We took over a store whose migration had been reported as complete several times by a previous provider. Our audit painted a different picture: a large share of the products was missing, collections were assigned incorrectly, barcodes, identifiers and custom fields were incomplete, and some content was hard-coded instead of stored in editable fields. We systematically documented the current state, discarded what was unusable and rebuilt the most important areas. The lesson: a migration isn't done when the import has run. It's done when data and functions have been checked.
The case
“Import complete” only tells you that a file was processed. It doesn't tell you whether everything arrived, whether it's assigned correctly, or whether the systems behind it can work with it. With large catalogs, this often only shows up when customers can't find products, filters don't work or the ERP can't match orders.
Our checklist before sign-off
- Completeness: Do the numbers of products, variants, collections and customers match the old system?
- Identifiers: Are SKUs, barcodes and manufacturer part numbers complete? They're needed for the ERP, marketplaces and shopping feeds.
- Custom fields: Are technical data and product info stored in custom fields, not in body text or hard-coded?
- Assignments: Are products in the right collections?
- Content: Did blog posts, pages and images make it over? They're easy to forget because they aren't in the product export.
- Integrations: Do apps and interfaces work with the new data?
- Spot checks: Check individual products end to end, in addition to comparing the counts.
Hard-coded or editable?
Part of the inherited setup had content stored directly in the theme. At first glance that looks finished, but it stops the team from maintaining products themselves. Every change then needs a developer. We moved these parts to editable fields so the store can grow with the product range.
What to take away
- “Done” means checked, not imported. Before sign-off, ask to see what was reconciled.
- Don't just count products. Identifiers, custom fields, collections and content matter just as much.
- Pay attention to what you can edit yourself. Hard-coded content will cost you on every future change.
- An unclear state needs an audit first. List first, then repair.
Was your migration reported as done, but it doesn't feel that way? We'll audit it and tell you what's missing and what needs to happen.