WordPress stands as a globally renowned general content management system, while Shopify reigns specifically as a prominent e-commerce platform. Each platform boasts its unique strengths and weaknesses. However, you might be wondering if it's worth transferring your WordPress website to Shopify.
Before we get into our case study, here are some of the most common reasons why you might consider migrating your WordPress site to Shopify:
Utilize Built-in Analytics
Effective eCommerce website management requires access to data. Shopify provides built-in analytics to monitor your website's performance, including product sales, underperforming items, areas for improvement, and identifying potential issues like abandoned shopping carts. These analytics help you track your growth and sales comprehensively.
No Mandatory Third-Party Payments
Shopify's native payment solution, Shopify Payments, facilitates transactions in users' local currencies and securely stores payment information for future purchases. You won't need to integrate with third-party providers like Stripe or PayPal. Accepting credit card payments is straightforward. You only need to provide your average order cost and bank account details. Once set up, you can effortlessly accept major payment methods such as Mastercard, American Express, and Visa without relying on external payment processors.
Access to Extensive Functionalities
Unlike WooCommerce, which often requires the installation of plugins for additional features, Shopify offers a vast selection of over 7,000 apps. These apps enable you to tailor your user experience and website functionality according to your specific needs, without compromising site speed.
The Case Study
First off, let's start with the why in this particular case. This kitchen cabinet company decided to migrate from WordPress to Shopify for very common reasons that most do. While their website was on WordPress, the plugins started to add up because naturally as businesses evolve so does their needs which in most cases requires website customization. The more plugins you have on WordPress, the greater chance there is for the site to break not to mention the lag in performance it can create.
PRO TIP:
Should you contemplate migrating your WordPress site to Shopify, it's essential to note that there isn't a one-click solution available. The process entails exporting your WordPress content and subsequently importing it into Shopify. This can be a rather intricate task, and if you aren't confident in your website design and development skills, it is advisable to enlist the assistance of a professional.
The Why
Long story short, after almost 5 years on WordPress and several ups and downs with site crashes and site speed issues, the company decided enough damage had been done to their user experience so if they were going to get to the next level they thought migrating to Shopify was the next best move.
The Results
Fast forward 6 months later and you can see that the migration to Shopify ended up treating them very well. Although there were over 20,000 products we had to move which all require URL redirects, we were able to go live on Shopify without skipping a beat. As you can see below, Google also took a liking to the new site with store sessions increasing 419%, total orders increasing 162% and total sales increasing 188% over their first 6 months on the new robust platform.
The How
There are several aspects of this particular migration that can translate to just about any WordPress website migration to Shopify when it comes to running an e-commerce business. One very large factor was time management. This kitchen cabinet company was spending not only their hard earned money but a ton of their time managing the ups and downs that came with the old WordPress site. From having to trouble shoot site breaks whenever they updates their plugins to trying to speed up their site performance to hosting issues, they struggles to find the time to actually grow their business.
Like many small businesses, they weren't willing to pay someone to take care of something that they shouldn't have to take care of in the first place so this was an integral part of the decision to work with us and get their website moved to Shopify.
The Conclusion
Yes, there are many successful WordPress sites out there running strong but if you're having issues with your current setup, there is a good chance Shopify can solve just about all your problems and set you up for success.