Wix to Shopify Migration: Step by Step

Wix to Shopify Migration: Step by Step

Migrating from Wix to Shopify is straightforward in terms of process but requires more manual work than migrations from dedicated ecommerce platforms, because Wix's export options are limited. Plan for 1-3 weeks, manual product re-entry or a migration tool, and a redirect strategy that covers your Wix product and page URLs. The end result is a store that is faster, more scalable, and better equipped for growth.

Here is the complete process.

Key Takeaways

- Wix does not offer a native product export in a Shopify-compatible format -- you need a migration tool or manual entry for your products

- Wix product images export via a download, but must be re-uploaded to Shopify individually or in bulk

- Redirect mapping is essential: Wix uses different URL structures than Shopify, and Google has indexed your Wix URLs

- Blog content from Wix Blogger can be exported as XML but requires formatting cleanup in Shopify

- Most Wix ecommerce stores have under 200 products, making migration manageable in 1-2 weeks

Why Merchants Leave Wix for Shopify

Wix is a website builder with ecommerce capability. Shopify is an ecommerce platform with website-building capability. That distinction sounds small but has large practical consequences.

When a merchant outgrows Wix, it is usually because of one of these:

Inventory and product management. Managing hundreds of products, variants, and inventory locations in Wix becomes unwieldy. Shopify's admin is built for this at scale.

App ecosystem. Wix has apps, but Shopify's marketplace is significantly deeper -- particularly for ecommerce-specific needs like subscriptions, loyalty, post-purchase upsell, and advanced review management.

Checkout performance. Shopify's checkout is engineered for conversion. Wix's checkout has improved, but Shopify's checkout converts better by almost every benchmark.

Analytics integration. Connecting Wix to GA4, Meta Pixel, and marketing attribution tools is more friction than the equivalent Shopify integrations.

Scaling costs. As your store grows on Wix, you may hit product limits or feature gates that push you to higher Wix Business plans. The total cost calculation often favors Shopify at volume.

The Biggest Challenge: Wix Product Export

This is the first thing to understand about Wix-to-Shopify migrations: Wix does not export products in a Shopify-compatible CSV format.

Wix allows you to export products as a Wix-specific CSV. This file is formatted for Wix's import system, not Shopify's. You have three options:

Option 1: Migrate tool. Use a service like Cart2Cart or LitExtension. These connect to your Wix store via API, read your product data directly, and import it into Shopify in the correct format. This costs $50-$300 depending on store size and handles images automatically.

Option 2: Manual conversion. Export from Wix, reformat the CSV to match Shopify's import template (available in your Shopify admin under Products > Import), and import. This is free but takes time and attention to formatting.

Option 3: Manual re-entry. For stores with under 50 products, re-entering products directly in Shopify is often faster than fighting with CSV formatting. You also get clean, well-structured data as a result.

Step 1: Audit Your Wix Store

Before any action, crawl and document your current site:

• Use Screaming Frog or Google Search Console to export all indexed URLs
• Pull top-performing pages from GSC (by clicks and impressions over the last 12 months)
• Make a list of all products, collections, and blog posts
• Screenshot your key pages (design reference)
• Note any Wix apps or integrations you are using

Flag your top-traffic pages. These cannot have broken redirects after launch.

Step 2: Export Your Data from Wix

Products:

Go to Wix Admin > Store Products > More Actions > Export Products (CSV). This gives you product data in Wix format. Keep this file -- you will either convert it or use it as a reference.

Orders:

Wix Admin > Orders > More Actions > Export Orders. This exports order history.

Contacts/Customers:

Wix Admin > Contacts > Export Contacts. This exports customer contact data.

Blog:

Wix Admin > Blog > Settings > Export. This generates an XML file in RSS format. Not directly Shopify-compatible but parseable.

Images:

Product images are linked in the Wix product export but are hosted on Wix's CDN. Download them before migration -- Wix CDN links should not be relied upon once you have left the platform. Use a bulk download tool or your browser's save function.

Step 3: Set Up Your Shopify Store

While your product data is being cleaned up:

• Sign up for Shopify and choose your plan
• Select a theme (take time with this -- a theme that fits your brand reduces customization work later)
• Configure payment gateway (Shopify Payments where available, or your existing processor)
• Set up shipping zones, rates, and tax settings
• Configure basic notifications (order confirmation, shipping updates)

Do not install apps yet. Core setup first.

Step 4: Import Products to Shopify

If using a migration tool (recommended for 100+ products):

Set up the Cart2Cart or LitExtension connection, run the migration, and verify a sample of products. These tools handle image migration automatically.

If converting the Wix CSV manually:

Shopify's product import template is available at your Shopify admin > Products > Import > Download template. The key columns are:

• Handle (URL slug -- use lowercase with hyphens)
• Title
• Body (HTML description)
• Vendor
• Type
• Tags
• Published
• Option1 Name, Option1 Value (for variants)
• Variant SKU
• Variant Price
• Variant Inventory Qty
• Image Src (image URL or file path)
• Image Alt Text
• SEO Title
• SEO Description

Map your Wix export columns to these Shopify columns. The description field in Wix exports as plain text -- you may need to add HTML formatting.

After import, verify:

• At least 20 products manually (correct price, variants, images)
• All product collections have been recreated
• Product handles (URLs) are clean and match your planned redirect map

Step 5: Build the Redirect Map

Wix product URLs look like:

• /product-page/product-name
• /shop/product-name (depending on your Wix setup)

Wix category/collection pages:

• /shop-collections/category-name

Shopify equivalent:

• /products/product-handle
• /collections/collection-handle

Map every Wix URL to its Shopify equivalent. For 200 products, this takes about a day done carefully.

Upload to Shopify: Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects > Import. Use the two-column CSV format (from URL, to URL).

Test a sample before launch. Take 20 URLs from your redirect file and verify they work correctly.

Step 6: Migrate Blog Content

If your Wix blog has posts that rank in Google:

1. Export the blog XML from Wix
2. For each post, copy the content to a new post in Shopify's blog editor (Blog Posts > Add Blog Post)
3. Match the post slug where possible (Shopify blog posts use /blogs/[blog-handle]/[post-slug])
4. Add the redirect from the old Wix URL to the new Shopify URL

For fewer than 20 posts, manual migration is practical. For larger blogs, a conversion tool or developer help is worth it.

Step 7: Metadata Migration

Wix stores meta titles and descriptions per page. Before leaving Wix, note these for every important page:

• All product pages (the meta title and description you had set)
• All collection/category pages
• Your homepage
• Any key standalone pages (About, FAQ)

Set these in Shopify after migration. In Shopify, go to each product and scroll to the Search Engine Listing section to set the meta title and description.

Do not skip this. Shopify's auto-generated meta titles are formatted as [Product Name] - [Store Name] -- rarely as good as what you had set manually in Wix.

Step 8: App Setup

Install only what you need to launch. A cluttered app stack from day one adds load time and complexity.

Priority apps for launch:

• Reviews: Judgeme (free tier handles most small stores)
• Email capture: Klaviyo (connect to your existing list)
• Analytics: GA4 (via Shopify's Google & YouTube channel integration)
• Cookie consent: Required for EU visitors

Everything else can wait until the store is stable post-launch.

If your app stack grows over time and you start noticing performance issues, our Store Health Audit covers exactly this -- which apps are adding overhead, which are redundant, and what to remove.

Step 9: QA Before Launch

Check everything before pointing the domain:

• [ ] Test order (complete purchase, verify order confirmation)
• [ ] Verify top 20 redirects work correctly
• [ ] Check mobile layout on two device sizes
• [ ] Confirm Google Analytics is tracking
• [ ] Confirm Meta Pixel (if applicable) is firing
• [ ] Verify contact forms send to correct email
• [ ] Check all collection pages show correct products
• [ ] Review checkout flow on mobile

Step 10: Launch

When you are ready:

1. In Wix: go to Domains and either transfer the domain to Shopify or update the DNS records to point to Shopify's servers
2. In Shopify: add your domain under Online Store > Domains
3. Wait for DNS propagation (up to 48 hours, typically 2-4 hours)
4. Submit your Shopify sitemap to Google Search Console
5. Test your priority redirects from the live domain

Do not cancel your Wix subscription immediately. Keep it active for at least 30 days for reference, especially if you have blog content or orders stored there.

The Small Store That Got It Right

Maya ran a Wix store selling handmade ceramics. 67 products, no custom apps, a blog with 12 posts she had written over two years. When she decided to move to Shopify, she was worried about losing the blog traffic that drove consistent sales of her workshop pieces.

She spent an afternoon exporting everything from Wix and pulling her URL data from Google Search Console. She identified eight blog posts that were bringing organic traffic. She migrated those eight posts manually to Shopify, matched the post slugs exactly, and set redirects for the remaining four that could not be matched.

Six weeks after launch, her blog traffic was identical to pre-migration. Her store's conversion rate was up -- Shopify's checkout was cleaner than what Wix offered, and the review app she installed immediately added social proof that her Wix store had not had.

Total migration cost: a weekend of her time plus the $50 she spent on a migration tool to handle the product import.

Next Step

The Wix-to-Shopify migration is manageable. The key steps are the crawl, the product import, the redirect map, and the metadata migration. Skip any of these and you will be fixing problems after launch.

If you want this handled professionally, our Shopify migration service starts at $2,500 and covers everything in this guide. Fixed price, no scope creep, and a 30-day post-launch audit included.