Magento to Shopify Migration: What's Different and What to Watch

WooCommerce migrations are relatively predictable. Magento migrations are harder — not because Magento data is harder to export, but because Magento merchants have usually built more custom functionality that has no Shopify equivalent, and the URL structures are often significantly different.

Data model differences

• →Configurable products (Magento) → Products with variants (Shopify). Simple 1:1 where your configurable has one attribute set. Gets complex with multiple attribute sets or custom options.
• →EAV attributes (Magento) → Metafields (Shopify). Magento's Entity-Attribute-Value model lets merchants add arbitrary attributes to products. These become product metafields in Shopify.
• →Customer groups (Magento) → Customer tags or native B2B (Shopify). Magento's customer groups for wholesale pricing don't have a direct Shopify equivalent — you implement this via customer tags + Functions, or native B2B on Plus.
• →Multiple websites/stores/views (Magento) → Shopify Markets or multiple stores. Magento's multi-website architecture maps to either Shopify Markets (same catalog, different currency/language) or separate Shopify stores (different catalogs).
• →Bundled products → No native equivalent. Shopify doesn't have bundled products natively — use a Bundle app or custom development via the Bundles API.

URL structure changes

Magento's URL structure differs significantly from Shopify's. Every URL change needs a 301 redirect — map them all before you touch DNS.

• →/catalog/product/view/id/123 → /products/product-handle
• →/categoryname/product-name.html → /products/product-handle
• →/category-name.html → /collections/collection-handle
• →/customer/account/ → /account
• →Magento's .html suffix must be removed and redirected

Extensions vs apps

Magento extensions modify core Magento code — they can change any behaviour in the platform. Shopify apps can't do this. Shopify apps work via APIs and UI extensions within defined boundaries. Go through your Magento extension list and map each one: does a Shopify app equivalent exist? Can it be replaced with native Shopify functionality? Does it require custom Shopify development?

Performance: from server-rendered to... also server-rendered

Magento is notoriously slow unless extensively optimised (Varnish cache, full page caching, Redis). Shopify's infrastructure handles this for you — a well-built Shopify theme will be faster than a typical Magento installation without any tuning. However, if your Magento store had custom performance optimizations, don't assume they carry over.

Order history migration

Magento order history imports via Shopify's Admin API are possible but require custom scripting. Orders import as 'archived' — they appear in the admin and customer accounts, but don't re-trigger fulfilment or inventory. Customer order history for returns and support is the primary use case.

What you can't migrate

• →Magento quote functionality (no native Shopify equivalent — custom app required)
• →Multi-warehouse inventory allocation (requires a third-party OMS or custom development)
• →Custom Magento admin grids and views (rebuild as Shopify embedded app features if needed)
• →Complex tier pricing with customer group × quantity combinations (implement via Shopify Functions)

Timeline expectations

A Magento 2 migration for a store with 5,000–20,000 SKUs typically takes 10–16 weeks. The long tail is usually custom feature parity — identifying which Magento customizations need to be rebuilt in Shopify and building them. Data migration itself is usually 2–3 weeks of the timeline.