Magento and Shopify rank among the most effective ecommerce platforms available and together support online operations for more than a million retail establishments worldwide. However, each platform boasts singular strengths — Magento, the creation of open-source software advocates, offers immense configurability while Shopify, which hedges nearer the out-of-the-box solution space, simplifies deployment and backend system management. But flexibility or all-inclusivity for one person might be anarchy or rigidity for another. It is therefore not uncommon for retailers using either of these platforms to initiate and execute one-for-one swaps.
Magento-to-Shopify migrations are particularly common, with many sellers looking to trade customization capabilities for easier-to-manage components and processes. For those in the ecommerce arena that have dedicated considerable time and resources into Magento installations, making this move might seem scary. In reality, retail businesses can migrate from Magento to Shopify without sacrificing their bottom lines.
Unpacking common migration motivations
As mentioned above, the characteristics that make Magento an effective ecommerce solution — its highly customizable framework, for example — prove problematic for some sellers. Those with limited information technology or monetary resources might get overwhelmed with Magento. While an immense community of open-source coders provides support, managing the logistics that come with commissioning, activating and patching new solution features can become a burden.
Cost is another common motivation for Magento-to-Shopify migration. Although it is true that sellers can theoretically install Magento for free with the company’s open-source product, deploying and maintaining the solution can grow more expensive over time, as programming demands increase as the business scales. Even retailers with ample budgets might decide to make the switch due to project scope creep or the nebulous nature of open-source contracting.
These are both good reasons to make the move to Shopify, whose out-of-the-box functionality and subscription-based payment model simplify implementation, management and payment.
Understanding the options
There are five primary Shopify product options. Sellers exploring Magento-to-Shopify migration must first explore each of these offerings to get a good handle on potential deployments. These product offerings include:
- Shopify Lite is a starter product, good for retail companies with existing websites that want to add extra online functionality, specifically for Facebook-based sales campaigns. The system costs $9 per month.
- Basic Shopify is the second-most trimmed-down iteration of the platform and comes equipped with features such as an online store, online payment support and point-of-sale integration that are ideal for sellers looking to bring in their first customers. The platform comes with a subscription fee of $29 per month.
- Shopify is a strong option for retail companies looking to expand for the first time and therefore comes with components like gift card and register shift support. It costs $79 per month.
- Advanced Shopify is the perfect choice for ecommerce organizations intent on scaling with speed and includes advanced backend reporting capabilities along with account access for 15 employees. The solution costs $299 per month.
- Shopify Plus is the most robust and customizable Shopify offering. Sellers, therefore, work directly with developers to formulate platform features for per-project costs. There is no subscription option as a result.
Each of these products comes with individual transaction fees and merchant support options. Retailers should take these small details into account when selecting the Shopify iteration that’s ideal for their migration needs.
Grappling with the process
So what does the actual Magento-to-Shopify migration process look like? It varies depending on the situation and the external technology partners involved. Here at Pixafy, we regularly execute such swaps, moving mission-critical front-end and back-end processes from bespoke Magento installations to out-of-the-box instances with ease.
Sugarpova and Pixafy
Our team completed one of these switches in early 2018 for Sugarpova, global tennis star Maria Sharapova’s premium candy line. The confectioner offers a variety of sugary products, including chocolates, gumballs, gummies and truffles, which are sold per unit and as part of gift baskets.
The Sugarpova-Pixafy partnership actually began a number of years before the 2018 migration project. We worked with the brand to develop and launch its initial ecommerce website.
At that point, Sugarpova was looking for a powerful, eye-catching digital retail setup that could support fully-integrated online store functionality, along with a WordPress-based company blog. With those demands and general marketplace developments in mind, our developers chose to develop and deploy the site via Magento Enterprise Edition, as the platform allowed for robust customization and powerful integration and supported engaging front-end visuals.
However, as the years wore on post-launch, the Sugarpova brand changed. The business learned that it needed to streamline its web presence and provide customers with hassle-free shopping and checkout options. Additionally, the costs and complexities of managing the powerful Magento platform had become too much to handle relative to other organizational needs. On top of this, Sugarpova’s Magento license was on the verge of expiration. In short, the Magento platform was more powerful than the confectioner required — a change was needed.
Here at Pixafy, we adhere to the underlying philosophy that continuous improvement is required within today’s ever-evolving ecommerce environment. Sellers must refine their digital footprints lest they risk falling behind forward-thinking competitors. We, therefore, encouraged Sugarpova’s move away from Magento and sought to make the move as seamless as possible.
Transitioning to something new
Sugarpova was spending a significant amount on hosting and managing site infrastructure and content yet was not seeing as much return on investment as expected. The company reached out to us in February 2018 to talk through the issue but pragmatism was not an option. Its Magento license was set to expire the following month, meaning we had to act quickly to find and implement an alternative ecommerce platform. Our team assessed the situation and ultimately decided that migration over to Shopify was the ideal option.
To that end, we pulled from our deep well of Shopify knowledge and resources and found a pre-configured site template that would support a look and feel that matched the aesthetics of the existing Sugarpova Magento site. We were also able to migrate their data and assets over to the new Shopify platform, creating a seamless transition between the two solutions. All things considered, they ended up with all the information, including customer data, imported into the new site through a fully-functional Shopify build. This transition unfolded on schedule and we launched in time to beat the Magento license expiration.
Sugarpova saw big benefits following the migration. The complex day-to-day website operations disappeared, positioning the seller to save more than $20,000 per year running its ecommerce site.
Learning from Sugarpova
This project began, in large part, because Pixafy was consistently analyzing Sugarpova’s operations so as not to accept the status quo. When the site build was not working for them anymore, they took fast action to improve it by working with us to migrate to Shopify.
The difference is night and day now, but it is important to remember how the situation began. Magento is a highly flexible open-source ecommerce platform. Because of this, it has a vast capacity for customization and can handle complex workflows. Shopify, on the other hand, is designed to provide a highly efficient, streamlined ecommerce experience through pre-built components that retail companies can mix and match to meet their needs. Both platforms are great — we partner with each brand because we respect what their solutions can do — but they are suited to specific use cases.
When we initially began working with Sugarpova — a project you can read more about here — Magento was the best platform for their needs. Shopify did not offer the high-end templates and backend capabilities the brand required. But as both Magento and Shopify became more powerful over the years, Sugarpova found itself paying for capabilities it no longer needed when it could now find a fit with Shopify. We were able to help them make this transition quickly, facilitating significant savings. But if Pixafy was not regularly analyzing Sugarpova’s ecommerce operations, they would not have been positioned to take advantage of this opportunity.
Beyond helping Sugarpova drive continuous ecommerce site improvement, this project also highlights our desire as an agency to act in the best interests of our clients. As we had built the original Magento site, it could have been tempting to keep that alive, make a few tweaks and ultimately stick fairly close to the original vision for the portal. However, our aim is to empower our clients to achieve their goals, and the move to Shopify was a stronger option.
Finding the right partner
Sellers looking to embark on Magento-to-Shopify migrations and hoping for the kind of success that Sugarpova saw should focus on finding the right technology partner — an organization with the historic knowledge and developmental resources needed to support such a switch.
Here at Pixafy, we boast award-winning developers who have the specialized skill sets and platform-specific insights needed to coordinate and execute Magento-to-Shopify migrations. If your retail business is prepared to start this journey, do not hesitate to reach out to our team or explore some of past projects or services.
