Shopware to Shopify:what comes along andwhat doesn't

In short

• Products, customers, categories and pages all come along from Shopware to Shopify.
• Order history and reviews work, but need a plan. Shopware's properties and variants don't map 1:1 to Shopify.
• Passwords don't come along. That's not a problem: on Shopify, customers log in with their email and a one-time code.

Why so many Shopware merchants are switching right now

Shopware 5 has not been developed further since the end of July 2024 and no longer receives regular security updates (Shopware). If you're still selling on it, you have to migrate anyway: to Shopware 6 or to a different system.

Technically, moving to Shopware 6 is almost a rebuild in itself. Plugins and theme have to be redone. That's why many merchants make an honest comparison: if I'm rebuilding anyway, why not go straight to Shopify, with no hosting of my own and no update stress?

Shopware 6 remains a good choice if you have highly individual processes and your own development team. For most merchants with standard workflows, Shopify is faster, cheaper to run and easier to maintain.

What comes along 1:1 and what takes work

Products, customers and content are easy to plan. The work comes wherever Shopware structures data differently from Shopify.

As a rule, the most work isn't the data itself, but plugins with their own logic. For every plugin, we clarify in the data check whether Shopify can already do it, whether there's an app, or whether a custom module is needed.

Variants and properties: the tricky part

This is where it's decided whether your product range works well after the migration. Shopware and Shopify think about variants differently.

• Options: a Shopify product has a maximum of three options, such as color, size and material. Shopware allows more. If your range goes beyond that, we combine options or split products sensibly.
• Number of variants: Shopify now allows up to 2,048 variants per product on all plans. The old limit of 100 is no longer an obstacle (overview).
• Properties: Shopware properties like material or care instructions become metafields in Shopify. They power filters in collections and details on the product page.
• Linked products: if you list colors as separate products, Shopify can display them together again via combined listings or an app.

We define this mapping cleanly once before the import. After that, the actual import runs almost automatically.

Redirects and customers

Most of the money lost in a migration isn't lost in the store, it's lost on Google. Shopware assigns free-form SEO URLs, often without a prefix: /rotes-kleid-gr-38. Shopify works with fixed paths: products live under /products/, categories under /collections/, pages under /pages/. So every old address changes.

That's why every URL that brings in visitors needs a 301 redirect to its new counterpart. Here's how:

1. Export all old URLs. From Shopware, the sitemap and Search Console. Search Console shows which pages actually bring clicks.
2. Map old to new. Product to product, category to collection. Never send everything to the homepage across the board.
3. Import via CSV. Shopify accepts redirects in bulk as a CSV in the admin under URL redirects.
4. Check after go-live. Spot checks, the 404 report in Search Console, daily for the first two weeks.

Customers come along: names, addresses, order history. Passwords don't, but that's no longer a problem: on Shopify, customers log in without a password, using their email address and a one-time code. On their first visit, they simply enter their email and they're in, order history included. Our advice: still announce the migration with a short email so nobody is surprised by the new login.

Orders come along as history. Ideally, close out open orders in the old system.

FAQ

How long does a migration from Shopware to Shopify take? For a typical store with a few hundred to a few thousand products, we estimate four to eight weeks. Large catalogs, ERP integration or B2B extend that.

Will I lose my Google rankings? Not if the redirects are set up cleanly. A short dip in the first few weeks is normal. Permanent losses almost always come from missing 301 redirects.

Do my customer passwords come along? No, but they're not needed anymore. Shopify customers log in with their email and a one-time code. Account and order history are there right away.

Can I keep using my Shopware plugins? No, but almost everything exists as a Shopify app or is already built in. Whatever doesn't exist, we build as a custom module.

Does the old store have to go offline during the migration? No. The new store is built in parallel. We only switch over once everything is tested. Usually on a quiet weekday.