If you are looking for Shopify migration experts or a Shopify migration agency, start with a disclosure: this guide is written by an agency that sells Shopify migrations. noprob agency, which sells the Shopify Launch Sprint, is one of the options on your list, so we show how we answer each criterion, we say when we are not the right choice, and we leave other agencies’ names out. We make no claims about anyone else: we compare types of provider and give you tests to run on any of them, us included.
A Shopify migration agency, a freelancer and a migration app can all move the same products. What differs is who answers for the parts that do not show on launch day: redirects, data that does not reconcile, tracking, and the first 90 days. Those parts decide whether the move costs you rankings and sales, so compare Shopify migration services on them.
Who can migrate your store to Shopify? Five types of provider
Five types of provider can migrate a store to Shopify: you with an app, a freelancer, a generalist agency, a Shopify Partner agency and a migration specialist, and each fits a different store. Shopify’s own migration guide lists five methods: copy and paste, CSV import, a migration app, hiring a Shopify Partner, and a custom build on the Shopify API. The first three are DIY. The last two are people.
DIY with migration apps and tools
DIY with an app fits a small catalog with simple data and a founder who has time. Matrixify describes itself as an app for bulk import and export of Shopify data through Excel and CSV files, and lists migration from another platform among its uses. LitExtension offers a self-serve automated package and a second, expert-led one, and lists 301 redirects as an extra option. The Cart2Cart listing on the Shopify App Store describes an automated migration with a preview, and says charges depend on the entities and options you choose. Shopify’s own Store Migration app imports product and customer data.
A tool moves records. Someone still has to decide which old URL goes to which new page, rebuild the storefront, set up tracking and answer on day three. In DIY, that someone is you.
A freelancer
A freelancer fits a defined job: a WooCommerce store, a catalog that exports cleanly, and an owner who can review the result carefully. The risk is structural, not personal: one person is also one calendar. If they are ill or booked in your go-live week, nobody else has seen your redirect map. Ask who covers the launch if they cannot.
A generalist agency
A generalist agency fits a project where the migration is one piece of a larger brief, such as a redesign, a brand refresh and a platform change together. Check whether migration is a core service or a side one, because a migration is mostly data, URLs and tracking, not layout.
A Shopify Partner agency
A Shopify Partner agency fits a team that wants an official relationship with people who work on Shopify every day. Being a Partner says the agency builds on Shopify. It does not say it has moved a store like yours. Shopify’s Partner Directory groups partners into Select, Plus, Premier and Platinum tiers based on experience and proven success on Shopify, shows reviews, work samples and certifications, and says partners work independently, so you agree the terms with them directly. Treat the tier as a first filter and migration work samples as the real evidence.
A migration specialist
A migration specialist fits stores where the move itself is the risk: a large catalog, years of organic traffic, an ERP behind the shop, or a proprietary platform. The whole offer is the move: inventory, redirects, reconciliation, tracking, go-live and the weeks after. The trade-off is scope. A specialist gets you onto Shopify and then hands over, so design, ads and email come from somebody else. We are in this group, and we say below what falls outside our scope.
Which type fits which store?
The right provider depends on how much organic traffic, data complexity and internal time you have, not on how big the agency is.
- Small catalog, little organic traffic, time to spare: DIY with an app, and Shopify’s URL redirect import for the redirects.
- Clear scope, one source platform, a careful owner: a freelancer, with a named backup for launch week.
- Migration inside a bigger redesign: a generalist agency, with the migration written as its own line in the contract.
- Organic traffic that pays the bills, an ERP, or a proprietary platform: a migration specialist.
What should you check before you sign? Nine criteria
Nine criteria separate providers, and each one can be checked with a document or a question before you pay anything. For each, here is what good looks like and how we answer. We are one of the options, so judge our answers the way you would judge anyone’s.
1. Proof you can verify
Proof is a case study with a number, a platform like yours, a period and a method. A story without a number is not proof. Our answer: two public case studies. Supplement DTC Nazzi, coming from WooCommerce, sold 105% more online in its first 85 days on Shopify than in the same days of the year before. Cumini, coming from a proprietary platform tied to its ERP, grew online sales 67.7% in the 12 months after the move. We publish percentages, never clients’ absolute figures, and those results include work done after the migration, not the migration alone.
2. A written redirect and SEO plan
A redirect and SEO plan is a document that maps every old URL with traffic to a new page, written before launch and tested after it. A promise that SEO will be preserved is not a plan. Ask to see a sample map, who tests it, and what happens if traffic drops. Google’s guidance on site moves is a neutral yardstick: it recommends permanent redirects from old URLs to new ones and monitoring afterwards. The full list is in our Shopify migration SEO checklist. Our answer: a 1:1 Redirect Map for every URL that had traffic in the last 12 months, tested automatically before go-live and after.
3. Data mapping
Data mapping is the written record of where each field from the old store lands in Shopify, plus a count comparison afterwards. It covers products, variants, customers, orders, discount codes and reviews. Ask what happens to the fields Shopify has no place for, and ask for the reconciliation after the import. Our answer: a Data Migration Report with old and new counts side by side, and any difference written down and explained.
4. A fixed scope and calendar
A fixed scope and calendar means you know the deliverables, the dates and the price before work starts. Our guide to what a Shopify migration costs shows what a price should include. Our answer: 14 days to a store ready to publish, go-live on a day you choose between day 15 and day 30, and a public price by company revenue: €5,800 under €2M, €8,800 from €2M to €20M, €12,800 above €20M, VAT excluded, in four installments. Your Shopify plan and apps are paid to Shopify, not to us.
5. Who does the work
Who does the work means the names and roles of the people who touch your store, and whether the person on the sales call is the one who builds it. Ask for the team and the backup. Our answer: one point of contact for you, and a team with one specialist per area (development, SEO and redirects, tracking, checkout, design, AI) working in parallel.
6. Post-launch support
Post-launch support covers the weeks when problems appear: broken links, a tracking gap, a checkout that converts worse than before. Ask how long, what it covers and who answers. Our answer: 90 days from go-live of bug fixes, minor changes, SEO and tracking checks, a weekly 10-minute Loom and a report on day 90.
7. Guarantees in writing
A guarantee in writing is a clause with a measurable condition and a remedy, in the contract and not only on the sales page. Compare what is measured, against which baseline, and what you get. Our answer: four. Store ready on day 14 or we refund the first installment. Organic traffic below the baseline 90 days after go-live and we work for free until it comes back. Store offline at launch because of us and we pay one installment. Checkout converting less than before at 90 days and we optimize it for free until it beats it. They are measured on a dashboard you receive on day 1, and the terms fit on one page.
8. Ownership of code and accounts
Ownership means the Shopify store, domain, analytics and ad accounts are in your name, and that you can leave without asking permission. Ask who owns the Shopify account at the start, who holds the DNS, and whether the code is yours or licensed. A provider who holds your domain or your store is holding your business. Our answer: you give us the accesses on day 1, and after the 90 days the store is yours, with no lock-in. The terms are in a one-page contract, so read it for the details on accounts and code.
9. References
References are people you can ask, not logos on a slide. Ask for two clients with a similar platform, and ask them what went wrong. Our answer: the two case studies above, and ten Trustpilot reviews, all five stars. We have no public case on Magento, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, Wix or Squarespace. If you are coming from one of those, we will say so on the first call, and you should weigh it.
What should you ask on the first call?
Ten questions on the first call tell you more than the proposal does, because a good provider answers in specifics and a weak one answers in adjectives.
- Which migrations like mine have you done, and may I see the numbers?
- Show me a redirect map from a past project, with the client’s data removed.
- How do you test redirects, and when: before launch, after, or both?
- What happens to the data fields Shopify has no place for?
- Who exactly works on my store, and who covers launch week if one of them is out?
- What is in the price and what is extra? Give me the extras as a list with prices.
- What do you guarantee in writing, and what is the remedy?
- Who owns the store, the domain and the code on the day we stop working together?
- What happens in the 90 days after launch, and who do I write to?
- When would you tell me not to hire you?
What are the red flags?
A red flag is any answer that makes the risk disappear instead of describing it.
- SEO is “guaranteed” with no document, baseline or remedy behind it.
- No sample redirect map, or “we handle redirects” with no description of the test.
- An open-ended quote with no list of what counts as extra.
- No named people, or the sales contact is not the builder.
- The domain, the Shopify account or the ad accounts are registered to the provider.
- Support described as “available” with no length, scope or response time.
When are we not the right choice?
We are not the right choice for every store, and saying so early saves you a call.
- A small catalog with simple data. An app can move it and you can import the redirects from a CSV yourself.
- Company revenue under €300k. The Sprint requires an initial assessment first, to make sure the investment is sustainable for the store. You can still apply, and we evaluate feasibility together.
- You want a redesign. The Sprint is a 1:1 replica of your store rebuilt with our Custom AI System, not a restyle. Design and rebranding come later, with a partner.
- Deep ERP, marketplace, POS or B2B portal work. Above the limits of your tier (products, languages, ERP) fixed-price add-ons apply, and complex B2B portals, marketplaces and POS are for dedicated partners after go-live. If the project is mostly that, pick a team built for it.
- Your store is already on Shopify. The Sprint is for stores coming from another platform.
- You need proof on your platform. We migrate from WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Magento, custom platforms and ERPs with an integrated store, but our public cases are WooCommerce and a proprietary platform.
What should you do this week?
Shortlist two or three providers of different types, run the same ten questions on each, and compare their documents, not their decks. Ask every one for a sample redirect map, the contract and the list of extras. Our own approach is described in the Shopify migration guide, and you can talk to us directly if you want an honest read on which type fits your store, even when the answer is not us.
The Shopify Launch Sprint moves your store to Shopify in 14 days with our Custom AI System: a fixed calendar, a public price and 4 written guarantees.
Antonio Manitta
Founder & eCommerce Manager at NoProb Agency
For over 7 years I have helped fashion, supplements, and DTC brands scale their eCommerce. I work in long-term partnership with three brands at a time, building stable systems that compound.
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