Migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus is a strategic decision that many businesses are considering. While Magento holds a prominent position in the eCommerce market, the ongoing trend of switching to Shopify Plus has raised questions about its reasons, prompting a comparison between the two platforms. Join us in exploring these aspects in this article.

Learn more: Adobe Commerce vs Shopify Plus

What is Magento?

Magento is an open-source eCommerce platform with over 140,000 active websites and was acquired by Adobe in 2018. It offers many advanced features, allowing you to tailor your eCommerce websites. 

It has two versions: Magento Open Source, a free option to download and install on your servers, and Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento Enterprise), a paid version with premium features such as Adobe’s hosting and security services.

What is Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus stands out as Shopify’s advanced SaaS eCommerce platform tailored for large and rapidly growing enterprises. With high scalability, it can handle surges in traffic and sales volumes reaching billions of dollars. 

By leveraging Shopify Plus, you can benefit from a robust infrastructure that facilitates easy customization and centralized management of multiple stores, brands, languages, and currencies through a dashboard.

Also, the platform offers a range of superior solutions to enhance eCommerce operations, including Shop Pay, Shopify Flow, LaunchPad, Shopify Scripts, and more.

Why do businesses move away from Magento?

Many businesses opt to move away from the Magento platform in pursuit of a more optimal solution for their eCommerce websites. However, the following two reasons are widely regarded as the most prevalent.

Magento 1 is no longer available

After launching the Magento 2 (M2) version, the company has declared they’ll no longer support the Magento 1 (M1) version. This means that if you’re using the older version, you won’t receive security updates, bug fixes, and technical assistance. 

So, the platform encourages their customers to upgrade to M2 to ensure continued technical support, enhanced security, and access to a variety of new and advanced features.

However, the upgrade process is complex, requiring significant investment in terms of cost and time for source code and interface customization. It may force you to halt your eCommerce operations.

In case you want to keep operating M1 alongside the update process, there’s a potential risk of disrupting system operations, causing significant disruptions to the customer experience, and ultimately affecting sales.

Moreover, there’s also a potential risk of compatibility issues, as some features and modules initially built on M1 may require significant customization to operate effectively on M2.

Faced with these risks, some businesses opt not to upgrade but rather switch to an alternative eCommerce platform. Frequently, these businesses turn to SaaS platforms that offer robust technical support and readily available solutions.

Learn more: M1 vs M2

Magento 2 requires high technical skills

Some businesses that have upgraded and used M2 for a while have realized that it may not be the best choice. Developing and maintaining a M2 website requires high technical expertise, especially if you want to integrate and customize specific features.

If you don’t have a sufficiently professional technical team or inefficiently collaborate with deployment partners, the customization process is even more complex. 

Plus, while the open-source platform offers high scalability, it lacks flexibility. So, if you don’t set up and build your system properly, it may get issues during peak shopping times, leading to crashes and interruptions.

This, in turn, customers to be unable to access the website for purchases, causing significant harm to your brand.

Learn more: The costs of building a Magento eCommerce website

Reasons to move to Shopify Plus

• Easy to use: The platform is well-designed with an intuitive interface, allowing you to efficiently manage and enhance your eCommerce websites without the need for advanced technical skills, unlike Magento.
• Swift Time-To-Launch: Using Shopify Plus infrastructure, you can launch your eCommerce website in just 2 to 5 months. In comparison, launching with Magento typically takes around 3-6 months.
• App Ecosystem: With Shopify Plus Certified Apps, you have easy access to an application ecosystem specially developed for ‘Plus’, as well as third-party applications.
• Automated Scaling:  ‘Plus’ uses cloud architecture and automatic scaling processes, allowing the website to automatically scale when there is a need for additional resources. This ensures the website can withstand sudden traffic increases, particularly crucial during major shopping events. In contrast, Magento requires IT team intervention, and each adjustment may impact system operations.
• Seamless Integration: Shopify Plus offers APIs, helping you with smooth and straightforward integration with third-party systems such as ERP, CRM, and PIM to improve data management and streamline business processes. Conversely, integrating with third-party systems on the open-source platform is more complex, requiring significant technical intervention and a knowledgeable technical team to ensure successful integration.  

Learn more: 15 reasons why you should migrate to Shopify Plus

Brands migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus

Below are some brands that have previously embraced eCommerce using Magento and switched to Shopify Plus to reduce technical complexities and costs.

Gymshark

Gymshark, a UK-based brand specializing in sportswear and fitness fashion, has emerged as a prominent and favored global sportswear brand since its inception in 2012.

Facing a website crash during the bustling Black Friday shopping season, Gymshark, previously on Magento, made the strategic decision to switch to Shopify Plus.

Despite time and financial investments in repairing and maintaining the system, there was no guarantee of long-term effectiveness. 

Upon switching to Shopify Plus, Gymshark capitalized on available solutions such as Shopify POS to elevate both online and offline shopping experiences. The implementation of Shopify Scripts, an exclusive tool for the ‘Plus’ merchants, allowed them to customize and optimize the checkout process.

By using this advanced SaaS platform, Gymshark significantly boosted conversion rates and sales, particularly during major year-end shopping events. This success has firmly established Gymshark as one of the fastest-growing brands globally.

Bombas

Founded in the United States in 2013, Bombas is a brand specializing in the manufacturing and retail of socks. Renowned for its “buy one, donate one” approach, Bombas pledges to donate a pair of socks to those in need for every pair sold. 

Bombas faced website crashes on its previous Magento platform, occurring during Shark Tank program airings and major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These disruptions led to substantial financial losses and incurred significant fees for system repairs over an extended period.

To capitalize on the seamless scalability offered by Shopify Plus, Bombas moved away from the previous. The Bombas website remained resilient during significant year-end shopping events.

The brand not only recouped its investment quickly but also witnessed a remarkable 300% surge in sales compared to the same period the previous year.

Jack Rogers

Jack Rogers, an iconic American brand specializing in footwear and fashion accessories, has enjoyed widespread recognition globally for an extended period. The brand is not only distinguished for its use of the highest-quality materials in crafting sophisticated and luxurious footwear but also for its global prestige. 

After running on the Magento platform for a while, Jack Roger’s eCommerce website started experiencing issues. Each minor update incurred significant time and costs, leading to the decision to switch to Shopify Plus. This move aimed to find a cost-effective solution for operations and maintain the overall stability of the system.

Jack Rogers implemented Shopify Flow to automate both operational and sales processes. The brand also integrated various third-party applications such as Smile, Gorgias, and more to augment the eCommerce efficiency.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Learn more: 

• 15 brands migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus Pt.1

• 15 brands migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus Pt.2

• 15 brands migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus Pt.3

Things to keep in mind when migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus

Below are some notes to consider during the platform migration process.

Data migration

There are several methods to migrate data to the Shopify Plus system, such as automated migration, manual migration, and data import/export. You can choose one of these methods or deploy all of them to streamline the migration process and enhance data accuracy. 

Customer data

• Customer Accounts: Ensure that all customer account information, including names, addresses, emails, and purchase history, is accurately migrated.
• Passwords: You can provide customers with the opportunity to reset their passwords or use verification methods to ensure the security of the information.

Product data

• Product Information: Accurately convert product descriptions, images, prices, and detailed information.
• Product Categories: Ensure that the product category structure is uniformly converted, and each product is assigned to the correct category.

Transaction data

• Order History: Convert the entire order history of customers to maintain transaction information and shopping history.
• Payment Information: Ensure that customer payment information is converted without compromising security.

System architecture re-design

Switching an eCommerce platform in general and specifically migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus is a complex process that demands detailed planning, precision, and an investment in both budget and time, along with technical expertise.

Therefore, solution architects need to strategize to redesign the system, encompassing system architecture, infrastructure, technology, performance monitoring tools, etc.

Website optimization

When deciding to switch to Shopify Plus, there are some things related to website optimization you need to keep in mind. The URL structure of the two platforms differ, so you should check the navigation of all web pages to ensure the preservation of SEO value and user redirection to the correct pages. 

During the platform migration process, a temporary decrease in rankings on search engines like Google or Bing is normal and not a cause for concern. These search engines may take a few days to process the new website and update essential indices.

Looking for a professional partner?

Lately, Shopify Plus has emerged as the preferred choice for businesses making the move from the Magento world.

Having extensive experience in developing eCommerce websites on both eCommerce platforms, and successfully executing the Shopify Plus migrations, SECOMM has become a reliable technology partner for many large enterprises such as Vinamilk and Suzuverse.

Contact SECOMM or call directly at the hotline (028 7108 9908) to start the project of the Magento to Shopify Plus platform migration process tailored to your business.