Data Migration

E-commerce Data Migration: The Complete Guide to Replatforming Without Data Loss

Migrating your e-commerce platform is one of the highest-stakes projects a business can undertake. Your product data, customer history, order records, and SEO equity represent years of accumulated business value. A poorly executed data migration can mean lost revenue, broken customer relationships, and months of recovery.

E-commerce data migration is the structured process of moving all business-critical data from one platform or system to another while preserving data integrity, relationships between records, and the operational continuity of your online store. Whether you are moving from Lightspeed to Shopify, consolidating multiple systems into a single ERP, or upgrading from a legacy platform, the migration process requires careful planning, robust tooling, and methodical validation.

This guide covers everything you need to know about planning and executing a successful e-commerce platform migration, from evaluating whether it is the right time to replatform, through the technical process itself, to post-migration validation that ensures nothing was left behind.

When to Consider an E-commerce Platform Migration

Not every operational frustration warrants a full platform migration. Replatforming is a significant investment of time and resources, so it is important to distinguish between problems that can be solved with better configuration or integrations and those that genuinely require a new platform.

Clear Signals That Migration Is Necessary

Platform limitations are blocking growth. Your current platform cannot support the number of products, variants, or markets you need to serve. You have hit hard limits on API calls, storage, or functionality that cannot be resolved with apps or plugins.

Total cost of ownership has become unsustainable. The combination of licensing fees, plugin costs, custom development to work around limitations, and manual workarounds exceeds what a modern platform would cost. This is especially common with older Magento installations and heavily customized WooCommerce setups.

Your platform is approaching end-of-life. The vendor has announced deprecation, security patches are no longer being released, or the developer ecosystem has moved on. Magento 1, older Lightspeed versions, and various legacy platforms fall into this category.

Multi-channel or international expansion is blocked. Your current platform cannot handle multi-currency, multi-language, or multi-warehouse requirements without significant custom development. Modern platforms like Shopify Markets or Lightspeed’s multi-store capabilities handle these natively.

Integration capabilities are insufficient. Your platform lacks the APIs or webhook support needed to connect with your ERP, WMS, or marketplace channels. Manual data entry and CSV exports are consuming staff time that should be spent on growth activities.

When Migration Is Probably Not the Answer

If your primary issues are around content quality, process efficiency, or team training, a migration will not solve them. Dirty data on one platform becomes dirty data on another. Similarly, if your main pain point is a single integration that is not working well, a custom middleware solution may be more appropriate than a full replatforming project.

Common E-commerce Migration Paths

The European e-commerce landscape involves a specific set of platforms and systems. Understanding the common migration paths helps set realistic expectations for complexity and timeline.

Lightspeed to Shopify

Migrating from Lightspeed to Shopify is one of the most frequent migration paths we handle. Lightspeed (particularly the eCom and Retail variants popular in the Benelux) offers solid functionality for smaller catalogs, but businesses often outgrow it when expanding internationally or requiring more advanced automation capabilities.

Key considerations for this migration path:

• Lightspeed’s product structure maps reasonably well to Shopify, but variant handling differs significantly
• Customer accounts need to be recreated (passwords cannot be migrated between platforms)
• Order history can be imported but requires careful field mapping
• Lightspeed’s built-in POS integration needs to be replaced with Shopify POS or a third-party solution
• SEO URL structures differ fundamentally, requiring comprehensive redirect mapping

WooCommerce to Shopify

WooCommerce migrations are common when businesses want to reduce the overhead of self-hosting, managing WordPress updates, and maintaining plugin compatibility. The flexibility of WooCommerce becomes a liability when the plugin stack grows unwieldy.

Key considerations:

• WooCommerce’s database structure is highly variable depending on installed plugins
• Custom fields and product metadata may not have direct Shopify equivalents
• WordPress content pages need to be recreated or moved to Shopify’s CMS
• Payment gateway history and subscription data require special handling
• Variable products with many attributes may need structural rethinking for Shopify’s variant model

Magento to Shopify

Magento (now Adobe Commerce) migrations are among the most complex due to Magento’s deeply customizable data model. These migrations are often triggered by Magento 1 end-of-life, escalating hosting costs, or the desire to reduce development dependency.

Key considerations:

• Magento’s configurable and grouped products require careful restructuring
• EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value) database architecture makes extraction complex
• Multi-store and multi-website configurations need to be mapped to Shopify’s architecture
• Custom modules and extensions may have created non-standard data structures
• Catalog rules and pricing tiers need to be rebuilt using Shopify’s pricing mechanisms

Legacy ERP to Modern Systems

Many European businesses still operate on older ERP systems (legacy Exact, custom-built databases, Access-based systems) that cannot communicate with modern e-commerce platforms. Migrating ERP data, particularly product master data, pricing structures, and customer records, into systems like Exact Online, Multivers, or directly into an e-commerce platform is often the first step in a broader digital transformation.

Platform Consolidation

Some businesses run multiple storefronts across different platforms, often the result of acquisitions or market-specific deployments. Consolidating these into a single platform reduces operational complexity and enables unified reporting, inventory management, and customer experiences.

What Data Can Be Migrated

A comprehensive e-commerce data migration covers far more than just products. Understanding the full scope of data that needs to move is essential for accurate planning and budgeting.

Product Data

Product data is typically the most complex component of any migration. A complete product migration includes:

• Core product information: titles, descriptions, SKUs, barcodes (EAN/UPC), prices, weight, dimensions
• Variants: size, color, material, and other option combinations with their specific pricing and inventory levels
• Media: product images, videos, and downloadable files with proper ordering and alt text
• SEO metadata: meta titles, meta descriptions, URL handles, and structured data
• Taxonomy: categories, collections, tags, and product types
• Custom fields: brand, material composition, care instructions, technical specifications
• Pricing structures: base prices, compare-at prices, tiered/wholesale pricing, currency-specific pricing
• Inventory: stock levels per location, warehouse assignments, reorder points

Customer Data

Customer records include contact information, shipping and billing addresses, account status, customer groups or tags, marketing consent status, and loyalty program data. Note that passwords cannot typically be migrated between platforms; customers will need to reset their credentials on the new platform.

Order History

Historical orders provide context for customer service, returns processing, and business analytics. Order migration includes order numbers, line items, payment status, fulfillment status, shipping information, and any notes or tags associated with orders.

Content and CMS Pages

Blog posts, landing pages, FAQ content, policy pages, and other CMS content often needs to migrate alongside the store data. This includes the content itself, associated media, internal linking structures, and any SEO metadata.

SEO Assets

Perhaps the most overlooked category: URL structures, redirect chains, canonical tags, structured data markup, XML sitemaps, and internal linking patterns. These directly impact your search visibility and must be carefully preserved or properly redirected.

Configuration and Settings

Shipping zones and rates, tax configurations, payment gateway settings, notification templates, and automation rules. While these cannot always be directly migrated, they need to be documented from the source platform and recreated on the target.

The Migration Process: Our Methodology

A successful e-commerce platform migration follows a structured methodology that minimizes risk and ensures nothing is overlooked. Here is how we approach migrations at Duxly.

Phase 1: Discovery and Data Audit (Week 1-2)

Before any data moves, we need a complete picture of what exists, its quality, and how it relates to other records.

Source system analysis. We connect to your current platform’s database or API and catalog every data entity: how many products, variants, customers, and orders exist. We identify custom fields, non-standard data structures, and platform-specific features in use.

Data quality assessment. We analyze the data for completeness, consistency, and accuracy. Common issues we identify include:

• Duplicate products or customers
• Missing required fields (SKUs without barcodes, products without images)
• Inconsistent formatting (mixed units, varying date formats, encoding issues)
• Orphaned records (variants without parent products, orders referencing deleted customers)
• Data that exceeds target platform limits (description length, variant count, image size)

Target platform mapping. We document the target platform’s data model, field limits, and import requirements. This reveals gaps where source data has no direct equivalent on the target platform, and opportunities where the target platform offers better structuring.

Migration scope document. The output of this phase is a detailed scope document that lists every data entity to be migrated, the mapping between source and target fields, any transformations required, and data that will not be migrated (with justification).

Phase 2: Data Mapping and Transformation Rules (Week 2-3)

With the audit complete, we define the exact rules for how each piece of data will be transformed during migration.

Field mapping. Every field in the source system is mapped to its equivalent in the target system. Where direct equivalents do not exist, we define how the data will be restructured. For example, Magento’s configurable product attributes might map to Shopify’s variant options, or multiple Lightspeed custom fields might consolidate into a single Shopify metafield.

Data cleaning rules. Based on the quality assessment, we define automated cleaning operations: deduplication logic, field formatting standardization, missing data handling (default values vs. flagging for manual review), and character encoding normalization.

Business logic. Some transformations require business decisions. How should historical orders from a deprecated payment gateway be categorized? Should inactive products be migrated or archived? What customer segments need to be preserved? We work with your team to define these rules explicitly.

Phase 3: Tooling and Infrastructure (Week 2-4)

Depending on the migration complexity, we build or configure the tooling needed to execute the migration reliably and repeatably.

Migration scripts. For most migrations, we build custom scripts and tools that extract, transform, and load data according to the defined mapping. These scripts are idempotent (safe to run multiple times) and include comprehensive logging.

Validation frameworks. Automated checks that compare source and target data after each migration run. These verify record counts, field completeness, referential integrity (do all order line items reference valid products?), and business rule compliance.

Rollback procedures. For every migration step, we define how to reverse it if issues are discovered. This includes database snapshots, API-based deletion scripts, and manual intervention procedures.

Phase 4: Test Migrations (Week 3-5)

We never migrate directly to production. Instead, we run multiple test migrations against development or staging environments.

First test run. A complete migration using a subset of data (typically 10-20% of products and associated records). This validates the mapping rules, identifies edge cases, and benchmarks performance.

Full test run. A complete migration of all data to a staging environment. Your team reviews the results, checking product display, search functionality, customer account access, and order history accuracy.

Performance testing. For large catalogs (10,000+ products), we verify that the migration can complete within the planned maintenance window. We optimize batch sizes, API rate limiting, and parallel processing as needed.

Iterative refinement. Each test run reveals issues that need addressing. We refine mapping rules, add handling for edge cases, and update validation checks. Most migrations require 2-4 test iterations before the team is confident in the results.

Phase 5: Production Migration (Week 5-6)

The actual production migration is the most carefully orchestrated phase. By this point, the process has been rehearsed multiple times and all edge cases have been addressed.

Pre-migration checklist. DNS configuration prepared, SSL certificates provisioned, redirects configured, monitoring alerts set up, team communication plan in place, rollback triggers defined.

Data freeze. Depending on the migration strategy, we either freeze the source platform (no new orders or changes) during the migration window, or we implement a delta sync that captures changes made during the migration.

Execution. The migration scripts run according to the tested and validated process. Real-time monitoring tracks progress and flags any deviations from expected results.

Verification. Automated validation runs immediately after migration completes. Key business scenarios are manually verified: can customers log in, do product pages display correctly, do prices and inventory levels match, can orders be placed?

Go-live. DNS is switched to the new platform, redirects are activated, and the store begins serving customers from the new system.

Phase 6: Post-Migration Support (Week 6-8)

The first two weeks after go-live are critical. We provide active monitoring and rapid response during this period.

Issue triage. Any data discrepancies reported by your team or customers are investigated and resolved. Common post-migration issues include edge-case products displaying incorrectly, specific customer accounts needing manual attention, or redirect gaps for less-common URLs.

Delta synchronization. If the source platform continued accepting orders during the migration window, we run a final delta sync to capture any records created during the transition.

Performance monitoring. We track site performance, search indexing, and conversion metrics to ensure the new platform is performing as expected.

Risks in E-commerce Data Migration and How to Mitigate Them

Every migration carries risk. The key is to identify, quantify, and mitigate risks before they become problems.

Data Loss

Risk: Records are dropped during extraction, transformation, or loading. Mitigation: Record count validation at every stage. Source and target counts must match for every entity type. Detailed logging of every record processed, skipped, or failed.

Data Corruption

Risk: Field values are truncated, incorrectly encoded, or mapped to wrong fields. Mitigation: Field-level validation comparing source and target values for a statistical sample. Character encoding tests with multi-language content. Boundary testing with maximum-length values.

Broken Customer Relationships

Risk: Customers cannot access their accounts, see incorrect order history, or lose loyalty status. Mitigation: Password reset flow communication plan. Pre-migration customer notification. Post-migration account verification testing with real customer scenarios.

Revenue Loss During Transition

Risk: The store is unavailable or non-functional during the migration window, resulting in lost sales. Mitigation: Migration window scheduled during lowest-traffic period. Maintenance page with expected return time. Pre-built rollback that can restore the original platform within minutes if critical issues arise.

SEO Ranking Drops

Risk: Search engines cannot find or properly index pages on the new platform, resulting in traffic loss. Mitigation: Comprehensive redirect mapping, pre-launch crawl comparison, and search console monitoring. See the dedicated SEO section below for detailed guidance.

Integration Failures

Risk: Existing integrations with ERPs, WMS systems, or marketplaces break when the platform changes. Mitigation: Integration inventory documented during discovery. New platform integrations built and tested before go-live. Parallel running period where both old and new integrations operate simultaneously.

SEO During Platform Migration: Protecting Your Search Visibility

Search engine rankings represent significant long-term investment. A careless migration can erase years of SEO work in days. Proper SEO handling during e-commerce replatforming is non-negotiable.

URL Structure and Redirects

The most critical SEO task is ensuring that every URL on your old platform has a corresponding redirect to the equivalent page on the new platform.

1:1 redirect mapping. Every product, category, blog post, and content page URL from the old platform must have a 301 redirect pointing to its new location. This is not optional; it is the single most important factor in preserving search rankings during a migration.

URL structure decisions. Different platforms use different URL patterns. Lightspeed might use /product/product-name.html while Shopify uses /products/product-name. Where possible, configure the new platform to match existing URL patterns. Where that is not possible, 301 redirects handle the transition.

Redirect chain prevention. If your site already has existing redirects (from previous changes or migrations), ensure the new redirects point to the final destination, not to another redirect. Chains of redirects dilute PageRank and slow page loading.

Metadata Preservation

All SEO metadata must transfer to the new platform:

• Meta titles and descriptions for every product, category, and page
• Image alt text for all product and content images
• Heading structure (H1, H2, H3) in product descriptions and content pages
• Canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues
• Structured data (Schema.org markup) for products, reviews, and organization

Technical SEO Checklist

Before going live on the new platform, verify:

• XML sitemap is generated and submitted to Google Search Console
• Robots.txt is properly configured (not blocking important pages)
• Internal linking structure is preserved or improved
• Page load speed meets or exceeds the old platform
• Mobile responsiveness is maintained
• HTTPS is properly configured with no mixed content warnings
• Hreflang tags are correctly implemented (for multi-language stores)
• Pagination is properly handled for category pages

Post-Migration SEO Monitoring

After go-live, actively monitor:

• Google Search Console for crawl errors, indexing issues, and ranking changes
• Organic traffic levels compared to pre-migration baseline
• Keyword rankings for your top 50-100 terms
• 404 error rates (indicating missing redirects)
• Core Web Vitals scores on the new platform

Address any issues immediately. The first 2-4 weeks after migration are the most critical window for SEO recovery.

Timeline and Planning

Migration timelines vary significantly based on complexity. Here are realistic timeframes for common scenarios.

Small Migration (2-4 weeks)

• Under 1,000 products
• Single language
• No complex variant structures
• Standard fields only
• Minimal order history to migrate

Medium Migration (4-8 weeks)

• 1,000-10,000 products
• Multi-language content (2-3 languages)
• Custom fields and metadata
• Full order and customer history
• 2-3 integrated systems (ERP, WMS)
• SEO redirect mapping required

Large Migration (8-16 weeks)

• 10,000+ products with complex variants
• Multi-language, multi-currency, multi-warehouse
• Extensive custom data structures
• Multiple integrated systems requiring rebuild
• Complex business logic and pricing rules
• Regulatory compliance requirements

Factors That Extend Timelines

Data quality issues. If the source data requires significant cleaning before it can be migrated, add 1-3 weeks for data preparation.

Decision delays. Business decisions about how to handle edge cases, which data to migrate, and how to restructure information for the new platform require stakeholder availability.

Platform limitations. Some target platforms have API rate limits or import restrictions that constrain how quickly data can be loaded. Shopify’s API rate limits, for example, can extend loading times for very large catalogs.

Integration rebuilds. If existing integrations need to be rebuilt for the new platform, this work often runs in parallel with the data migration but may extend the overall project timeline.

Cost Factors in E-commerce Data Migration

Understanding what drives migration costs helps set realistic budgets and avoid scope creep.

Primary Cost Drivers

Data volume and complexity. More products, more variants, more custom fields, and more historical records all increase the work required for mapping, transformation, and validation.

Number of systems involved. A simple platform-to-platform migration is less complex than migrating from a platform while simultaneously rebuilding ERP integrations, WMS connections, and marketplace feeds.

Data quality. Poor source data quality increases the transformation and validation effort significantly. Data that requires manual review or enrichment adds human time to the process.

Customization on source platform. Heavily customized platforms (custom Magento modules, WooCommerce plugin stacks, bespoke database schemas) require more reverse-engineering to understand and extract data correctly.

SEO requirements. Comprehensive redirect mapping, metadata migration, and post-migration SEO monitoring add effort but are essential for protecting organic traffic.

Downtime tolerance. Zero-downtime migrations require delta synchronization capabilities and more sophisticated cutover orchestration, increasing complexity.

Cost-Saving Approaches

Clean data before migration. Investing time in data quality before the migration starts reduces transformation complexity and validation cycles.

Prioritize ruthlessly. Not all historical data needs to migrate. Orders older than a certain date, inactive customers, and discontinued products can often be archived rather than migrated.

Standardize before you migrate. If your product data lacks consistent structure, building that structure on the old platform (or in an intermediate format) simplifies the migration itself.

Post-Migration Validation Checklist

After migration completes, systematic validation ensures nothing was missed. This checklist covers the essential verification points.

Data Integrity

• Product count matches between source and target (accounting for intentionally excluded items)
• Variant count and option structures are correct
• Prices match across all products and variants (including multi-currency)
• Inventory levels are accurate per location
• Customer records are complete with correct addresses and contact information
• Order history is accessible and accurate
• Images are properly associated and display correctly
• Category and collection structure matches the planned taxonomy

Functionality

• Product search returns accurate results
• Filtering and sorting work correctly on collection pages
• Cart and checkout flow completes successfully
• Payment gateways process test transactions
• Shipping rates calculate correctly for all zones
• Tax calculations are accurate for all applicable regions
• Customer account login and password reset work
• Email notifications trigger correctly (order confirmation, shipping, etc.)

Integrations

• ERP synchronization is active and processing correctly
• Inventory updates flow between all connected systems
• Order data reaches fulfillment systems
• Marketplace listings are properly connected
• Analytics tracking is capturing data accurately

SEO

• All planned redirects are functioning (test a sample of 50-100)
• No unexpected 404 errors in search console
• XML sitemap is accessible and submitted
• Meta titles and descriptions display correctly
• Structured data validates without errors
• Internal links resolve to correct pages
• Canonical tags are properly set

Why Work With a Migration Specialist

E-commerce data migration sits at the intersection of technical data engineering and business operations knowledge. It requires understanding not just how platforms store data, but how that data supports business processes, customer experiences, and growth objectives.

At Duxly, we have executed migrations across the European e-commerce landscape, working with Shopify, Lightspeed, WooCommerce, Magento, and the ERP systems commonly used in the Benelux and broader European market. Our approach combines automated tooling for efficiency with methodical validation for reliability.

We also understand that migration is rarely an isolated project. It typically connects to broader initiatives around integration and automation, custom tooling, and operational improvement. We plan migrations with these dependencies in mind, ensuring the new platform is not just a copy of the old one but a foundation for growth.

See examples of our migration and integration work in our case studies.

Ready to Plan Your Migration?

If you are considering a platform migration, the best time to start planning is before you have committed to a timeline. Early discovery work reveals the true scope of the project and helps avoid surprises.

Get in touch for a free migration assessment. We will review your current platform, identify the key challenges for your specific situation, and provide a realistic timeline and approach. No commitment required; just a clear picture of what your migration would involve.