up your Wix store before you move to Shopify. This helps ensure that you have a copy of all the necessary information should anything go wrong during the transfer of your Wix site to Shopify. Wix has a Site History feature; it automatically creates site revisions when you save or publish something in your Shopify store.

Here’s how you can back up your Wix Store:

1. Go to your Wix dashboard and scroll down. Click Site History.
2. Browse your site revisions history and choose the version you want to download as your backup.

You can also duplicate your site anytime and create a manual backup in your Wix account. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Go to your Wix admin dashboard, choose the desired site, and create a copy.
2. Choose Site Actions and select Duplicate Site.
3. Enter a name for the duplicate site and select Duplicate.

2. Set up a Shopify Store

1. If you don’t have a Shopify account, go to accounts.shopify.com and create a new Shopify ID.
2. Enter your details, such as your name, contact information, etc.
3. Log into the Shopify ID and create a new store once you’ve created your account.
4. Select the appropriate options: store name, country, and the like to proceed further.
5. The Shopify admin will appear on the screen.
6. Go to Settings. Go to Store Details and fill in the details about your store.

3. Customize Theme

1. Now that you’ve set up your Shopify store, go to Online Store and click on Themes under Sales Channels in the left menu bar.
2. Select a theme that aligns with your online store and brand identity. Customize it to your liking.
3. Next, create pages. Go to the Online Store and click on Pages. Select as many pages as you require to create a good store.

4. Migrate Data from Wix to Shopify

Now it’s time to import all your data into your new Shopify store. Wix and Shopify both support .csv files for exporting and importing data. However, they have distinct structures for doing it. Hence, you must restructure the data exported from Wix and make it compatible with Shopify. Moreover, it is essential to state that the maximum size for a CSV file is 15 MB. If your file is bigger than this, you must split it into smaller files. This is how your data migration will look like:

1. Export data from Wix into .csv files. This includes product, customer, order, blog, and image data.
2. Restructure the .csv files to be compatible with Shopify.
3. When importing products, go to your Shopify admin, select Products from the left-side menu, and click import.
4. Click on Add file and select the CSV file containing all your store’s products. You can either publish new products to all sales channels or overwrite any current products that have the same names.
5. Click Upload and continue.
6. Click on Import Products.

You can follow these steps to import customer data into your Shopify store.

4. Install Essential Apps

It’s time to install any and all essential apps to your Shopify store. Find the missing/required functionalities in the store and install any apps you need to counter their absence. You can consider installing apps for SEO, Reviews, third-party integrations, loyalty programs, email marketing, etc.

5. Configure Payment and Shipping

Your store’s almost ready. Now, you need to look into payment and shipping details. Set up a convenient payment facility for your customers in Shopify. Shopify supports a wide variety of payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, etc.

Configure the shipping method in your Shopify store. It lets you connect your store directly with the leading carriers. You also have the freedom to set up different shipping rates for different carriers.

6. Transfer Wix Domain to Shopify

Now that all your data has successfully been migrated to your Shopify store, your next step should be transferring your Wix domain to Shopify.

If you purchased your domain from Wix, you can use domain pointing to connect it with your Shopify store. You can edit the DNS records in your Wix account and redirect traffic from your Wix store to your Shopify store. Once you’ve connected the domain, you can transfer it from Wix to Shopify and manage it through the admin panel.

Here’s how you can transfer your domain:

1. Go to the Domain Page from your Wix dashboard.
2. Choose the domain you want to transfer away from Wix and click More Actions.
3. Select Transfer Away from Wix from the new pull-down menu.
4. Click on Transfer Domain and confirm by clicking I Still Want to Transfer
5. Wix will send a Transfer Authorization Code (EPP code) to your registered email address.
6. Go to the Shopify admin, select Settings, select Domains, and then select Connect Existing Domain.
7. Enter your Wix store’s domain. Click Next.
8. There will be a pop-up. It will take you to your domain provider account.
9. Sign in to your account here and click Connect. It might take up to 48 hours for your domain to be verified and listed.

7. Check Your Shopify Store After Migration

Here’s what you need to look into after you transfer from Wix to Shopify:

• 301 Redirects – Shopify has a rigid URL structure with different directories. Hence, there’s a good chance that most of your pages will need a 301 redirect to save efforts on SEO. To do this, go to the Online Store, then go to Navigation, and then select View URL Redirects to import URL redirects in Shopify.
• Optimize for Search Engines – Your e-commerce store’s success is directly dependent on the flow of organic traffic. If you want to succeed and capture a significant portion of organic traffic, you need to put in extra SEO efforts, set up your products, and get noticed by customers on the SERPs.
• Send Customers Account Invites—You must invite customers to log into your Shopify store and reset their passwords. This is because your customer’s account passwords cannot be migrated from Wix to Shopify. You can do it manually from Shopify Admin and then click Customers.
• Set up GA4 in Shopify – Google Analytics is a platform to analyze customers’ behavior in your store. The latest GA4 version offers great e-commerce tracking features you can’t miss.

Common Problems Faced During Migration from Wix to Shopify

Here are some of the most common problems faced by entrepreneurs when they migrate from Wix to Shopify.

• Broken Links – Some links may need to be fixed when migrating from Wix to Shopify. These links lead to a 404 error. You can set up 301 redirects on your new site to fix this.
• Design Issues – Wix and Shopify use different coding languages, which can sometimes cause design inconsistencies. Hence, it is always better to manually adjust your website design on Shopify.
• Data Loss or Corruption – There is a lot of risk associated with losing or corrupting your data during migration. Hence, ensure that you back up your data before migration.
• SEO Problems – These platforms’ differences in SEO and URL structure can cause some problems. To fix this, ensure that you adjust the SEO settings in your new Shopify store manually and use proper redirects.
• CSV Import Problems – Missing or incorrect data, formatting errors, and file size limits are some of the most common issues when migrating from Wix to Shopify.  

How can Coding Pixel help you migrate your store?

Wix to Shopify migration can be a bit challenging. Executing it perfectly is essential for ensuring seamless functionality. While some entrepreneurs with a technical background might be able to execute it, most have trouble with one or more aspects of migration. Hence, having an expert on board is the best way to achieve seamless migration.

At Coding Pixel, our experts have done hundreds of efficient migrations from one e-commerce platform to another. They are well-versed in any and all challenges that might arise and are experienced in minimizing, if not eliminating, these problems. Talk to our experts now!

We can help you build a scalable and functional website for your business. See our Shopify Website Development Service

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)