Planning a migration: What’s really involved.

What you’ll learn in this section

There is no doubt that migrating is a strategic project. But with the right team and Shopify’s tooling, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or as costly as many fear.

‍

• What a migration actually touches across your business
• The minimum internal involvement required
• How data access and operational context impact delivery
• Why phasing changes can reduce risk
• The “nice to haves” that make a migration smoother and more successful

‍

Migrating is a strategic project

There is no doubt that migrating is a strategic project.

Yes, depending on your setup it can be complex and yes, it can touch every aspect of your business, from ops and fulfilment to marketing and finance.

But with the right team and Shopify’s tooling, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming or as costly as many fear.

‍

What teams always want to know

This is the real list people care about:

• What does it actually involve?
• How much time will it take?
• How disruptive will it be?
• Who inside the business needs to be involved?

Below is the no-nonsense breakdown on the minimum requirements

‍

An internal project lead

Even with a hands-on migration partner, your team will need to answer questions about:

• Order processing
• Stock management
• Sales → accounts workflows
• Ops, fulfilment, customer service
• System access and approvals

In smaller teams, this might be the founder or ops manager. In larger teams, this means coordinating across departments.

Timeline expectations:

• Workshop phase → 2–3 days over 2–3 weeks (simple)
• Larger organisations → 1–2 weeks over a month+
• Delivery phase → 8-16 weeks+ depending on scope, with light-touch reviews (bi-weekly or weekly)
• Pre-launch → 2-4 weeks depedning on complexity with increased involvement + bridge calls
• Go Live → Never on a Friday (Monday/Tuesday Preferred) 1 Day + Post live monitoring with synchronous in the moment bridge calls

‍

Access to the data

Non-negotiable. Your migration partner will need access to:

• Products
• Customers
• Orders
• Stock values
• Locations
• Historical data (if you want it migrated)

Your data is your property. No platform or vendor should make access difficult.

‍

Understanding the platforms & processes

Your online store will rarely operate in isolation. So your partner must understand:

• Accounting
• CRM
• ERP / WMS
• 3PLs
• Subscription systems
• Internal workflows
• Reporting dependencies

This ensures downstream impacts are surfaced, understood, and mitigated.

A clear understanding of your pain points

You need internal alignment on:

• Why you’re migrating
• What you want to improve
• What “good” looks like post-migration

This turns the project from a “tech upgrade” into a company-wide moment of focus.

‍

Nice to haves

Engaged Input from your customer base

If your not bringing customers into the process and making meaningful improvements, then you are leaving revenue on the table, consider:

• Surveys
• Prototype tests
• UX feedback
• Early reactions to new flows

This strengthens CX and ensures the rebuild aligns with actual user behaviour.

‍