How to Migrate Shopline to Shopify: Insights from a Shopify Developer

migrate shopline to shopify

I’m a Shopify developer with over 10 years of experience building Shopify apps, themes, and helping clients like you migrate their stores seamlessly to Shopify.

Over the years, I’ve developed three successful apps currently in the Shopify App Store and worked on countless migrations, so I understand the challenges and concerns business owners face during this process.

Let me guide you through how to migrate your Shopline store to Shopify step by step, ensuring it’s done right the first time.

Key Takeaways

  • Shopify has more features, customisation and scalability than Shopline.
  • A successful migration requires planning, auditing and optimisation.
  • Tools and professional support can make the process easier and error free.
  • Preserving SEO rankings during the migration is key to traffic.

Why Migrate to Shopify?

When business owners ask me if they should move to Shopify, the answer is almost always yes. Shopify is built for growth, has more flexibility, a huge app store and tools to create a custom ecommerce experience.

3. Why Migrate to Shopify - Shopify App Store

Here are the top reasons clients move:

  • Customisation Options: Shopify has thousands of themes and apps and you can customise almost every part of your store.
  • Scalability: Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise, Shopify grows with you.
  • Support and Resources: Shopify’s support team, forums and documentation makes troubleshooting and improvements much easier.

Shopline is a great starting point but as businesses grow Shopify is the platform of choice for those who want to take their online presence to the next level.

Step 1: Backing Up Your Shopline Data

Backing up your Shopline data is the first and most important step in the migration process. Losing important information like product details, customer accounts or order history can cause disruptions and impact your business.

What to Back Up

  • Product Data: Titles, descriptions, images, prices, inventory levels, SKUs.
  • Customer Data: Names, email addresses, phone numbers, purchase history, and any segmentation or tags.
  • Order History: Order IDs, statuses, payment information, shipping details.

How to Back Up Shopline Data

5. Step 1- Backing Up Your Shopline Data
  1. Log into your Shopline admin dashboard.
  2. Go to the Export Data section.
  3. Download CSV files for:
  • Products
  • Customers
  • Orders

Data Backup Tips

  • Save multiple copies of the CSV files in secure locations like Google Drive or an external hard drive.
  • Open the files in a spreadsheet tool like Excel or Google Sheets to check all data is correct and intact.

Step 2: Audit Your Store

A successful migration starts with a clean slate. Auditing your store means you’re only transferring relevant and accurate data to Shopify.

1. Review Product Listings

Take a look at your product catalog. Are there old or duplicate products? Clean up your inventory before the migration.

  • Consolidate duplicate products or SKUs.
  • Remove discontinued products.
  • Update product descriptions, images and categories to match your current branding.

2. Review Customer Data

Customer data is an asset for personalisation and loyalty programs. Before you migrate:

  • Check email addresses and phone numbers are correct.
  • Segment customers by purchase behaviour or location for future marketing.

3. Review Order History

Make sure all active orders are accounted for and have up to date shipping and payment details. It’s also a good idea to export historical orders for record keeping even if you don’t transfer them to Shopify.

Step 3: Plan Your Shopify Store

Proper planning will save you time and headaches later on. Think of this step as laying the groundwork for your new store.

1. Choose a Shopify Theme

8. 1. Choose a Shopify Theme

Shopify has a wide range of themes for different industries and needs. Start with free themes like Dawn for simplicity or consider premium themes from the Shopify Theme Store for advanced features and custom design.

2. Generate the Sitemap

Outline your new store structure.

9. 2. Sitemap

This should include:

  • Homepage: What’s your main call to action?
  • Collections: Group related products for ease of navigation.
  • Product Pages: Each product page should have high quality images, detailed descriptions and reviews.
  • About & Contact Pages: Build trust with a brand story and easy support options.

3. Basic Settings

Before you migrate, set up the following in your Shopify admin:

  • Taxes: Make sure tax rates match your business locations.
  • Shipping Zones: Define shipping regions and rates.
  • Payment Gateways: Set up payment processors like PayPal, Stripe or Shopify Payments.

Step 4: Migrate Your Store Data

Now you’ve prepared your store it’s time to migrate your data.

Option 1: Manual Migration

Export Data from Shopline

11. Export Data from Shopline
  1. Go to your Shopline dashboard and go to the data export section.
  2. Download CSV files for products, customers and orders.

Import Data into Shopify

12. Import Data into Shopify
  1. Log into Shopify and go to the admin dashboard.
  2. Go to Products > Import and upload your product CSV.
  3. Repeat this for customers and orders under their respective sections.

Validate Data

13. Validate Data in Shopify

After importing, go to your Shopify store and check everything transferred correctly. Look for:

  • Missing images or product details.
  • Incorrect pricing or inventory levels.
  • Mismatched order history.

Option 2: Using Migration Tools

For larger stores or complex data I recommend using a migration tool like LitExtension or Cart2Cart. They do most of the work for you.

How Migration Tools Work

  1. Install the migration app in your Shopify store.
  2. Provide API credentials or upload CSV files from Shopline.
  3. Map data fields (e.g., products, customers, orders) so everything migrates correctly.

Tools I Recommend

  • LitExtension: Best for automated migrations with support.
  • Cart2Cart: Easy to use for quick transfers.
  • Matrixify: For custom migrations.

Step 5: Post Migration Optimisation

Now your data is in Shopify, the final step is to optimise your store for performance and SEO.

Verify Data

  • Products are showing in the correct categories.
  • Customer accounts are working.
  • Orders are visible and correct.

SEO Redirects

To keep your SEO rankings:

  1. Use Shopify’s URL Redirects to redirect old Shopline URLs to their new Shopify counterparts.
  2. Update your sitemap and submit to Google Search Console.

Essential Apps

Shopify’s App Store is one of its best features. For new stores I recommend:

  • Klaviyo: For email marketing automation.
  • Rewind: For daily backups.
  • Shopify Analytics

Conclusion

Migrating from Shopline to Shopify is a game changer for your business. Follow these steps and use my expertise as a Shopify developer to make the transition seamless and set your store up for success.

If you’re not comfortable doing it yourself, get in touch and I can help. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years.

I'm a highly motivated self-taught software developer with over a decade of experience. My journey in software development began when I left college to pursue my passion, and since then I have been working on a wide range of projects. I have extensive experience creating custom WordPress sites, mobile apps using React Native, web apps using React-based frameworks, and Shopify apps with Node.js. I have also played with numerous other technologies, tools, and frameworks over time, and have contributed to many open-source projects. I pride myself on creating clean, well-formatted, and properly documented code that is easy to maintain. My perfectionist approach ensures that every project I deliver meets the highest standards. I always ask myself, "If I were the client, would I be happy with this?" This mindset has helped me to deliver excellent projects for my clients and build a reputation for quality work.

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