Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Two years ago, I sat in a meeting room with a CTO who was convinced that keeping their e-commerce site on WordPress was the right move. "We have full control," he said. "Shopify is just another vendor dependency."
Fast forward six months, and that same CTO was asking me how quickly we could migrate to Shopify. Why? Because their marketing team had spent three weeks trying to update a single product page, and their conversion rates were tanking due to slow site speeds and constant plugin conflicts.
After 7 years of building websites and migrating dozens of e-commerce stores to Shopify, I've learned that the question isn't whether you should migrate—it's how long it actually takes and what timeline expectations are realistic.
Most agencies will tell you "6-8 weeks" because that's what sounds reasonable. But here's what they don't mention: the difference between a basic migration and one that actually improves your business. In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why most migration timelines are completely wrong (and the 3 factors that actually determine speed)
The real-world timeline from my fastest and slowest migrations
How platform choice impacts your marketing team's velocity (this surprised me)
A step-by-step timeline breakdown for different business sizes
When to migrate vs when to rebuild from scratch
Let's dive into what actually happens when you move to Shopify—beyond the marketing promises.
Industry Reality
What every business owner hears about migration
Walk into any e-commerce conference or browse any migration guide, and you'll hear the same timeline promises repeated like gospel:
"6-8 weeks for a complete migration" - This is the industry standard quote
"Minimal downtime, seamless transition" - Usually promised with zero context
"Your SEO won't be affected" - A dangerous oversimplification
"All your data transfers perfectly" - Rarely accounts for data cleaning needs
"Go live and see immediate improvements" - Ignores the optimization phase entirely
These timelines exist because agencies need predictable project scopes and clients want definitive answers. The problem? They're based on technical migration only—moving products, customers, and orders from Point A to Point B.
But here's what the industry glosses over: technical migration is maybe 30% of the actual work. The real timeline includes design customization, workflow adjustments, team training, testing, optimization, and dealing with the unexpected issues that always surface.
I've seen businesses rush through migrations in 4 weeks only to spend 6 months fixing conversion rate drops. I've also seen "simple" migrations take 4 months because nobody accounted for custom integrations and complex inventory setups.
The conventional wisdom treats every business like it has the same complexity, the same team capacity, and the same goals. That's why most migration timelines are wrong before the project even starts.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My wake-up call came during what should have been a "simple" migration for a fashion e-commerce store. They had about 500 products, a clean WordPress setup, and wanted to move to Shopify for better mobile performance.
The client had been quoted 6 weeks by another agency. When they came to me, they'd already been "migrating" for 3 months with minimal progress. The previous agency had moved their products over quickly but hadn't addressed the fundamental issue: their entire business workflow was built around WordPress.
Their team was used to WordPress's content management system. Their product photography workflow assumed WordPress's media library structure. Their SEO strategy was built on WordPress plugins. Their inventory management connected to WordPress through custom integrations.
Moving the data was the easy part. Rebuilding their business processes around Shopify's different approach? That's where the real timeline lived.
This experience taught me that migration timelines aren't about the technology—they're about change management. You're not just moving a website; you're changing how an entire team works.
Over the next few years, I started tracking what actually determined migration speed. It wasn't store size or product count. It was three factors: team adaptability, process complexity, and performance expectations.
The fashion store? It took us 4 months total, but 3 months of that was optimization and team training. Once they adjusted to Shopify's workflow, their update speed went from weeks to hours for simple changes. The migration "delay" became their biggest competitive advantage.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After tracking patterns across dozens of migrations, I developed a framework that actually predicts realistic timelines. Here's what determines how long your migration will really take:
Phase 1: Discovery & Strategy (2-4 weeks)
This phase determines everything else. Most agencies skip this and pay for it later. I spend this time understanding:
Current team workflows and who does what
Integration requirements and custom functionality
Performance expectations vs current baseline
SEO priorities and traffic patterns
Phase 2: Technical Migration (1-3 weeks)
This is the "easy" part everyone focuses on. Data export, Shopify setup, basic theme installation. Timeline depends on:
Product catalog size and complexity
Customer database cleanup requirements
Integration setup (payment gateways, shipping, etc.)
Phase 3: Customization & Testing (3-8 weeks)
This is where timelines explode if you're not careful. Theme customization, workflow optimization, and extensive testing. The range is huge because it depends on:
Design complexity and custom feature requirements
Team training needs and adoption speed
Performance optimization requirements
Integration complexity and third-party app setup
Phase 4: Launch & Optimization (2-4 weeks post-launch)
Everyone wants to be "done" at launch, but that's when the real work begins. Post-launch optimization typically includes:
Conversion rate optimization based on real traffic
Team workflow refinements
SEO monitoring and adjustments
Performance tuning under real load
My realistic timeline formula: 8-16 weeks total for most businesses, with the majority of time spent on customization and optimization—not the technical migration itself.
The businesses that succeed fastest aren't the ones who rush to launch. They're the ones who invest time upfront in understanding what they're actually changing.
Timeline Factors
Store size matters less than you think. Team complexity and custom workflows are the real timeline drivers.
Migration Phases
Technical migration is 30% of the work. Customization and optimization take 70% of the time.
Success Metrics
Don't measure success by launch date. Measure by team productivity and conversion performance 30 days post-launch.
Speed vs Quality
Every week you save rushing migration costs you months in optimization later. Plan for quality from day one.
The results from following this framework speak for themselves. Instead of the industry standard "6-week migration followed by 6 months of fixes," I consistently deliver:
Faster Team Adoption: Teams trained during migration adapt 3x faster than those thrown into Shopify post-launch. The fashion client I mentioned? Their team went from needing developer help for every change to updating products independently within 2 weeks of launch.
Higher Post-Launch Performance: Stores that invest in proper customization and testing see immediate performance improvements. Average page load times drop by 40-60%, and conversion rates typically improve by 15-25% within the first month.
Reduced Long-Term Costs: The upfront investment in proper migration eliminates most post-launch "emergency fixes." Clients save an average of $15,000-30,000 in the first year by avoiding rushed migrations.
SEO Protection: By planning redirects and URL structures properly, we maintain 95%+ of organic traffic through migrations. The industry average is 80-85% traffic retention.
The key insight: timeline quality directly correlates with long-term success. Every week invested in proper planning saves months of optimization later.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After 7 years and 30+ migrations, here's what I wish I'd known from the start:
Team workflow trumps technical complexity - A simple store with complex team processes takes longer than a complex store with simple processes
Rush migrations always cost more - Every "urgent" timeline adds 50-100% to total project cost through fixes and optimization
Shopify's strengths require workflow changes - You can't just recreate WordPress workflows in Shopify and expect improvements
Launch day is day one, not the finish line - The real optimization begins when you have real traffic and real user feedback
SEO requires 3-month monitoring minimum - Rankings stabilize after 90 days, not 30 days
Custom integrations double timelines - Each third-party integration adds 1-2 weeks if done properly
Team training prevents most post-launch issues - Invest 20% of your timeline in team education
The biggest lesson? Stop asking "How fast can we migrate?" and start asking "How can we migrate for long-term success?" The answer changes everything.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies considering Shopify for their e-commerce needs:
Plan 12-16 weeks for complex integrations with your existing SaaS platform
Budget extra time for API connections and user account synchronization
Consider headless Shopify if you need custom user experiences
Test payment workflows extensively with your existing subscription billing
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores moving to Shopify:
Expect 8-12 weeks for stores under 1000 products, 12-20 weeks for larger catalogs
Plan inventory management workflow changes—Shopify handles this differently
Budget 2-4 weeks post-launch for conversion rate optimization
Prepare your team for Shopify's different content management approach