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 features, integration options, customizing your online store, and best practices for maximizing sales.

Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify can be one of the best decisions for long-term growth. Shopify offers greater flexibility, an expansive app ecosystem, and a modern user experience. But a poor migration can cost you valuable data, loyal customers, and hard-earned search engine rankings.

This step-by-step guide shows you how to make the switch smoothly, while safeguarding your business every step of the way.

Every successful migration starts with planning. Before touching a single setting, make sure you know what you’re moving and what must be replaced.

Automated tool (LitExtension, Cart2Cart, Matrixify)

Hiring a professional agency like Ventura Web Design & Marketing

List critical BigCommerce features you rely on (e.g., bulk pricing, custom fields).

Document all installed apps so you can identify Shopify equivalents.

Export product, customer, and order data.

Save SEO metadata (titles, descriptions, URLs).

Archive your BigCommerce theme and content for reference.

With preparation complete, it’s time to set up your new home on Shopify.

Create your Shopify account and choose a plan.

Select a theme (free or premium) that aligns with your brand.

Configure key settings such as currency, taxes, shipping, and payment gateways.

Use a migration tool (recommended) to move products, customers, and orders.

Or, import manually using CSVs through Shopify Admin.

Check that products display correctly with descriptions, variants, and images.

Reconcile pricing, inventory, and stock levels.

One of the biggest risks in migration is losing search traffic. Protecting SEO must be a top priority.

Map old BigCommerce URLs to new Shopify URLs. Example: 

Add redirects in Shopify Admin → Navigation → URL Redirects.

Submit your updated sitemap in Google Search Console.

Ensure all meta titles, descriptions, alt text, and structured data transfer properly.

Check robots.txt to confirm search engines can crawl your site.

Monitor traffic and keyword rankings in Google Analytics and Search Console.

Your new Shopify site should feel familiar to customers while taking advantage of modern features.

Customize your Shopify theme to match your logo, fonts, and color palette.

Rebuild homepage banners and content blocks.

Recreate navigation menus and collections for smooth browsing.


Replace BigCommerce features with Shopify apps, such as:

Wholesale/Bulk Pricing → Bold Custom Pricing, Wholesale Club

Advanced Search → Smart Search & Instant Search

Product Bundling → Bundler – Product Bundles

Abandoned Cart Recovery → Built-in Shopify feature

Marketing Integrations → Google Shopping, Facebook Ads apps

Before going live, test as though you are your own customer.

Test your store on desktop, mobile, and tablet.

Place test orders using multiple payment methods.

Check shipping rates and taxes for accuracy.

Verify email notifications for orders, accounts, and password resets.

When everything is ready, it’s time to make the switch.

Put your BigCommerce store into maintenance mode.

Announce the transition via email, social media, and banners.

Ask customers to reset their passwords (encrypted passwords cannot be migrated).

Track traffic, conversions, and bounce rates.

Use Google Search Console to find broken links or missing pages.

Continue refining site speed, mobile usability, and SEO.

Collect customer feedback to improve the experience.

Install Shopify apps to replace missing features

Test checkout, payments, and notifications

Migrating to Shopify is more than a technical move—it’s an opportunity to modernize your brand and enhance your customers’ experience. By following a structured process, you can protect your SEO, keep your customers happy, and set up a store that scales with your business.

we can completely manage your BigCommerce to Shopify migration from start to finish

, ensuring a seamless, worry-free transition.

How to Migrate from BigCommerce to Shopify Without Losing Data or SEO

, meaning some information may not transfer seamlessly.

Product details, customer data, order history, and URLs need to be carefully mapped and validated.

, and manually verify all data after import. Ventura Web Design specializes in this type of data transfer, checkout our BigCommerce to Shopify migration page for more info.




If not handled properly, this can lead to 

 in Shopify to ensure old BigCommerce links point to the new Shopify URLs.
✔️ Update 

 with your new sitemap to minimize SEO disruptions.




limits each product to 100 variants and 3 options

If you sell complex products (e.g., apparel with many sizes and colors), you might hit Shopify’s limit.

Shopify apps like Infinite Options or Advanced Product Options

 to bypass variant limits.
✔️ Consider restructuring your product listings if necessary.




 to inform customers about the migration and provide a 

does not support direct order history migration

 when handling returns or referencing past purchases.

 to import old order data into Shopify for archival purposes.




6. BigCommerce Has Some Features That Shopify Lacks

built-in customer group pricing, bulk discounts, and quote management

 Identify any BigCommerce features you rely on and find 

 if you use a payment gateway other than 

 (unlike BigCommerce, which has no transaction fees).

, so businesses outside supported regions must pay extra fees.

 to avoid transaction fees.
✔️ Compare Shopify’s payment gateway costs to BigCommerce’s before switching.




8. Shopify’s Theme & Design System is Different

 requires a different approach to customization.

 that closely matches your current BigCommerce store.
✔️

 If necessary, hire a Shopify expert such as Ventura Web Design and Marketing for custom design work.

If the migration isn’t planned properly, you may experience 

 before switching domains.
✔️ Schedule the migration during 

bugs, broken links, missing images, or formatting issues

Test checkout, payments, shipping rates, and customer accounts

Google Analytics, SEO rankings, and error reports

: Outline your migration steps and use a reliable migration tool.
✅ 

: Export product data, orders, customers, and metadata before migrating.
✅ 

: Use 301 redirects to prevent SEO damage.
✅ 

: Check all store functions, from checkout to customer logins.
✅ 

: Announce the migration and assist with password resets.
A 

 will help you avoid disruptions and make your Shopify store even more successful than your BigCommerce one. 🚀

step-by-step BigCommerce to Shopify Migration Checklist

Key Things to Be Aware Of When Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify

Adding products can be time-consuming but it doesn’t have to be. This how-to guide is designed to show you step by step how to add products, images, pricing, and other details so you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to efficiently complete the task of adding inventory to your store.

You will be presented with several options, as follows:

Provide accurate and comprehensive information such as product name, brand, and category. Be sure to use correct spelling and grammar!

: Set this toggle to yes or no to make your product visible or hidden from customers on the storefront.

: A unique identifier for each product. It should be a combination of letters and numbers.

: Select the type of product you are selling.

*: Set the default price of your product.

: Select the brand that your product belongs to.

*: Enter the weight of your product in pounds or kilograms.

It is best to use clear and concise language to describe the features, benefits, and use-cases of your product.

WYSIWYG Editor for description of product

: Use the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Editor to write a detailed description of the product, including features, benefits, and usage instructions.

Use high-quality images that accurately represent the product and provide different views, if necessary. Consider adding videos to give customers a better idea of the product’s features and use.

: Use this option to add images to your product from an existing URL.

: Upload images from your computer to use on your product page.

: You can drag and drop images from your computer to add them to your product page.

Assign unique identifiers such as UPC, SKU, or EAN to help customers easily find and compare products.

: This is a unique identifier for each product. It should be a combination of letters and numbers.

: This is an identifier used by the manufacturer to identify the product.

: This is an international product code used to identify products in the retail industry.

: This is a global standard that allows retailers to track products across multiple countries.

: This is a unique identifier used by warehouses to quickly locate products.

Set a competitive price for the product, taking into account the cost of production, shipping, and taxes.

): Set the default price of your product, excluding any taxes.

: Select the appropriate tax class for your product.

: Enter the tax code assigned by the tax provider.

: Enter the cost of the product. 5. MSRP: Enter the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for the product.

: Set a discounted price if you are running a sale.

: Select whether you want to apply a percentage or a fixed discount.

: Enter the minimum quantity, percentage of discount, and unit price.

Keep track of stock levels and set up notifications for low stock levels to avoid selling out of stock items.

: Set this toggle to yes or no to enable inventory tracking for the product.

: Enter the initial stock level of the product.

You may offer product variations, such as different colors or sizes, to give customers more options.

Use Variations to generate Variants (each with a unique SKU) that can be used to track inventory. This is where you can assign attributes such as image, price, and weight on the variant level. When a shopper chooses one of the variants when on the product page the image will automatically be updated.

 can be displayed as one of four multiple-choice types:

: Variants are different versions of the same product, such as size, color, or material. When adding variants, you can choose between creating a variant list or adding modifier options to the product.

: When creating a variant list, you’ll be asked to include the option name, such as size or color, and the values that follow, such as small, medium, large, or red, blue, green.

: Modifier options are additional features you can add to your product, such as extra options, customizations, or add-ons.

: When adding modifier options, you’ll be asked to include the option name, such as extra options, and the values that follow, such as engraving or gift wrapping.

This section allows you to set the product as featured on your homepage, add search keywords for easier discovery, or even setting an entire template for the specific product if developed.

: To set a product as featured, you can check the box next to “Featured product” in the Storefront Details section of the product page.

: Search keywords are words or phrases that you can add to the product page that you want customers to be able to find when searching for the product in the store.

: The sort order allows you to control the order in which the products appear in the store.

: The template layout file lets you choose which page layout file the product page will use.

: Warranty information is a field to add any additional warranty information you want to include regarding the product.

: The availability text is a field to add any additional information about the availability of the product.

: The condition field allows you to add a description of the condition of the product.

: To show the condition of the product on the storefront, you can check the box next to “Show condition on storefront”.

Custom fields allow you to specify more details about a product on the product’s page. For example, “Material: Polyester”.

: Custom fields are optional fields you can add to the product page to provide more information about the product.

: The custom field value is the information you want to include in the custom field.

Enabling this option allows your store to show similar products at the bottom of this specific product. It is recommended to keep this enabled.

Automatically show related products on my storefront

: To automatically show related products on your storefront, you can check the box next to “Automatically show related products on my storefront”.

Provide accurate dimensions and weight information to help customers make informed decisions and to correctly calculate shipping costs.

: The weight field allows you to enter the product’s weight in ounces.

: The weight field allows you to enter the product’s weight in inches.

: The height field allows you to enter the product’s height in inches.

: The depth field allows you to enter the product’s depth in inches.

You may specify if there is free shipping, or set a fixed shipping price, for this specific product.

: The fixed shipping price field allows you to set a fixed price for the shipping of the product.

: To offer free shipping for the product, you can check the box next to “Free shipping”.

 of the BigCommerce sections and what they do.

How to Add a Product to BigCommerce

Your BigCommerce store allows you to generate API keys that can be used to manage your storefront programmatically. Whether you're building a custom BigCommerce app, or your BigCommerce design agency has requested your API key, we've got you covered in this article. Let's get your key!

Follow the steps below to get your API key

On the Settings page, scroll to the very bottom and click 

On the Store-level API accounts page, click 

Ensure V2/V3 API Token is selected, and 

To assign full permissions to the API key, go down the list and 

click the rightmost button for each permission

, and your full API key information will download as a text file to your computer

Congratulations! You have successfully retrieved your BigCommerce API Token / BigCommerce API Key. 

It is very important that you keep the API key in a safe place, as it can control your entire ecommerce store.

 This token is for both the BigCommerce API V2, and BigCommerce API V3 and can be used for a wide variety of BigCommerce API integrations. To send this to your BigCommerce Development Agency, copy the contents of the downloaded text file and send it to them via email or project management software.

A BigCommerce API key allows you to manage your BigCommerce store programmatically. It is essential for building custom apps or integrating with other platforms.

How do I log into my BigCommerce Dashboard?

 to log into your BigCommerce Dashboard using your store credentials.

Where do I find the option to generate an API key in the Dashboard?

Once you're logged in, click on 'Settings' in the sidebar on the left. Scroll to the bottom and click on 'Store-level API accounts'.

On the 'Store-level API accounts' page, click the 'Create API Account' button.

You can name your API key anything you like, such as "Ventura".

To assign full permissions, go down the list of permissions and click the rightmost button for each one.

Click the 'Save' button, and your API key information will download as a text file to your computer.

What versions of the BigCommerce API does this key work for?

The generated API key is compatible with both BigCommerce API V2 and V3.

How do I share my API key with my BigCommerce Development Agency?

You can copy the contents of the downloaded text file and send it to your development agency via email or project management software.

What can I do with my BigCommerce API key?

Your API key can be used for a wide variety of integrations, including custom BigCommerce apps and third-party services.

How to Get Your BigCommerce API Key

First, log in to your BigCommerce account. In the left side menu, go to 

On the new page that loads scroll down to the API section and click on 


Click on Create API Account, and then - Create V2/V3 API token.

After this, you will need to give your account a name.

Next step - select OAuth scopes, which will be needed for your account. You should set these permissions:

Storefront API Customer Impersonation Tokens: None

BigCommerce

How to Migrate from BigCommerce to Shopify Without Losing Data or SEO

Key Things to Be Aware Of When Migrating from BigCommerce to Shopify

How to Add a Product to BigCommerce

How to Get Your BigCommerce API Key

How to Create a BigCommerce API Access Token

How To Import And Export On BigCommerce

How To Manage Orders On BigCommerce

How To Edit BigCommerce Orders

BigCommerce Abandoned Cart Emails - How To Guide