Marketlive to Shopify Migration - Step-by-Step Guide & Expert Services

A Comprehensive Guide to Transitioning from Marketlive to Shopify

As your e-commerce business evolves, replatforming to a more robust, scalable, and feature-rich solution like Shopify can unlock significant growth opportunities. This guide provides a detailed, step-by-step walkthrough for merchants looking to move their online store from Marketlive to Shopify. Given that Marketlive does not offer direct API integration for third-party migration tools, this process will involve exporting your data from Marketlive into CSV files and then importing them into Shopify, ensuring a smooth and efficient data transfer.

Why Migrate to Shopify?

Shopify stands out as a leading e-commerce platform known for its user-friendly interface, extensive app ecosystem, reliable hosting, and powerful sales features. Migrating allows you to leverage modern themes, advanced marketing tools, streamlined checkout processes, and robust scalability that can propel your business forward. This transition ensures your store is equipped to handle future demands and offer an enhanced user experience.

Prerequisites for Migration

Before initiating your store migration, thorough preparation is key to ensuring a seamless transition and maintaining data integrity. Here's what you need to prepare for both your Marketlive source store and your new Shopify target store.

Preparing Your Source Store (Marketlive)

Since a direct API connection for Marketlive is not available, the migration will be facilitated through CSV files. This method, referred to as "CsvToCart" in migration tools, allows for comprehensive data transfer.

• Data Backup: Always perform a complete backup of your entire Marketlive store data. This is a critical step to safeguard your information before any major changes.
• Data Export: Export all essential data from your Marketlive store into CSV files. Ensure you capture:
  
  • Products (including SKUs, variants, descriptions, images, prices)
  • Product Categories
  • Product Reviews
  • Customers (including customer data and login details, if available for export)
  • Orders (including order IDs, statuses, purchase history, and invoices)
  • Coupons and Price Rules
  • CMS Pages (content, blogs, blog posts)

  For more details on preparing your source store, read our How to prepare Source store for migration? FAQ.

Preparing Your Target Store (Shopify)

Setting up your Shopify store correctly before migration will prevent potential issues and downtime.

• Set Up Your Shopify Store: Create a new Shopify account and choose your desired plan. Be aware that the "Pause and Build" plan can block orders, so consider your plan carefully based on your readiness to go live.
• Install Cart2Cart Store Migration App: Shopify migration often requires a dedicated app. The "Cart2Cart Store Migration App" is required for a smooth data transfer.
• Disable Notifications: It is highly recommended to disable all customer notifications on your Shopify store during the migration process to avoid sending out confusing or premature alerts.
• Review Shopify Limitations: Be aware of Shopify's specific requirements, such as country restrictions for orders and that product reviews may require an app like AirReviews to be fully functional after migration.

For more detailed instructions on setting up your target store, refer to our How to prepare Target store for migration? guide.

Performing the Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide

With your preparations complete, you can now begin the data transfer process. This guide outlines the steps using a common migration wizard interface, typically offered by professional migration services.

Step 1: Start Your Migration

Navigate to the migration wizard interface. Here, you’ll typically have options to start a new migration, get a price estimate, or request assisted service.

Step 2: Connect Your Source Store (Marketlive via CSV)

The next step is to inform the migration tool about your existing Marketlive store's data source.

Select "CsvToCart" (or "CSV File to Cart") as your Source Cart Type from the dropdown menu. You will then be prompted to upload the CSV files you exported from Marketlive. Ensure all relevant files containing products, customers, orders, and other entities are uploaded.

Supported Entities for CsvToCart Migration: Products, Products_Categories, Products_Manufacturers, Products_Reviews, Customers, Orders, Invoices, Taxes, Stores, Coupons, CMS_Pages, Blogs, Blogs_Posts.

Step 3: Configure Your Target Store (Shopify)

Now, it's time to connect your new Shopify store to the migration wizard.

Select "Shopify" as your Target Cart Type. The recommended connection method is to install the Cart2Cart app directly from the Shopify marketplace. Click the provided link, follow the on-screen instructions on Shopify to install the app, and then return to the migration wizard to finalize the connection. Alternatively, you can opt to provide API access credentials, which involves creating a custom app in Shopify and configuring the necessary API scopes.

Step 4: Select Data Entities to Migrate

This crucial step allows you to choose exactly which types of data you want to transfer from your Marketlive CSV files to Shopify.

You can select "All entities" or pick specific items such as Products, Product Categories, Product Reviews, Customers, Orders, CMS Pages, Gift Cards, Coupons, Price Rules, Blogs, and Blog Posts. Remember that for reviews to function correctly on Shopify, an app like AirReviews might be necessary post-migration.

Step 5: Configure Additional Options & Data Mapping

To customize your migration and ensure data integrity, you'll configure additional options and map your data fields.

Additional Options:

Review and select additional migration options. Popular choices include:

• Clear Target Store Data: This option allows you to clear any existing data on your Shopify store before the migration, ensuring a clean import.
• Preserve Order IDs: Maintain the original order IDs from your Marketlive store. This is often crucial for accounting and record-keeping. Learn more about how Preserve IDs options can be used.
• Migrate Images in Description: Ensure product images embedded within descriptions are transferred.
• 301 SEO URLs & Create 301 SEO URLs: Essential for preserving SEO rankings and link equity by creating automatic redirects from your old Marketlive URLs to the new Shopify ones.

Data Mapping:

The wizard will guide you through mapping customer groups and order statuses from your Marketlive data to their corresponding fields in Shopify. This ensures that your customer data and order history align perfectly with Shopify's structure.

Step 6: Run a Demo and Full Migration

Before committing to the full migration, it's highly recommended to run a demo migration.

• Demo Migration: This transfers a limited number of entities (e.g., a few products, customers, and orders) to your Shopify store. Use this opportunity to thoroughly review the migrated data, check for accuracy, and ensure everything appears as expected.
• Full Migration: Once you are satisfied with the demo results, proceed with the full migration. This will transfer all selected data from your Marketlive CSV files to Shopify. During this phase, consider investing in a Migration Insurance Service, which offers additional support and remigration options.

Post-Migration Steps

The migration doesn't end when the data transfer is complete. Several critical steps are needed to ensure your new Shopify store is fully operational and optimized.

• Thorough Data Review: Inspect all migrated data meticulously. Verify product listings (SKUs, variants, descriptions, images), customer accounts, order history, CMS pages, and blog posts. Check for any missing information or formatting issues.
• Configure Shopify Settings: Set up your payment gateways, shipping zones and rates, tax settings, and general store preferences. Remember to re-enable customer notifications now that the data transfer is finished.
• Install Essential Apps: Browse the Shopify App Store for apps that enhance functionality, such as SEO tools, marketing integrations, inventory management, and customer service applications. For migrated product reviews, install the AirReviews app if needed.
• Test Store Functionality: Conduct extensive testing of your entire store. Place test orders, verify checkout processes, ensure customer account creation and logins work, and test all forms and search functionality.
• Implement 301 Redirects: This is crucial for maintaining your SEO rankings. Set up 301 redirects from your old Marketlive URLs to their corresponding new Shopify URLs to prevent broken links and preserve link equity.
• Update DNS Records: Once you are confident that your Shopify store is ready, update your domain's DNS records to point to your new Shopify store. This makes your new store live to the public.
• Announce Your New Store: Inform your customers about your new and improved online shopping experience!
• Consider Recent Data Migration: If any new orders or customer registrations occurred on your Marketlive store during the migration window, a Recent Data Migration Service can help transfer this latest data without duplicates.

By following these steps, you can successfully transfer your e-commerce store from Marketlive to Shopify, positioning your business for future growth and success. If you encounter any challenges or require expert assistance, do not hesitate to Contact Us for support.