Moving From Wix or Squarespace to Shopify: A Small-Store Migration Guide

Most small stores that move from Wix or Squarespace to Shopify do it for the same reasons. They have outgrown basic inventory tools, they want apps the other platforms do not support, or they need better shipping, subscriptions or wholesale options. The good news is that a small-store migration to Shopify is very manageable. The bad news is that almost nothing moves over with one click, and the parts that do move usually need cleaning first.

This guide walks through what actually transfers, how to prepare your data, how to rebuild the design, and what a realistic timeline and budget look like for a store with somewhere between 20 and 1,000 products.

Is Moving From Wix or Squarespace to Shopify the Right Call?

Before you plan the move, be honest about why you are making it. Shopify is built around commerce first, while Wix and Squarespace are built around websites first with commerce added on. That difference shows up in a few places:

• Inventory and variants. Shopify handles large variant sets, multiple locations and inventory tracking more cleanly.
• App ecosystem. Reviews, subscriptions, bundles, loyalty, ERP connections and 3PL integrations are far more widely supported on Shopify.
• Checkout. Shopify's checkout is fast, trusted and supports accelerated wallets like Shop Pay.
• Scaling. Higher order volumes, B2B selling and international selling have more room to grow.

If your store sells a handful of products and most of your site is really a portfolio, booking system or content hub, the move may add cost without adding much benefit. A migration makes the most sense when commerce is the main job of the site and you keep hitting walls.

What Transfers From Wix or Squarespace to Shopify (and What Does Not)

This is the section most store owners get wrong. Here is what to expect in general terms. Export options on both platforms change over time, so confirm the current behavior in each platform's help center before you start.

Products

Both Wix and Squarespace let you export products as a CSV file. That file gives you names, descriptions, prices, SKUs, some variant data and image links. It will not match Shopify's product CSV format, so you need to map columns before importing. Squarespace's export has historically covered physical products only, so digital products, services and gift cards may need to be recreated by hand.

Shopify also offers a Store Importer app that supports several platforms. At the time of writing it lists Wix and Squarespace among its sources, but what it imports varies by platform. Treat it as a starting point, not a finished result.

Customers

Customer names, emails, addresses and marketing consent can usually be exported as a CSV and imported into Shopify. What never transfers is passwords. Your customers will need to create or activate an account on the new store. Depending on how your Shopify customer accounts are set up, they may simply log in with a one-time email code, which removes most of the friction.

Pay attention to email marketing consent. Only import customers as subscribed if they genuinely opted in on the old platform. Getting this wrong can hurt deliverability and create legal risk.

Orders

Historical orders are the trickiest part. Shopify's native CSV importer does not import past orders. You have three options:

1. Keep a CSV export of old orders for reference and leave them out of Shopify.
2. Use the Store Importer where it supports order data.
3. Use a bulk import app (Matrixify is a widely used option) to bring orders in with the right customer links.

For most small stores, option 1 is fine. Order history matters mainly for customer service and lifetime value reporting. If you run loyalty points or repeat purchase campaigns, bringing orders in is worth the extra effort.

Things You Will Rebuild Manually

• Design, layout and page templates
• Discount codes and automatic discounts
• Shipping rules and tax settings
• Gift cards and store credit balances
• Contact forms, pop ups and booking widgets
• Product reviews (unless your review app supports import from a CSV)
• Blog posts on some platforms

Preparing Your CSV Files

A clean import saves hours of fixing things later. Plan to spend more time on data than on the import itself.

Map Columns to Shopify's Format

Download Shopify's sample product CSV and use it as your template. The key fields are Handle, Title, Body (HTML), Vendor, Type, Tags, Option names and values, Variant SKU, Variant Price, Variant Inventory Quantity and Image Src.

The Handle is especially important. It becomes the product URL (/products/your-handle), and every variant of a product must share the same handle on consecutive rows. If your old product URLs had readable slugs, reuse them as handles. That makes redirects simpler.

Clean Before You Import

Old stores collect mess. Use the migration as a chance to fix it:

• Remove discontinued products instead of importing them as drafts forever.
• Standardize option names ("Size" everywhere, not "Size", "size" and "Sizes").
• Rewrite product types and tags into a consistent system you can build collections from.
• Check that image links in the export still work. Some platforms expire or restrict image URLs, so download images first if needed.
• Strip leftover inline styles from descriptions. Copy pasted HTML from site builders often carries fonts and colors that clash with your new theme.

Test With a Small Batch

Import five to ten products first, including one with many variants. Check the product page, the admin view, inventory and images. Fix your mapping, then import the rest. This one step catches most problems.

Rebuilding the Design

Your Wix or Squarespace design does not move over. You are choosing and configuring a Shopify theme, which is also an opportunity to fix what was not working.

Pick a Theme That Fits Your Catalog

Shopify's theme store includes free and paid themes, with paid themes typically costing a few hundred dollars as a one-time fee. For small stores, a well chosen theme with light customization is usually enough. Look at themes built for your catalog size and style: a single product brand needs a very different layout from a store with 800 SKUs.

Match the Brand, Not the Old Layout

Bring over your logo, colors, fonts and photography style. Do not try to recreate the old site pixel for pixel. Shopify themes are built from sections you can rearrange in the theme editor, and forcing an old layout into them usually means custom code you do not need.

If you want a design that goes further than theme settings allow, that is where a custom Shopify development project makes sense. For most small stores, though, the budget is better spent on good product photography and clean data.

Recreate Key Pages

Make a list of every page on the old site and decide what happens to each one:

• Keep and rebuild: About, FAQ, shipping and returns, contact, size guides.
• Merge: Thin pages that can live as sections on another page.
• Drop: Outdated promotions and pages nobody visits (check your analytics).

Moving Blog Content

If your blog brings in search traffic, move it carefully. Squarespace can export blog content in a format designed for WordPress, which can then be converted for Shopify with an import app or a small script. Wix's blog export options have been more limited, so many stores copy posts over by hand or use a migration service. Check the current options on both platforms, since they have changed before.

Shopify's blog is basic but workable. Posts live under /blogs/news/post-handle by default (or another blog name you create). Keep post handles close to the old slugs, re-upload images, and reset the author and publish dates so the history stays intact.

Redirects: The Short Version

Shopify's URL structure is fixed. Products live under /products/, collections under /collections/, pages under /pages/. Your old URLs will almost certainly be different, so every important old URL needs a 301 redirect to its new home.

Shopify lets you add redirects in the admin under Navigation (URL Redirects) or import them in bulk from a CSV. Build a spreadsheet with two columns, old path and new path, covering products, categories, pages and blog posts. Test a sample after launch.

For a deeper SEO plan, talk to us about a Shopify redesign that includes SEO handling.

Payments, Domains and Settings

Payments

Set up Shopify Payments if it is available in your country, since it avoids extra transaction fees that apply when using third party gateways. If it is not available, choose a supported gateway and confirm the fee structure on Shopify's current pricing page. Enable PayPal and accelerated wallets your customers already use.

Domain

You can connect your existing domain to Shopify without transferring it, or transfer it fully. Connecting is quicker and lower risk. Lower the DNS TTL a day before launch so the switch propagates faster.

Shipping and Taxes

Rebuild shipping zones and rates from scratch. This is a good moment to rethink them rather than copy old rules. Set up tax collection based on where you have obligations, and confirm with your accountant if you are unsure.

Wix or Squarespace to Shopify: Timeline and Cost for Small Stores

These are typical ranges from our projects. Your numbers depend on catalog size, data quality and how much design work you want.

Store profile	Typical timeline	Typical cost range
Under 50 products, theme with light setup	1 to 2 weeks	$1,500 to $4,000
50 to 500 products, some customization	2 to 4 weeks	$4,000 to $10,000
500 to 1,000+ products, orders and blog migrated, custom sections	4 to 8 weeks	$10,000 to $20,000

Budget separately for ongoing costs: your Shopify plan, a paid theme if you choose one, and apps. Many small stores run on 3 to 8 apps, which typically adds somewhere between $50 and $300 per month. Check the current Shopify plan comparison for up to date pricing.

A DIY migration is realistic if you have fewer than 100 products, clean data and time to learn the admin. Where owners usually get stuck is variants, redirects and payment setup, so those are worth outsourcing even if you do everything else yourself.

A Simple Launch Plan

1. Week 1: Export everything, audit the data, pick a theme, set up the Shopify store with a free trial or development store.
2. Week 2: Import products and customers in test batches, rebuild pages, configure shipping, taxes and payments.
3. Week 3: Build the redirect list, place test orders (including refunds), review on mobile, check notifications.
4. Launch day: Connect the domain, turn on redirects, remove the password page, place a real order.
5. First two weeks after: Watch analytics and Search Console for 404 errors, respond to customer login questions, and keep the old platform active in a limited form until you are confident nothing is missing.

You can see how we have handled launches for similar small brands in our portfolio.

FAQ

Will my customers need to create new accounts?

Yes, in the sense that passwords never transfer between platforms. Their details can be imported, and with Shopify's newer customer accounts they can often sign in with a one-time code sent to their email, so there is no password to reset.

Can I migrate without my store going offline?

Yes. You build the Shopify store in the background while the old site keeps selling. The only switch is the domain connection on launch day, which usually causes little or no downtime if DNS is prepared in advance.

Should I import my old orders into Shopify?

Only if you need them for loyalty, reporting or customer service. Many small stores keep a CSV archive instead. If you do import them, use an import app so orders link correctly to customer records.

How long does it take for Google to pick up the new URLs?

It varies. With correct 301 redirects and a submitted sitemap, most small stores see new URLs indexed within a few weeks. Temporary ranking movement is common, which is why redirect accuracy matters so much.

If you are planning a move and want a clear scope before you start, book a free 1-hour strategy call through our contact page.