Wix to Shopify Migration: How to Move Your Store the Right Way

Wix is a friendly place to start a business. The drag-and-drop builder gets you a respectable storefront in a weekend, and for the first stage of an e-commerce business — figuring out what you sell, who buys it, and whether the model works — it's perfectly adequate. The problem is that "perfectly adequate for getting started" and "the right tool for scaling" rarely overlap, and most merchants who outgrow Wix feel it as a creeping frustration before they consciously decide to move.

If you're at the point where Wix is starting to slow you down — limited apps, conversion-killing checkout friction, sluggish performance, or just a sense that you've outgrown the platform — moving to Shopify is the most common next step. This guide walks through why merchants make the switch, what the migration actually involves, and how to do it without losing what you've built.

Why merchants migrate from Wix to Shopify

Wix is built as a website builder that happens to have e-commerce features. Shopify is built as e-commerce that happens to include a website. That difference shows up in a few specific ways:

App ecosystem. Wix has roughly 300 e-commerce apps. Shopify has 8,000+. Almost every problem you'll hit as your store grows — abandoned cart recovery, advanced reviews, subscriptions, loyalty programs, advanced shipping logic, B2B — has multiple high-quality Shopify apps and a smaller, often less polished selection on Wix.

Checkout conversion. Shopify's checkout, especially with Shop Pay, consistently outperforms Wix's checkout on conversion rate. For a store doing meaningful revenue, even a 1–2% conversion lift pays for the migration many times over within a year.

Performance. Shopify pages tend to load faster than Wix pages, particularly on mobile. Faster pages mean better Core Web Vitals, which means better Google rankings, which means more organic traffic.

Selling channels. Shopify's native multi-channel selling — TikTok Shop, Instagram, Amazon, Google Shopping, Facebook, point-of-sale — is more developed than Wix's equivalents. If you're selling beyond your own website, Shopify handles it more cleanly.

Long-term scalability. Shopify scales from £0 to £100M+ on the same platform. Wix has a meaningful ceiling that most growing stores hit eventually.

What changes when you switch from Wix to Shopify

The good news: a Wix to Shopify migration is one of the more straightforward platform moves because Wix stores tend to be smaller and less customized than, say, Magento or BigCommerce stores. The honest list of what changes:

• The page builder works differently. Wix's drag-and-drop is more visual; Shopify themes use sections you configure rather than freeform layout. Most merchants find Shopify's approach faster once they get used to it, but the learning curve is real.

• Your domain stays the same. Your domain just points to Shopify instead of Wix.

• URL structures change. Wix product URLs look different from Shopify's. This means redirects are essential to preserve any SEO equity you've built.

• Apps and integrations change. Wix Velo customizations, Wix-specific apps, and bookings/membership features all need to be replaced with Shopify equivalents.

• The admin experience improves. Most Wix merchants find Shopify's admin faster, clearer, and better organized once they're a few weeks in.

The migration process

A Wix to Shopify transfer for a typical store follows this path:

1. Audit and plan. Inventory your products, customers, orders, pages, blog posts, apps, and customizations. Most Wix stores are simple enough that this is a fast exercise.

2. Set up Shopify. Pick a theme that suits your brand, install the apps you need, configure payment gateways, shipping zones, and tax rules.

3. Migrate the data. Products, variants, images, customers, and any historical orders move across. Wix's data export is more limited than other platforms, which means some of the migration is done through API tools or careful manual import for edge cases.

4. Rebuild the design. Your Wix design doesn't carry over directly because the platforms render pages differently. The brand identity (logo, colors, fonts, photography) all comes across; the layout gets rebuilt on a Shopify theme.

5. Set up SEO. Map every Wix URL to its Shopify equivalent. Implement 301 redirects. Preserve titles, meta descriptions, H1s, and image alt text.

6. Test everything. Place test orders on every payment method and shipping option. Verify email notifications. Check the storefront on phone, tablet, and desktop.

7. Launch. Point your domain at Shopify, activate redirects, and monitor closely for the first few days.

For most Wix merchants, the entire process takes 2–5 weeks. Larger or more customized Wix stores can run 5–8 weeks.

Data: what comes over

What migrates from Wix to Shopify:

• Products, with images and variants

• Customer information

• Historical orders

• Pages and blog posts

• Most metadata

What needs more attention:

• Reviews — typically migrated to a Shopify review app like Judge.me or Loox

• Bookings and memberships — Wix's bookings feature has Shopify equivalents but they work differently and need explicit setup

• Velo custom code — needs to be rebuilt as Shopify apps or custom code if the functionality is essential

• Wix Stores discount codes — usually recreated rather than migrated, as the formats differ

Customer passwords, as with every platform migration, can't be transferred for security reasons. Customers reset their password on first login.

SEO: keep what you've built

Even on smaller Wix stores, you've likely accumulated some search equity — at minimum on your brand name, often on a handful of product pages and blog posts. Protecting that equity through the migration is straightforward but mandatory:

• Build a redirect map: every Wix URL → its Shopify equivalent

• Implement the redirects on Shopify before launch

• Keep your title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, and image alt text the same

• Submit your new sitemap to Google Search Console on launch day

• Watch Search Console for 404s in the first month and fix anything that surfaces

Done properly, you'll see a small dip in organic traffic in weeks 2–3, then recovery to baseline by week 6–8 — often with gains afterward because Shopify's site speed beats most Wix setups.

What it costs to move from Wix to Shopify

Wix to Shopify migrations are typically the most affordable of the major platform migrations because Wix stores tend to be smaller and less customized. Most Wix migrations land in the lower end of our pricing packages. Larger Wix stores with extensive Velo customization or complex bookings/membership setups sit higher.

You'll also pay the Shopify subscription (£25/month for Shopify Basic is enough for most stores starting out) and any apps you add.

Common pitfalls

The mistakes that hurt Wix to Shopify migrations:

• Trying to recreate the Wix design pixel-for-pixel. Shopify themes have a different layout philosophy. Adapting the design to Shopify's strengths gets you a better result faster than fighting the platform.

• Skipping the redirect map. Even small stores have search equity worth protecting. The redirect work is the same effort regardless of store size.

• Not planning for Velo replacements early. If you've used Velo for anything important — pricing logic, custom forms, member-only content — that functionality needs a Shopify plan from week one.

• Switching themes too late. Decide on your Shopify theme during scoping. Picking a theme three weeks into the project resets a lot of work.

• Migrating without testing the checkout. Wix and Shopify handle taxes, shipping, and discounts differently. Real test orders catch problems that visual review misses.

Is the move worth it?

If you're a hobbyist or part-time seller doing modest volume, Wix is fine. If you're trying to build a real e-commerce business and you're hitting friction — slow pages, app limitations, conversion drag, can't find an integration you need — Shopify is the platform you'll likely end up on eventually anyway. Migrating sooner rather than later means you stop losing revenue to platform friction now instead of in 18 months.

If you're comparing platforms, our guides on WooCommerce to Shopify migration and BigCommerce to Shopify migration cover what those moves look like. You can also see the full set of migrations we handle on the migrations overview page, or read about our team on the about page.

FAQs

How long does a Wix to Shopify migration take? Most Wix stores migrate in 2–5 weeks. More complex setups with Velo code or bookings can run 5–8 weeks.

Will my Wix domain still work? Yes. Your domain transfers across; only the underlying platform changes. Customers won't notice anything except (hopefully) a faster, smoother store.

Will I lose my SEO when I switch from Wix to Shopify? Not if it's done properly. The redirect map and on-page SEO preservation protect your rankings. Expect a small temporary dip in week 2–3 followed by recovery.

What about my Wix Bookings or Wix Members features? These don't have direct Shopify equivalents but Shopify has alternative apps that handle most use cases — Shopify-native bookings apps, membership apps like Bold Memberships, and similar. The setup is different but the customer-facing functionality can be replicated.

Can I migrate my Wix blog to Shopify? Yes. Shopify has a built-in blog and posts migrate over with their content, images, and SEO metadata. You'll redirect the old Wix blog URLs to the new Shopify ones.

Do I need to be technical to do this? No — that's why we exist. The migration is technical work; using the Shopify admin afterward is simpler than using Wix in most respects, so you'll be more independent post-migration than you were before.

How much does it cost to move from Wix to Shopify? Most Wix migrations sit at the lower end of our fixed-price packages. See the pricing page for current numbers.

Is Shopify harder to use than Wix? The product itself is comparably easy. The main difference is that Shopify uses sections within a theme rather than free-form drag-and-drop. Most merchants prefer it after a couple of weeks because it's faster and more consistent.

What happens to my Wix subscription? Cancel it once your Shopify store is live and stable — usually 2–4 weeks after launch, after you've confirmed everything is working. There's no need to keep paying for both.

Can I migrate from Wix to Shopify myself? For very small stores with a handful of products and no SEO history, yes. For anything with real revenue or search equity, the redirect work and edge cases are where DIY usually backfires.

Ready to outgrow Wix?

We run fixed-price Wix to Shopify migrations with everything scoped up-front. Get in touch and we'll put together a plan tailored to your store within 48 hours.