WIX to Shopify Migration

When choosing the best Wix to Shopify migration method, the most important factor to consider is how safe your data is as far as potential loss is concerned. Anything that doesn’t guarantee data protection during transfer should be eliminated.

You also need to consider whether you have the technical expertise to do the Wix to Shopify migration process yourself. If the answer is "no," then an automated Wix to Shopify migration would be your best bet.

Watch our video tutorial to see how easy it is to automatically migrate from WIX to Shopify with the help of the Cart2Cart migration tool:

Cart2Cart is a popular automated migration tool that meets both criteria. Here’s how to make migrating from Wix to Shopify in a few easy steps using the tool:

1. Launch the app and link your source cart (Wix) to your target cart (Shopify)
2. Choose the data entities you want to migrate from Wix and all other relevant migration options
3. Select the Free Demo option to test out how to migrate from Wix and get a feel for how it works
4. Initialize Full Migration to move the data in your Wix website to your new Shopify store

How to Prepare for Wix to Shopify Migration

You've likely already figured out that an automated migration using Cart2Cart is your best bet as far as switching from Wix to Shopify goes. That said, there are a few critical things you need to do to prepare so that the migration process goes off seamlessly.

1. Manage Your Wix Store

Before migrating from Wix to Shopify, you need to ensure that all is well with your existing store. Here's an overview of some of the tasks you need to do before launching the Wix to Shopify migration.

Back-Up Store Data

Anytime you're involved in a data transfer, the first thing you need to do is backup your site data. You can do this in three ways:

• A database backup: This method involves backing up the data in the database only.
• A database and media backup: This method backs up the database and media folder information.
• A full system backup: This method backs up the information contained within the database, media folder, and the complete file system.

Perform a Data Audit

Migrating from an old online store to a new platform doesn't mean you need to transfer every bit of information. Review the data held in fields like Product Name, Product Descriptions, Contact Information, Customer Details, etc., and identify what to retain and what to delete.

Validate the Access Credentials

The last thing you need to do is create a strong connection between your Wix website and what's about to be your new Shopify store. To do this, you’ll need to validate the access credentials of your existing store. This includes things like the URL and the FTP/SSH. Once you do, the target cart (Shopify) will be able to seamlessly communicate with the source cart (Wix) before the migration can commence.

2. Prepare Your Shopify Store

Now that you’ve sufficiently prepared your Wix website for migration, the next step involves preparing your new Shopify store. Here’s what you need to do:

Set Up Your Shopify Site

Shopify gives users three subscription plans to choose from. The bouquet you pick depends on the size of your store and the functionalities you require. The higher up the tier hierarchy you go, the more features you get.

You can always upgrade the plan you’re currently on if it no longer meets your business requirements.

Pick a Theme

While there’s nothing wrong with completely revamping your website and changing the theme your old store had, it’s always a good idea to maintain some elements. That way, customers can identify your brand even after you completely migrate to the new Shopify platform.

Hold off on customization until you have fully migrated to your new site. Once you do, you can then pick a new Shopify theme from the dozens of professionally-designed website templates.

Install the Necessary Apps

The final step before launching the Wix to Shopify migration is to install the apps and plugins you had in your old Wix store. Cart2Cart automatically downloads and installs all the apps and integrations present in your previous store. All you would then have to do is sign in to continue with the existing subscriptions you might have. This functionality isn’t readily available on all automated migration tools.

How do I transfer data from Wix to Shopify?

Once you've done everything you need to prepare your Wix website and Shopify store for the migration, you’re now ready to proceed. Here’s how to start moving Wix to Shopify using Cart2Cart.

1. Connect Your Shopping Carts

The first step involves connecting your source cart to your target cart. To do this, you'll need to:

• Go to Source Cart Setup
• In the Source Cart field, expand the drop-down menu and select Wix
• Then, download the Connection Bridge plugin and install it to enable the source cart and target cart to communicate
• Go to the newly-downloaded file and unpack the folder labeled connection_bridge.zip
• Extract the bridge2cart folder and import it to your Wix store’s root catalog using an FTP client
• Confirm that the connection to your source cart has been enabled

The second step of the process involves setting up your Shopify cart. To do this, you’ll need to:

• Go to Target Cart Setup
• In the Target Cart field, expand the drop-down menu and select Shopify
• Click Install Plugin to download the integration labeled Migration for Shopify
• Once it downloads, install it to activate the connection to your Shopify store

2. Select Data for Migration

Once your source and target carts have successfully connected, the next step involves choosing the specific data entities you want to migrate from Wix. To do this, select Choose Entities and pick the data categories you want to be transferred from Wix to Shopify. To migrate everything, pick Select All. If you would rather pick individual entities, check the specific data classes you want to migrate from Wix.

Here's a list of the data entities available for migration through Cart2Cart:

• Product data, including description, price, and images
• Product visuals including shape, color, and size
• Apps and integrations
• Purchased items list, payment information, and price
• SEO configurations and site redirects
• Static site pages such as About Us and Contact Us

3. Specify the Additional Migration Options

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Next, you’ll need to choose the custom migration options you want to integrate into your new online store. Some of these include:

• Migrating the categories in your Wix website to the Automated Collections in Shopify
• Maintaining the functionality of the URLs in your old store by creating 301 redirects in your new Shopify site
• Preserving the ranking of your new store on Google and other search engines by keeping their link structures and migration SEO URLs

4. Map Customer Groups and Order Statuses

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At this point, it's important to mention that the respective statuses of the orders you had and the customer classes in your old Wix store will not be automatically migrated to your new website. Instead, you’ll need to match them with the newly created ones on the Shopify platforms. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Stores Mapping Window on Cart2Cart and pick the Wix data category you would like mapped onto your new Shopify store.
2. Next, pick the corresponding categories in your newly created Shopify website.
3. If the categories you need are not available in the target store, you can create them by clicking on the relevant buttons.

5. Run Free Demo / Launch Full Migration

The last phase in this five-step process is the actual migration. On the one hand, you can run the Free Demo to test the Cart2Cart tool and get a feel for how it works. Once you do, you can hop onto a paid plan to launch the Full Migration if you want to migrate all your store data from Wix to Shopify. The Free Demo online migrates a limited number of entities.

Keep the browser window open throughout the migration process until it concludes. To find out whether all your store data has been successfully transferred, you can view the results on the Demo Result page. Download the Product IDs file and compare the list there against the entries on your newly-launched Shopify store.

How to Migrate Products From Wix to Shopify

Before launching the Wix to Shopify migration, you first need to select the relevant products you want to be transferred. These will be displayed on the Cart2Cart wizard. Some of the product options include:

• Name, Product Description, Image Description, Manufacturer, SKU
• Meta Description, Meta Title
• Base Image, Additional Images
• Actual Price, Discounted Price
• Variations (Images, Weight, Discounted Price, SKU, etc.)
• Status, Quantity, Manage Stock
• URL

Alternatively, there’s the option to export the products into a CSV file from your old store and then upload them to your new Shopify store.

How to Export Orders From Wix to Shopify

To export orders using Cart2Cart, all you need to do is check the Order box when you’re configuring the wizard. This should be done before you launch the Wix to Shopify migration. Some of the order data you can export includes:

• Product details, including the ID, Quantity, Status, and Price
• Shipping address details, including the First Name, Last Name, and Billing/Physical Address
• Customer details including the First Name, Last name, Billing/Physical Address, and Phone Number