BigCommerce to Shopify Migration: What to Expect

BigCommerce to Shopify Migration: What to Expect

Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify is one of the more straightforward platform switches in ecommerce -- both are hosted SaaS platforms, both have structured data exports, and the URL patterns are similar enough that redirect mapping is manageable. Expect 2-4 weeks for a store under 1,000 products, a temporary SEO dip of 10-20% that recovers within 60-90 days, and a final result that is faster, cheaper to maintain, and easier to customize.

Here is what the process actually looks like, and where it gets complicated.

Key Takeaways

- BigCommerce and Shopify both offer native data export, which simplifies product migration compared to self-hosted platforms

- BigCommerce URL structures differ from Shopify's -- redirect mapping is still required and should not be skipped

- App ecosystem differences are the biggest adjustment: BigCommerce apps do not transfer; Shopify equivalents exist for most needs

- Shopify's checkout is fixed (by design) -- if your BigCommerce setup relies on custom checkout fields, plan for this

- Monthly platform costs are often lower on Shopify for mid-size stores, but the calculation depends on your plan and transaction fees

Why Merchants Move from BigCommerce to Shopify

BigCommerce is a capable platform. Merchants who leave it are not usually fleeing a broken product -- they are chasing something specific that BigCommerce does not do as well.

The most common reasons:

App ecosystem. Shopify's app store is significantly larger and more active than BigCommerce's. For merchants who rely on niche integrations -- specific 3PL connections, loyalty programmes, subscription management -- Shopify usually has more options and better-maintained apps.

Theme quality and developer availability. The Shopify theme ecosystem is deep and well-documented. Finding developers who specialize in Shopify is far easier than finding BigCommerce specialists, which matters for ongoing store maintenance.

Shopify Markets. For merchants selling in multiple countries, Shopify's native multi-market and multi-currency tool is arguably best-in-class among hosted platforms. BigCommerce has multi-currency support but it requires more configuration.

Lower operational overhead. BigCommerce's platform fee structure differs from Shopify's. Many mid-size merchants find that their total cost of ownership (platform fee plus apps) is lower on Shopify, though this is not universal and depends on your plan.

International growth. If you are expanding into new markets, Shopify's international infrastructure -- localized checkout, automatic currency, market-specific pricing -- is easier to deploy than BigCommerce's equivalent setup.

What Actually Transfers

Products and Variants

BigCommerce has a native CSV export that covers most product fields. This is more reliable than Magento or WooCommerce exports. You will get:

• Product titles
• Descriptions (HTML format)
• Images (download links, not files)
• Variants (size, color, etc.)
• SKUs
• Prices
• Weight and dimensions
• Basic metafields

What requires extra work:

• Product reviews (separate export, needs a Shopify review app to import)
• Custom product fields beyond standard metafields
• Any product data stored in third-party BigCommerce apps

Customers

Customer export from BigCommerce covers: email, name, address, phone. Import to Shopify via CSV. Passwords do not transfer -- Shopify will prompt customers to set new passwords on first login, or you can send a bulk password reset email.

Orders

Order history can be migrated but is more complex than products. The standard BigCommerce export does not produce a format that Shopify accepts directly. You typically need a migration app (Cart2Cart, LitExtension) or a developer-built import script. Plan for this to add 1-2 days to the timeline.

Blog Content

If you have BigCommerce blog content, it requires manual migration. BigCommerce's blog export is basic -- you will likely be copy-pasting and reformatting posts into Shopify's blog editor.

What Does Not Transfer (And What to Do About It)

Apps and Integrations

BigCommerce apps do not transfer to Shopify. Each integration needs to be evaluated separately:

• Find the Shopify equivalent app
• Check whether the data (reviews, loyalty points, subscription records) can be migrated
• Test in the Shopify environment before going live

For most common categories -- reviews, email marketing, loyalty, subscriptions -- Shopify has strong equivalents. The adjustment period is learning the new interface, not missing functionality.

Custom Checkout

Shopify's checkout is standardized. This is intentional -- Shopify controls the checkout experience to optimize for conversion and reliability. If your BigCommerce store uses custom checkout fields or a heavily modified checkout flow, you need to evaluate what Shopify's native checkout supports.

Shopify Plus merchants can customize checkout with checkout extensions. Standard Shopify (non-Plus) has some flexibility but the checkout is largely fixed. If your business model depends on checkout customization, clarify this before committing to the migration.

Faceted Navigation / Filtering

BigCommerce has built-in faceted navigation. Shopify's native filtering is simpler. For stores with complex product filtering needs, you will need a third-party filtering app (Boost Commerce, Smart Product Filter) to match what BigCommerce provides natively.

The URL Structure Problem

BigCommerce uses URLs like:

• /[product-name]/ for products
• /[category-name]/ for categories

Shopify uses:

• /products/[handle]
• /collections/[handle]

These are different structures. Google has indexed your BigCommerce URLs. Without redirects, those indexed URLs will 404 after migration.

Build a complete redirect map before launch. For every BigCommerce URL you can find in Screaming Frog or Google Search Console, map the corresponding Shopify URL. Upload the redirect CSV to Shopify (Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects) before you point your domain.

The good news: BigCommerce URL structures are cleaner than WooCommerce's, and the category-to-collection and product-to-product mapping is usually straightforward. A 500-product store's redirect map takes 1-2 days to build properly.

Phase-by-Phase Timeline

Week 1:

• Pre-migration crawl of BigCommerce site
• Export all products, customers, and order history
• Export blog content
• Build redirect map draft

Week 2:

• Shopify store setup (theme, settings, payment gateway)
• Product import and verification
• Collection recreation
• App installation and configuration

Week 3:

• Redirect map completion and testing
• Metadata migration (meta titles, descriptions)
• Customer import
• Order history migration
• Full QA on staging

Week 4:

• Launch and domain transfer
• Google Search Console setup (new sitemap submission)
• Post-launch redirect testing
• Initial GSC monitoring

Weeks 5-16:

• Ongoing ranking and traffic monitoring
• Redirect gap remediation as needed

The Merchant Who Was Surprised by the App Gap

Daniel's outdoor equipment store had been on BigCommerce for four years. His store ran on a carefully assembled stack: BigCommerce's native reviews, a specific gift card app, and a custom product comparison tool that a developer had built as a BigCommerce widget.

When he migrated to Shopify, the reviews came over cleanly via Judgeme's import tool. The gift cards transferred because Shopify has native gift card support. The product comparison tool was the problem. It was custom-built for BigCommerce and there was no equivalent Shopify app that matched the specific behaviour his customers had come to expect.

The solution was either rebuilding the comparison tool as a Shopify section (a 3-week custom development job at around $2,000) or replacing it with a third-party app that was close but not identical. Daniel chose the app, briefed his returning customers in an email campaign, and absorbed the feedback. Total impact: minor, manageable.

The lesson is not that BigCommerce is better for comparison tools. The lesson is that custom functionality needs to be audited before migration, not discovered during it.

Cost of Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify

The migration itself is the project cost. But merchants should also factor in the ongoing cost change.

BigCommerce pricing starts at $39/month (Standard) and goes to $399/month (Pro). No transaction fees if using a standard payment gateway.

Shopify pricing starts at $39/month (Basic) and goes to $399/month (Advanced). Shopify charges 0.5-2% transaction fees if you use a third-party payment processor. If you use Shopify Payments, these fees are waived.

For most merchants, the key question is: are you using Shopify Payments in your market? If yes, the platform cost is roughly comparable. If you cannot use Shopify Payments and rely on a third-party processor, the transaction fees add up.

Run the numbers for your specific situation before assuming Shopify is cheaper.

What to Do First

The order matters. Before you touch your BigCommerce admin or sign up for Shopify:

1. Crawl your BigCommerce site with Screaming Frog
2. Pull your top-performing URLs from Google Search Console
3. Audit your app stack and custom functionality
4. List any checkout customizations your store uses

That audit tells you exactly how complex your migration is and whether you need professional help or can manage it yourself.

If you want someone to handle the migration end-to-end, our fixed-price Shopify migration service covers products, customers, orders, redirect mapping, and post-launch SEO monitoring. We have done this for stores coming from BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, and smaller platforms.