eCommerce Migration
Changing platform is moving house while the shop stays open. The goods, the customer records and the order history have to arrive intact, and every address that a search engine or a bookmark points to has to lead somewhere sensible afterwards.
We plan and carry out store migrations between platforms and between major versions of one platform. The work is mostly preparation. The switch itself should be short and dull, because it has been rehearsed.
What has to make the journey
The list is longer than products and customers. Anything left off it is found by a customer after launch.
- Products, variants, stock codes and stock levels
- Categories and the order products appear in
- Images, with their alternative text
- Customer accounts and address books
- Order history, invoices and credit notes
- Discount codes, gift cards and store credit
- Reviews and their dates
- Page titles, descriptions and structured data
- Blog posts and information pages
- Subscriptions and saved payment tokens
Where the two platforms disagree
No two platforms store a shop the same way. The mapping document records each difference and the decision taken.
Variants and options
One system holds a configurable product with children. Another holds a single product with option combinations and a cap on how many. Large ranges may need to be split.
Customer passwords
Password hashes often cannot be carried across. Shopify, for example, does not import them. Customers then receive an invitation to set a new password, and the wording of that email matters.
Order numbers
Your accounts and your customers refer to the old numbers. We keep them searchable on the new store, even where the platform insists on its own sequence.
Tax on historic orders
Old orders must show the tax that was charged at the time, not a recalculation at current rates.
Subscriptions
Card tokens are held by the payment provider, not the shop. Moving them is a request to the provider and takes time, so it is started early.
Custom fields
Engraving text, delivery notes and trade account numbers live in places the standard import tools do not read.
Keeping the addresses alive
Search engines rank addresses, not shops. When the addresses change without notice, the ranking history goes with them.
Crawl before anything else
We collect every address from the old site, the sitemap, the search console and the analytics landing page report.
One-to-one redirects
Each old address receives a permanent redirect to its closest new equivalent. Sending everything to the home page throws the value away.
Platform URL rules
Some platforms fix part of the path, such as a products or collections prefix. The map has to work within that.
Titles and descriptions
Page titles, meta descriptions, canonical tags and product structured data are carried over, not regenerated from defaults.
Discontinued products
Pages for items you no longer sell are redirected to the replacement or the category, not left as errors.
After launch
We watch the search console for crawl errors and missing pages and fix them as they are reported.
The cut-over plan
A written plan with times, names and a way back. Everyone involved reads it before the day.
First rehearsal
A full import into the new store on a private address. We count records on both sides and list what did not match.
Second rehearsal
The import is repeated with the fixes and timed, so we know how long the real one will take.
Lower the DNS lifetime
Some days before the switch the record lifetime is shortened, so the change of address spreads quickly.
Order freeze
At an agreed quiet hour the old store stops taking orders and shows a short notice.
Delta import
Orders, customers and stock changes since the last rehearsal are brought across and counted again.
Switch and verify
Redirects go live, a real order is placed and refunded, and the old store stays available read-only in case we need to go back.
What a migration costs
Our rates are published. Pick the role and move the sliders for an indicative budget.
Rate card
| Role | Hourly | Monthly* |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend / WordPress | AED 110 | AED 17,600 |
| Backend / API | AED 118 | AED 18,880 |
| Full-stack | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| Mobile (React Native / Flutter) | AED 129 | AED 20,640 |
| DevOps / Cloud | AED 147 | AED 23,520 |
| AI / Automation engineer | AED 165 | AED 26,400 |
| QA / Test engineer | AED 92 | AED 14,720 |
| UI / UX design | AED 103 | AED 16,480 |
*160 hrs/month full-time. Rates are indicative for planning, in UAE dirhams (converted from our US-dollar rates at the fixed peg of 3.6725), before VAT where applicable, and depend on seniority, contract length and timezone overlap. Longer engagements and multi-role teams are discounted — ask.
Migration questions
Will our search rankings survive?
We cannot promise rankings. Correct redirects and preserved page data remove the avoidable causes of loss. Some movement in the weeks after a platform change is normal.
How long is the shop closed?
The freeze is planned in hours, and the rehearsal timing tells us how many. We do not give a figure before the second rehearsal.
Can an automated migration tool do this?
Tools move the standard records well. They do not write your redirect map, handle custom fields or check the totals. We use them where they help.
Do we have to move every old order?
No. Some merchants move recent years and archive the rest as a file. Your accountant should agree the retention period.
Should we redesign at the same time?
It is tempting, and it doubles the risk. If sales change afterwards you will not know which change caused it. We suggest moving first and redesigning second.
Tell us where you are and where you are going
Name the current platform and version, the target if you have chosen one, and roughly how many products, customers and orders you hold. We reply within one business day.