Last updated August 2026
WooCommerce powers over 4 million stores on WordPress. It stores products as custom post types, variants as post meta, and orders in a separate custom table. Its data model is flexible but deeply coupled to WordPress, which creates specific challenges during migration to Shopify's structured product model.
The Store Migration app can import products (via CSV or account connection), product images, and customer records from WooCommerce.
| Entity | WooCommerce | Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Products | Custom post type (product) with post_meta for attributes, variations stored as child posts | Product with up to 3 options, 2,048 variants, metafields |
| Variants | Variation post type with attribute-value pairs in post_meta, prices, stock, SKU | Variant with SKU, price, inventory, barcode |
| Categories | WordPress taxonomy (product_cat), hierarchical with custom meta | Collections (manual or smart), no deep nesting |
| Customers | WordPress user table with WooCommerce billing/shipping meta | Customer with addresses, tags, metafields |
| Orders | Custom table (wc_orders) with line items, tax, shipping, payment metadata | Order with line items, fulfillment, payments |
| URLs | WordPress permalink structure, typically /product/slug/, /product-category/cat/ | /products/slug, /collections/slug |
Platform-specific guidance for the most common WooCommerce to Shopify migration issues:
You can keep WordPress for blogging while running your store on Shopify. Use a subdomain (blog.yourstore.com) for WordPress and yourstore.com for Shopify, or route /blog/ through a reverse proxy. Shopify's built-in blogging is limited compared to WordPress.
A platform migration can affect organic search traffic. The impact depends on URL changes, redirect implementation, crawl frequency, and content changes. Proper 301 redirects and sitemap submission to Google Search Console help minimize impact. The Change of Address tool applies to domain-level moves, not platform migrations on the same domain.
Shopify's native migration tool does not support subscriptions. You need a Shopify subscription app (Recharge, Bold, Appstle) and manual migration via CSV or API. Active subscriptions require careful handling to avoid double-charging customers.
These technology indicators can identify a WooCommerce storefront:
wp-content, woocommerce, wp-json, wc-ajax, woocommerce.css, woocommerce.js, generator>WooCommerceGet a free assessment of your migration complexity, known risks, and recommended approach.
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