Migrating from Magento Enterprise (Adobe Commerce) to Shopify is more than just switching platforms, it's about ensuring your business-critical data is preserved, optimized, and structured for growth. Data migration is often the most underestimated aspect of a replatforming project, and when mishandled, it can lead to data loss, operational disruptions, and SEO pitfalls.
This guide will walk you through the challenges, best practices, and a step-by-step migration framework to ensure a smooth transition.
Common Data Migration Challenges & Risks
Before diving into the migration process, it’s crucial to understand the complexities of Magento’s data structure and how it differs from Shopify’s simpler, streamlined model. Here are some key challenges businesses face:
Magento’s Complex Data Model
Magento's database is highly flexible but also intricate, with custom attributes, customer groups, multi-store setups, and complex order relationships. Migrating this data requires careful mapping to fit Shopify’s more structured framework.
Customer Account Migration
Due to encryption differences, passwords cannot be migrated directly, meaning customers will need to reset their credentials. A strategic email campaign is essential to ensure customer retention post-migration.
Historical Order Data Migration: What You Need to Know
Shopify does not natively support importing full historical order data as active transactions in its admin. This means businesses migrating from Magento must determine how they want to handle past order records while ensuring customer service teams can access essential order history.
How Shopify Handles Historical Order Data
- Past orders cannot be fully imported into Shopify’s order management system.
- Shopify does not allow direct modification of past transactions once created.
- Businesses must store and reference historical order data through alternative solutions.
Options for Retaining Order History in Shopify
Deploi helps businesses retain and access past order data with solutions tailored to their operational needs:
Selective Order Import into Shopify
- We use Shopify’s API to migrate key historical orders into Shopify’s database as draft orders or metafield records.
- This allows past orders to be referenced in customer profiles, maintaining visibility for support teams.
External Order History Archive & Searchability
- Full historical orders are migrated to a data warehouse, ERP, or CRM.
- We build a custom Shopify-integrated dashboard, allowing teams to search and retrieve past orders seamlessly.
Hybrid Sync for Real-Time Access
- For businesses with frequent order lookups, we create a middleware solution that syncs Shopify with past orders stored externally.
- This ensures customer service teams can pull up past transactions without friction.
Seamless Historical Data Retention with Deploi
A Shopify migration doesn’t mean losing past orders. We ensure your team retains full access to customer order history through structured, scalable solutions, whether via Shopify-native integrations or external archives tailored to your business needs.
SEO Risks
Magento and Shopify have different URL structures and metadata handling. Poorly executed migrations can result in SEO ranking drops, broken pages, and lost traffic. Proper URL redirects and structured metadata migration are essential.
Integration with Adobe & Third-Party Tools
Many Magento stores rely on Adobe integrations like Adobe Target, Adobe Analytics, and Marketo, as well as third-party ERPs and CRMs. Ensuring these are properly migrated—or replaced with Shopify-compatible alternatives—is crucial to maintaining business continuity.
Step-by-Step Magento to Shopify Data Migration Framework
Conduct a Data Audit & Cleanup
Before migrating, audit your existing Magento database to:
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Remove redundant or outdated records (inactive customers, old orders, duplicate products).
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Standardize data formats to align with Shopify’s structured model.
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Identify necessary custom fields and how they will be mapped in Shopify.
Export Data from Magento
Magento data is structured across multiple tables. The most common exports include:
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Products (titles, descriptions, images, variants, SKUs, pricing, categories)
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Customers (names, emails, addresses, account status)
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Orders (order history, payment details, fulfillment status)
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CMS Content (blog posts, landing pages, FAQ sections)
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URL Redirects & SEO Data (meta titles, descriptions, canonical URLs)
Map Magento Data to Shopify’s Structure
Shopify has a more streamlined data model. Here’s how the key mappings typically align:
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Magento’s complex product attributes → Shopify’s structured product fields.
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Magento’s multi-store architecture → Shopify’s multi-location setup.
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Magento’s customer groups → Shopify’s tags & segmentation.
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Magento’s orders → Shopify’s historical order archive.
Migrate Customer Accounts & Handle Password Resets
Since passwords can’t be migrated, an email reactivation campaign is needed. Strategies include:
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Sending personalized emails with a reset link post-launch.
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Offering exclusive discounts to encourage logins.
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Using Shopify’s bulk invite tool to streamline the process.
Preserve Order History & Data Integrity
Shopify has limitations on storing full order history, so businesses must:
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Use a third-party app (like Matrixify) to import past orders.
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Maintain an external order archive for compliance and customer service.
Implement SEO Redirects & Metadata Transfers
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Set up 301 redirects from old Magento URLs to Shopify’s new URL structure.
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Ensure metadata (titles, descriptions, schema markup) is preserved.
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Monitor Google Search Console for broken links and indexation issues post-launch.
Integrate Shopify with ERP, CRM & Marketing Tools
Magento stores often rely on deep integrations with:
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ERP systems (NetSuite, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics)
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CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo)
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Marketing platforms (Adobe Target, Klaviyo, Google Ads)
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Payment gateways & fulfillment solutions
For Shopify, businesses can either:
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Use pre-built integrations from Shopify’s extensive app ecosystem.
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Develop custom API connections (Deploi specializes in seamless API integrations).
Example: Deploi built a custom Shopify site search solution for a client in just 7 weeks, replacing an expensive third-party tool while improving search relevance and customer experience.
Test & Validate Before Launch
Before switching live, rigorously test:
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Product pages, checkout, and payment flows.
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Customer accounts & data integrity.
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SEO redirects and indexing performance.
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Third-party integrations and automation workflows.
Best Practices & Pro Tips
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Run a pilot migration on a staging environment before executing the full transfer.
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Monitor analytics closely post-migration to detect anomalies.
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Train internal teams on Shopify’s new workflows to ensure a smooth transition.
Why Choose Deploi for Your Shopify Migration?
Migrating from Magento to Shopify is more than just moving data—it’s about optimizing your entire eCommerce infrastructure for scalability, performance, and long-term growth. With extensive experience in enterprise SEO, technical development, and complex data migrations, Deploi ensures your transition is seamless and risk-free.
Exclusive Offer for Shopify Migration Clients
For businesses migrating to Shopify with Deploi, we offer an SEO growth initiative—an exclusive strategy we’ve successfully implemented for leading brands. Our proven methodology has driven millions in revenue through programmatic product listing pages, ensuring sustained organic growth post-migration.
Let’s build a future-proof Shopify store that elevates your brand, streamlines operations, and drives revenue growth. Get in touch today.