This case study outlines the migration of an established ecommerce brand from WooCommerce to Shopify after five years of continuous operation.

Over that period, the business had accumulated:

  • Five years of order history
  • A large product catalogue
  • Thousands of customer records
  • Custom product logic built up incrementally over time

The goal of the migration was not just to change platforms, but to create a stable, scalable foundation that would support the next phase of growth without sacrificing historical data or operational continuity.

The Challenges

1. Five Years of Historical Data

The store had been live for over five years, meaning historical data was business-critical. Order history, customer relationships, and product records were actively used for:

  • Customer support
  • Reporting and decision-making
  • Retention and remarketing
  • Internal operations

A partial or “light” migration was not an option — everything had to be preserved.

2. Non-Uniform Product Data

One of the biggest challenges was that product fields were not uniform across all products.

Over time:

  • Different products used different custom fields
  • Attributes were added inconsistently as the catalogue evolved
  • Plugins and manual workarounds introduced edge cases

This made a standard, one-size-fits-all migration impossible.

To solve this, we built custom migration scripts that:

  • Detected and normalised product data
  • Mapped inconsistent WooCommerce fields into structured Shopify products and metafields
  • Ensured no product data was dropped or incorrectly assigned

The result was a clean, consistent product structure inside Shopify — without rewriting the client’s business logic.

3. Branded Products Requiring Custom Templates

In addition to third-party and standard products, +boost also sells its own branded products.

These products:

  • Required a different visual presentation
  • Used different content structures
  • Needed custom storytelling and layout

As part of the migration, we designed and implemented custom Shopify product templates specifically for these branded items, allowing them to:

  • Stand apart from the rest of the catalogue
  • Communicate brand value more clearly
  • Convert more effectively without affecting standard products

This ensured the platform could support multiple product strategies within the same store.

The Solution

Custom Migration Approach

Rather than relying on generic migration tools, we delivered a tailored migration process:

  • Custom scripts to move five years of orders, customers, and products
  • Intelligent handling of non-uniform product fields
  • Clean data mapping into Shopify’s product and metafield system
  • Full preservation of customer and order relationships

This approach ensured historical data remained accurate, usable, and trustworthy after launch.

Shopify-Native Rebuild

On Shopify, we:

  • Rebuilt the store using Shopify-native best practices
  • Reduced unnecessary complexity inherited from WooCommerce
  • Introduced custom templates only where they delivered real value

The focus was on clarity, maintainability, and performance.

Outcome

After the migration, the business gained:

  • A modern, stable ecommerce platform
  • Full access to five years of historical data
  • A clean and consistent product structure
  • Dedicated templates for branded products
  • Reduced technical overhead and risk
  • A platform built for scale, not patchwork fixes

Most importantly, the team could shift focus away from platform maintenance and back onto growth, marketing, and brand.

+boost Takeaway

This migration wasn’t about “moving platforms”. It was about undoing years of accumulated complexity without losing the value hidden inside it.

We treat WooCommerce → Shopify migrations as:

  • Data projects
  • Brand projects
  • Long-term business decisions

Not shortcuts.