How to Switch from Big Cartel to Shopify?

Big Cartel is an eCommerce platform for artists and creatives that sell their creations online. Big Cartel allows users to sell art, jewelry, prints, music, magazines, pottery, candles, soap, and much, much more.

It is a popular eCommerce platform for artists because of its ease of use, affordability, and customizability.

However, as soon as sales start to take off, many store owners find they need to move to a platform that gives them more options. Moving to Shopify is a natural progression for these store owners. Shopify is a solid eCommerce solution that has proven itself over and over, so if you are making a shift to Shopify, this migration guide will be invaluable to you.

How to Switch from Big Cartel to Shopify

Step 1: Sign up for Shopify

Go to the Shopify homepage, and click on the Get Started button. Click Create Your Store.

Provide your personal details: name, address, phone number, and other contact information.

Step 2: Explain the Details of your Migration

Provide information like what platform your store is on now and how much money you're making. When selecting the store type, select "Other", as there is no option to choose Big Cartel. To finish, click on Enter My Store.

Step 3: Choose a Shopify Plan

Migrate to your Shopify dashboard and Click on the Select a Plan button. Select the Starter, Basic, Professional or Unlimited options. You will be prompted to enter your payment details. Enter them and click on the Confirm Changes button.

Step 4: Customize how your store will look

Return to your Shopify dashboard and navigate to Customize the Look of Your Website, click on Select a Theme. Scroll through the many options, and try out as many as you want. When you have made your choice, click on the Publish button to move forward. At this stage, you can do some customization, but you can also do that once the migration is completed.

Step 5: Install the Cart2Cart Migration App

The easiest way to move your data and content from Big Cartel to Shopify is with the Cart2Cart migration app. You can find the app in the Shopify App Store. With this app, you can do a free demo migration to see if the process works for your store.

On the Cart2Cart app page, select the Get button. This action will take you to the Shopify dashboard, where you can click on Install Cart2Cart: Shopify Migration Module. Provide the required information.

Step 6: Set up your Source Cart and Target Cart

Click on the Source Cart Type drop-down menu and select Big Cartel. Enter your Big Cartel URL. Click on Proceed to Next Step.

The target cart step should already be set up for you since you’re already signed up and logged into your Shopify account. Push on the Proceed to the Next Step button.

Step 7: Choose what you want to migrate

Select the Start Migration button once you’re ready to make the move. You will be prompted to choose the data you want to transfer.

Cart2Cart can move the following data entities for you:

• Products
• Product categories
• Manufacturers
• Customers
• Orders
• Coupons
• Reviews
• Blog posts, and more.

Cart2Cart also offers many migration extras that can improve the migration and make it more complete. Consider these options:

• Preserve order IDs on Target Store
• Migrate categories and products SEO URLs
• Create 301 redirects on your target store after migration
• Preserve customer IDs on Target Store
• Migrate customers' passwords
• Clear current data on Target Store before migration

This is an incomplete list of additional options. They differ according to the Source cart.

Note: look through the Cart2Cart Blog for useful tips & tricks on how to migrate data across various shopping cart solutions.

Step 8: Orders and customers migration

If you chose to migrate orders or customers, you need to import this data in a CSV file. For instance, if you chose to migrate orders, log in to the Big Cartel panel, go to Orders and click on CSV on the right bottom of the page. Save the file to your computer and go back to the migration wizard.

Click upload orders, and proceed to the next step. At this stage, you will have the option to set your order statuses. At this stage, you are ready to perform a demo migration.

Step 9: Start the demo migration

Users are strongly advised to perform a demo migration to see how the system works.

During this step, you will be prompted to choose a migration insurance plan. You can choose Basic, Extended, or Premium.

Step 10: Start full migration

Once you have checked the results of your demo migration and are happy with it, go ahead with the full migration. To do this, simply click the Start Full Migration button. Cart2Cart will do everything for you automatically.

You will receive a notification when the migration is concluded. You will be able to see all of your products and other data entities in your Shopify store.

Note: Big Cartel to Shopify Migration has some limitations, which prevent complete store functionality transfer. However, you can employ a developer to do that for you.

If you have a Big Cartel store that you want to migrate to Shopify, you can do it with Cart2Cart. Cart2Cart is a leading shopping cart migration solution with a customer base of more than 150,000. You can trust Cart2Cart experts to transfer your store securely and accurately.