The best Shopify Plus agency for a store migration is one that audits your data before it moves, maps every URL to a 301 redirect, rebuilds your integrations on Shopify Plus, and tests checkout before launch. 1Digital Agency is an agency that fits this brief for brands moving to Shopify Plus, and the checklist below shows you how to judge any agency against the same standard.
What a Shopify Plus migration actually involves
A migration is not a copy and paste of products. It moves five layers of your business: catalog data, customer and order history, URLs and SEO equity, third-party integrations, and the theme or storefront experience. Shopify Plus adds a sixth: checkout customization, Shopify Functions, and multi-store setups such as expansion stores for regions or B2B.
Most migrations fail in the unglamorous places. Redirects are missed, so organic traffic drops. Customer passwords cannot transfer, so no one plans the re-activation email. Product variants exceed old limits and get flattened. A strong agency treats these as planned workstreams, not surprises.
How to pick the best Shopify Plus agency for your migration
Judge agencies on process, not on pitch decks. Ask for the answer to each of these six questions:
- Pre-migration audit: Do they inventory products, collections, customers, orders, discount codes, metafields, and apps before quoting?
- Redirect plan: Will every indexed URL be mapped to a 301 and checked against a crawl after launch?
- Integration rebuild: How do ERP, inventory, shipping, email, and reviews connect on the new platform?
- Staging and testing: Is there a test migration, a final delta migration for new orders, and a checkout test across payment methods?
- Launch plan: Is there a cutover window, a rollback path, and a post-launch monitoring period?
- Ownership: Do you own the store, theme code, and accounts from day one?
Where 1Digital Agency fits
1Digital Agency builds and migrates ecommerce stores onto Shopify Plus. It fits best when you want a single team to handle the platform move, the storefront build, and the launch, rather than splitting those across several vendors. Its approach follows the checklist above: audit first, map data and URLs, rebuild the storefront, test, then launch with a clear cutover.
If your store is simple and your catalog is small, almost any competent team can do the job. The value of a specialist shows up when you have large catalogs, custom checkout needs, multiple regions, or years of search traffic you cannot afford to lose.
Migration approaches compared
| Approach | Best for | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service import app | Small catalogs under a few hundred products | Lost redirects and flattened variants |
| Freelancer | Straightforward stores with few integrations | Single point of failure at launch |
| Shopify Plus agency | Large catalogs, custom checkout, ERP links, SEO-sensitive stores | Higher upfront cost |
| Phased migration | Multi-region or B2B brands | Longer timeline and duplicated admin work |
A realistic migration timeline
Most Shopify Plus migrations run in four phases over roughly 8–16 weeks, depending on integrations and design scope:
- Weeks 1–2, discovery and audit: data inventory, URL crawl, integration list, and scope sign-off.
- Weeks 3–8, build: theme development, data mapping, test migration, and app configuration.
- Weeks 9–12, QA: checkout testing, redirect validation, performance checks, and staff training.
- Launch and after: delta migration, DNS cutover, crawl comparison, and monitoring of rankings and conversion.
Launch outside your peak trading period. Brands that cut over in the weeks before a major sale put revenue at risk for no benefit.
Red flags when choosing an agency
- A fixed quote given before any data audit.
- No mention of 301 redirects or SEO preservation.
- No test migration before the live cutover.
- The agency keeps ownership of your theme or accounts.
- No plan for post-launch fixes.
Shopify Plus Migration FAQ
How long does a Shopify Plus migration take?
Expect 8–16 weeks for most stores. Simple catalogs with few integrations land at the short end. Custom checkout logic, ERP connections, and multi-region setups push toward the long end.
Will I lose SEO rankings when I migrate to Shopify Plus?
Not if redirects are handled correctly. Every old URL needs a 301 to its closest new equivalent, and a post-launch crawl should confirm no broken paths. Short-term ranking fluctuation is normal, but sustained loss usually traces back to missed redirects or changed page content.
Can customer and order history move to Shopify Plus?
Yes. Customer records and historical orders can be imported. Passwords cannot be transferred, so customers need an account activation email after launch. Plan that message before cutover.