PrestaShop to Shopify Migration: The Ultimate Guide [2019 Update]

An online store is what everyone is thinking about today! Be it a newbie or an expert in the field! Each one wants to brace the new way of shopping and give their ideas a chance and shine.

So in a bid to win over the clients you obviously need a great start! Which many might have got stuck at in taking the wrong step that is choosing the incorrect platform for building their stores!

Platforms which place a bait of being opensource and free but might cost you more in terms of getting good presence and great traffic to client conversions!

No wonder you are not making sales or are losing out on the look, the customer interface, and satisfaction the authenticity and originality for which the customer will shop with you!

Stuck in the middle of it? No problem now is the time to migrate!

And here is what we have for you! Google trends comparison

Let's start with a platform which was initially taken to be a great platform but with years lost its sheen PrestaShop lets help you migrate your PrestaShop store to a platform that is the present-day best platform for blowing your clients mind away- Shopify.

Shopify is a platform which is famous for its

• Ease of use
• Site management
• Customizability
• Performance
• Security

Apart from these Shopify not only gives you amazing Theme layout (Free) choices but also is fully loaded with apps in the Shopify store many of which are free to use!

Talking about the migration process now

Step1:

Decide why do you want to migrate? Of course, you need to match with your competitors who are gaining every passing day with your poor layout slow functionality and not attractive interface, armed with that information, lets now start on what all you need to do to begin with the migration process from the Penguin to the Shopping bag.

PrestaShop is a self-hosted platform(which means that its software could be installed on any server you want.) all the information that you require needs to be taken from the Cpanel as well as a dashboard of the store, Shopify, on the other hand, is a hosted platform so you do not have to go anywhere else except the dashboard to do all the changes in the process of migration.

So once having yourself registered on Shopify you can now start of with setting up Payments directly first as that will be an easy task to be completed ,you may set up your PrestaShop Payment gateway only as Shopify has more than 500 payment gateway options available to choose from just set the id and key and you are done with that part of the game.

Step 2: Now is the time to shift the Content and the product data!

This can be a cumbersome task if not done in a proper manner as Prestashop doesn't fully offer the product and content export hence you need a manual procedure involved or you may try Product migration apps available in Shopify!
If you are not going the App way Shopify dashboard offers 2 methods of product upload.

• Manual Upload
• CSV files

Each method can be used for migrating your products just make sure you are doing it perfectly by keeping a check on the products that are getting uploaded on the default view of Shopify.

Step 3: Coming to the content data being Blogs, About us and Store information pages

Shopify has amazing HTML customizable options for those too. You can set up different pages templates for your store one being about us the other may be for contact us just a click and it's done!

In order to transfer the blogs, you can set that up too with Shopify ‘ s own CMS section for blogs you do not have to go anywhere else for the blogs!

So now

• Payment Gateway Check
• Products Check
• Pages Check
• Blogs Check

Now that you have transferred most of the backend time comes in for front end customizations

Oh Wait

Did we forget something on the backend?

Customization? Yes, We forgot to transfer our Customers!

Get the data of all your existing customers and quickly transfer to your Shopify store it's just as easy as doing nothing at all

Just click on The Customer csv download the template add in the data and upload

So now you already have the data and traffic of your customers once you are ready and completed with the migration you can send them Welcome Again emails using Shopify mailer!

Ok now that we finally have transferred most of the data lets just move to the frontend! Let's start the customization of the store!

You must have heard of intuitive drag and drop and WYSIWYG type of interfaces?

Step 4: Theme Customization

Shopify offers these amazing ways to customize your store!

You just have to select a theme of your choice to be it free or paid there are plenty of themes available in Shopify.

You do not have to wait for a web developer to come to code the layout for you can DIY its as easy as MS paint just drag-drop and done!

For a lot of people, the migration of the store can be pretty daunting. But with Shopify a platform that prioritizes ease of use, and don’t require you to spend weeks trying to figure out how every feature works. You just go ahead with DDD(drag drop has done), for customization at least!

What’s more, creating a Shopify store shouldn’t take you long at all. Shopify is designed more for users who don’t have any background in setting up and running an online store unlike the complexity of PrestaShop.

Now you are done with customizing your store well with Shopify next is to add on a few of many amazing apps, with Shopify, you get access to an app store that offers you a lot of options to extend the platform’s functionality. Some directly integrate to Shopify and some have their own 3 party dashboard. So with access to dozens of free (and premium) apps, you can use with your store you can make the look and feel of your store more modern and trendy, unlike your previous oldie! You can check out some apps to install here.

Step 5: 

Shipping is another concern for the physical products you wish to sell, let me break you good news!

Shopify has ties with more than 200 shipping partners worldwide which makes it a perfect partner for you! Also if of late you have been thinking of a dropshipping alternative Shopify offers some amazing integrations directly through Aliexpress and Oberlo!

Once you are set with shipping time for making some new changes which were never offered in Prestashop!

Step 6: The Social Integration

Shopify is by far the only platform that offers direct selling on to social media channels like Facebook and Instagram along with direct integrations with Amazon, Etsy, Ebay as well so if for long you have been thinking and not being able to do these things because of your platform NOW is the time!

Sell more and that too easy!

So all set and done?

Step 7:

Did we miss any step? No now we are all set and migrated to Shopify now is the time to let your customers know about your new store and this will be through pointing your domain to Shopify. 

If you want the same domain you can verify the existing ones and if you want to buy new domains you can buy Shopifyopify as well, just link it to get your store to your lovely domain!

Now that all is transferred and migrated just try and make a test order and browse through your lovely store to check on if anything is missing and you can complete that before the official launch!

Thus your migration becomes a successful reality!

Keep in mind always the e-commerce platform you choose is going to set the grip for your online store. The right tools can provide you with access to features you wouldn’t otherwise get, or help you scale your store more easily. So with Shopify as your platform, we are sure you will never look back!

Let us know your experience with our migration guide! We will love to hear the feedback!