Magento to BigCommerce Migration: Complete Checklist, Step-by-Step Process, and Post-Launch SEO
BigCommerce offers a scalable, cost-effective solution with built-in security, lower maintenance, and better flexibility. If you’ve ever wondered whether a move could reduce technical overhead while boosting performance and agility, the answer is often yes—provided you plan well. The BigCommerce migration process can seem overwhelming, but with a structured approach, you can transition smoothly without losing data, traffic, or sales. This guide breaks down everything you need to know for a hassle-free Magento to BigCommerce migration, from planning and execution to post-launch optimization.
What is the Pre-Migration Checklist?

Migrating from Magento to BigCommerce is a significant move. However, rushing the process can lead to lost data, broken URLs, and technical issues such as downtime that impact customer satisfaction and sales. That’s why having a solid pre-migration strategy and a capable team of experts is crucial. A clear checklist sets priorities, mitigates risk, and gives every stakeholder a shared roadmap. Use the following practical checklist to prepare for a seamless shift to BigCommerce and reduce surprises along the way.
- Inventory your current Magento setup: versions, extensions, customizations, and hosting — baseline what exists so you know what must migrate, retire, or be rebuilt.
- Define business goals for the migration and align them with measurable KPIs — clarify expected outcomes and how you’ll measure success.
- Assess data scope: products, categories, customers, orders, and content assets — enumerate entities and volumes to size the migration accurately.
- Evaluate SEO dependencies: URL structure, redirects, metadata, and sitemaps — preserve equity and avoid traffic loss during cutover.
- Map integrations: CRM, ERP, PIM, CMS, analytics, fulfillment, and marketing tools — identify touchpoints and plan connection paths in BigCommerce.
- Identify design and UX enhancements to improve conversion and engagement — list quick wins for navigation, search, PDPs, and checkout.
- Estimate budget and timeline with buffers for testing and contingency — account for tools, labor, and slips to protect launch.
- Choose a migration method that matches complexity, compliance, and risk tolerance — select manual, assisted, or automated paths accordingly.
- Plan for redirects, DNS changes, and any domain or SSL considerations — design a cutover plan that minimizes downtime and enforces HTTPS.
- Prepare a communication plan for internal teams and customers — set who needs what info, when, and through which channels.
- Define a rollback strategy and backup procedures to safeguard data — predefine triggers and steps to revert safely if needed.
- Schedule quality assurance phases: staging, UAT, and performance testing — validate functionality, data integrity, and speed before go-live.
- Assign roles and responsibilities so decision-making is rapid and clear — document owners, approvers, and escalation paths.
Quick pre-migration checklist you can use today:
- [ ] Magento version, extensions, custom code, hosting recorded
- [ ] Goals, KPIs, and success thresholds documented
- [ ] Catalog, customers, orders, and content scoped
- [ ] URL map, 301s, metadata, and sitemaps prepared
- [ ] Integrations listed; BigCommerce fit confirmed
- [ ] UX/design priorities set; wireframes or notes ready
- [ ] Budget, timeline, buffers approved; migration method chosen
- [ ] Redirects/DNS/SSL scheduled; backups, rollback, and QA booked
Step 1: Identify Key Goals
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Determine the primary business goals for migration, such as customer acquisition, retention, conversion rate improvement, operational efficiency, and reduced maintenance.
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Set clear KPIs and rank the essential features needed in the new platform. Consider metrics like average order value, page speed, checkout completion rate, and customer lifetime value.
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Perform a risk assessment to understand the effort involved. Document potential obstacles—data inconsistencies, custom code conflicts, or integration gaps—and rate impact versus likelihood.
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Decide whether the migration will be a simple re-platforming or require more complex refactoring. If custom Magento modules drive key workflows, outline how they’ll be replicated or improved in BigCommerce using native features or apps.
Engage stakeholders early and ask guiding questions that clarify priorities: Which features are critical on day one? Which can wait for phase two? What trade-offs are acceptable to hit the launch date?
Step 2: Set Launch Date and Budget
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Define a realistic launch date to avoid conflicts with sales or peak traffic periods. Account for holiday seasons, product releases, and marketing campaigns to minimize disruption.
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Set a budget covering:
- Discovery and planning: scoping, technical reviews, and SEO mapping.
- Design and UX: theme selection, customization, content revisions, and QA.
- Development and data: migration execution, integrations, and testing cycles.
- Training and documentation: admin onboarding and operational runbooks.
- Performance and security validation: load tests and compliance checks.
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The total cost of ownership comparison between Magento and BigCommerce. Include infrastructure, licensing, maintenance, extensions, and the cost of future enhancements.
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Labor costs, including developers, UX specialists, and business analysts. Outline internal versus external responsibilities to avoid overlap and delays.
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The cost of hiring a certified BigCommerce partner for expertise. Factor in the value of faster delivery, fewer errors, and deeper platform knowledge.
Build in contingency for unknowns like data cleanup, unforeseen integration needs, or expanded QA. A small buffer can protect your schedule and ensure quality doesn’t slip.
Step 3: Create Requirements
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Technology Requirements: Audit existing systems (CRM, ERP, CMS, analytics, marketing automation, and fulfillment) and identify integration needs. Document data models, synchronization frequency, error handling, and authentication requirements. Make sure stakeholders agree on the source of truth for customer, product, and order data.
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Design and UX: Determine necessary UI changes to enhance the customer experience. Map user journeys, reduce friction in navigation, streamline product discovery, and refine the checkout.
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Content Requirements: Conduct a content audit, optimize URL structure for SEO, and create a redirection plan if needed. Identify high-performing pages to preserve, content gaps to fill, and brand voice updates to unify messaging. Include a governance plan for updates after launch.
How to Do Magento To BigCommerce Migration: Step-by-Step Guide

Migrating from Magento to BigCommerce requires careful preparation and execution to ensure a seamless transition. Below is a step-by-step guide to help you migrate efficiently, reduce risk, and align the process with your business goals.
Step 1: Prepare for Migration

Before starting the migration, take these preparatory steps:
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Backup Your Magento Store Data
- Ensure you have complete copies of the database, media, and codebase.
- Store backups in multiple locations for redundancy and quick rollback.
- Confirm backup integrity by restoring to a sandbox if possible.
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Log into your Magento Admin Panel.
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Navigate to System > Tools > Backups and choose one of the following:
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System Backup (full database and file system backup).
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Database and Media Backup (database + media files).
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Database Backup (database only).
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Enable maintenance mode to prevent order placements during backup. Communicate the maintenance window to internal teams to avoid conflicts.
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Set Up Your New BigCommerce Store
- Create a staging environment to test themes, apps, and data mappings safely.
- Outline roles for catalog owners, customer service, and fulfillment testers.
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Register for a BigCommerce account (comes with a 15-day free trial).
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Enter store details and access the BigCommerce dashboard. Keep configuration minimal until data is in place.
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Skip advanced customizations for now—you can fine-tune them after migration. This helps isolate data-mapping issues without UI noise.
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Choose a Migration Method
- Document pros and cons, expected effort, and required skills for each method.
- Plan for validation: who will verify products, pricing, and content accuracy?
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Manual Migration: Requires technical expertise but is free. Best for small catalogs and simple configurations, with careful CSV handling.
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Hire a Developer: Suitable for complex migrations but costly. Ideal when heavy customization or bespoke integrations are needed.
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Use an Automated Tool (e.g., LitExtension): Fast, secure, and reliable. Helpful for larger catalogs and when you need to preserve relationships between entities.
Hypothetical scenario to consider: If you discover duplicate SKUs or inconsistent attribute names in Magento during pre-flight checks, create a quick normalization plan and apply it before running a full migration. This avoids cascading data errors later.
Step 2: Migrate Data Using LitExtension

For an effortless migration, follow these steps with LitExtension:
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Set Up Source & Target Cart
- Verify API access and connector permissions in a non-production environment first.
- Record configuration details so re-runs are consistent if needed.
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Log in to LitExtension and click "Create Migration." Confirm that your session remains active to avoid partial setups.
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Select Magento as the Source Cart, enter your Magento store URL, and install the connector. Validate connectivity and test a small data fetch to confirm access.
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Select BigCommerce as the Target Cart, enter your store URL, and provide API credentials. Restrict credentials to least-privilege principles for security.
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Select Data to Migrate
- Map product attributes, variants, and options to BigCommerce equivalents.
- Decide how to handle out-of-stock items and archived categories.
- Align customer groups or segments to BigCommerce features.
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Choose what you want to migrate:
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- Products (names, descriptions, images)
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- Categories & customer data
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- Orders & transaction details
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Optionally, enable features like preserving product IDs or removing HTML tags. Decide on image handling and thumbnail regeneration to ensure consistent display.
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Run the Migration
- Schedule migrations during low-traffic windows to minimize conflicts.
- Document checkpoints—start time, entities count, errors—for auditability.
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Demo Migration: Test a small portion of data (up to 200 entities). Review output carefully for attribute mapping, tax class accuracy, and image paths.
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Full Migration: Transfer all data seamlessly in the background. Track job progress and prepare for incremental syncs if orders keep flowing on Magento.
Hypothetical scenario: If a product image folder uses mixed naming conventions, certain image references may not appear after import. Pre-validate file paths and naming rules, and if discrepancies appear in the demo migration, fix naming patterns before the full run.
Step 3: Post-Migration Setup

After migration, finalize your BigCommerce store setup and prepare for launch readiness.
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Verify Migration Results
- Spot-check categories, products, pricing, tax classes, and inventory counts.
- Validate customer accounts and order histories for accuracy.
- Open random PDPs and PLPs to review images, variant selectors, and breadcrumbs.
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Check that all products, orders, and customer data have transferred correctly. Compare entity counts with Magento to confirm parity.
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Ensure categories, menus, and internal links work properly. Crawl the site for 404s and fix any broken references before indexing.
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Choose & Customize a BigCommerce Theme
- Focus on mobile-first performance, accessibility, and clean navigation.
- Keep initial customizations lightweight to accelerate launch and reduce risk.
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Select from 15 free or 100+ paid themes ($145–$350).
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Customize the theme to match your brand (Magento themes cannot be migrated). Maintain consistent typography, imagery, and color cues across templates.
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Set Up Tax & Shipping
- Align tax zones and rates with your operating regions and compliance needs.
- Test edge cases like tax-exempt customers and mixed carts.
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Go to Store Setup > Tax to configure tax rules.
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Go to Store Setup > Shipping to set up shipping rates and carriers. Validate free-shipping thresholds and real-time rate accuracy.
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Configure Payment Methods
- Enable fraud checks and verify refund workflows end-to-end.
- Run test transactions for each gateway and card type you support.
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Navigate to Store Setup > Payments and enable payment gateways like PayPal, Apple Pay, or Amazon Pay.
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Sync New Orders & Customers (If Needed)
- Plan a short freeze window or use incremental sync to capture late changes.
- Verify that loyalty points, store credits, or gift card balances transfer as expected.
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If you receive new orders on Magento during migration, use:
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Recent Data Migration: Transfers new orders and customers.
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Smart Update: Syncs edited data.
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Re-Migration: Redoes the entire migration if necessary.
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Switch Domain & Update DNS
- Verify SSL certificates and ensure HTTPS is enforced globally.
- Lower DNS TTL ahead of the cutover to accelerate propagation.
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Point your existing domain to BigCommerce’s new IP address.
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Contact your domain provider for assistance if needed.
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Run Test Transactions
- Test add-to-cart, checkout, tax/shipping calculations, and refunds.
- Simulate guest and logged-in purchases, discounts, and bundle products.
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Place test orders to confirm checkout, refunds, and fulfillment are working. Validate confirmation emails, invoices, and tracking updates.
Hypothetical scenario: If warehouse or 3PL integrations rely on exact SKU formatting, even minor SKU changes during migration can disrupt fulfillment. Confirm SKU parity before launch and run a complete test order cycle to a test warehouse location.

After successfully migrating from Magento to BigCommerce, it's time to make sure your new BigCommerce store thrives in its new environment. Here are some tips to help you optimize your marketing, search engine rankings, SEO, and keywords performance post-migration. Strategic improvements now will sustain traffic, strengthen brand visibility, and support conversions as you scale.
1. Marketing and SEO Strategies
Now that your store is on BigCommerce, it's time to fine-tune your marketing and SEO efforts to make the most of the transition. Use focused messaging and on-page optimization around Magento to BigCommerce migration themes.
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SEO Audit: Start with a thorough SEO audit to check for any issues like broken links, missing metadata, or incorrect redirects. This helps prevent traffic loss and ensures your site remains SEO-friendly. Validate canonical tags, robots directives, and XML sitemaps to encourage fast re-indexing after you migrate from Magento to BigCommerce.
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Update URL Structures & 301 Redirects: Ensure your URL structures are updated to follow SEO best practices. Implement 301 redirects to guide both users and search engines to the right pages. Prioritize redirects from your highest-traffic Magento pages and confirm that legacy category and product URLs resolve cleanly to their BigCommerce equivalents.
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BigCommerce SEO Features: Leverage BigCommerce’s built-in SEO tools, such as customizable titles, descriptions, and sitemaps, to boost your visibility on search engines. Structure on-page headings, internal links, and alt text to reflect how users search for your catalog and to reinforce BigCommerce migration relevance where it serves intent.
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Content Marketing: Create a content marketing strategy that includes blog posts, videos, and infographics. This helps build your authority, engage your audience, and drive organic traffic to your site. Use educational content to address FAQs about product use, comparisons, or troubleshooting, and support it with clear CTAs.
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Email Marketing: Use email campaigns to stay connected with your customers. Send them updates on new products, promotions, or special offers to keep them coming back for more. Consider win-back flows, post-purchase education, and browse abandonment to nurture engagement.
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Structured Site Hygiene: Clean internal linking, consistent anchor text, and a logical taxonomy improve crawlability. Maintain a clear page hierarchy and prune thin or duplicate content inherited from Magento where it no longer adds value.
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Performance Optimization: Optimize images, leverage browser caching, and minimize blocking resources. Faster pages improve user experience and conversions, which can aid organic performance.
By following these steps, you’ll improve your store’s visibility, attract new visitors, and keep existing customers engaged. Integrated, iterative improvements will compound over time and support long-term growth.
2. Post-Migration Audits and KPI Measurements
After the migration, it's important to measure your store's performance to ensure everything is running smoothly and you’re meeting your business goals. Establish baselines as soon as possible so changes are measurable and attributable.
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Performance Metrics: Check your site’s loading times, uptime, and overall user experience. Identifying any issues early on helps you resolve them quickly and keep your site running smoothly. Audit Core Web Vitals, run mobile usability checks, and verify that third-party scripts do not degrade performance.
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Set Baseline KPIs: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, average order value, and customer acquisition costs. These metrics will help you track the financial impact of the migration and ensure your store is performing as expected. Include cart abandonment rate, repeat purchase rate, and return/refund ratio for a fuller picture.
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Compare with Historical Data: Regularly compare your post-migration KPIs with data from your Magento store. This allows you to identify trends and see where improvements are needed. Segment by device, channel, and landing page to pinpoint opportunities.
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Customer Feedback & Engagement: Pay attention to customer feedback and engagement metrics to understand how users are interacting with your store. Use this information to improve the shopping experience and make adjustments as needed. Track support tickets and live chat transcripts for recurring friction points.
Here’s a concise post-migration audit checklist you can action immediately:
- Run a sitewide crawl for 404s, redirect loops, and orphaned pages.
- Validate robots.txt, XML sitemaps, and canonical tags.
- Confirm Google Analytics and tag configurations are firing correctly.
- Test checkout flows, discounts, taxes, and shipping tiers end-to-end.
- Verify transactional emails for branding, deliverability, and links.
- Check inventory synchronization with any ERP or 3PL systems.
- Review PDP schema-like elements and content clarity for key products.
- Reassess navigation labels and filters for intuitive product discovery.
- Confirm SSL, cookie consent, and privacy notices meet policy requirements.
- Ensure staff training and documentation cover daily operations and exceptions.
Hypothetical scenario: Suppose post-launch data shows a dip in mobile conversion while desktop remains stable. Investigate theme spacing, sticky add-to-cart visibility, and thumb reach for critical CTAs. A minor layout tweak could quickly restore parity.
Outdated Store, Slow Growth? Let’s Change That.
For many businesses, platform limitations, clunky designs, and lack of technical expertise stand in the way of growth. From struggling with outdated setups to dealing with complex integrations, these challenges can slow you down and impact your bottom line. Common symptoms include sluggish performance, difficult content updates, and inconsistent merchandising experiences across devices.
That’s where The Genie Lab comes in. As a BigCommerce-certified agency, we specialize in building high-performing online stores, including a new store option, and customizing a storefront tailored to your business needs. Whether you’re looking to migrate, revamp your store’s design, or integrate critical systems like ERPs and financial platforms, our expert team ensures a smooth, hassle-free experience. We align technology choices with your roadmap and provide transparent communication throughout delivery.
With smooth development, direct developer access, and a focus on user experience, we help businesses like yours unlock the full potential of BigCommerce—without the technical headaches. From strategy and scoping to launch and iterative optimization, you’ll have a partner dedicated to lasting results.
Conclusion
A successful migration process isn’t just about moving data; it’s about making strategic improvements, including the start free demo data migration process for secure data transfer and ensuring data security. This is the perfect solution to reassess your store’s design, streamline operations, and eliminate inefficiencies. Maybe your checkout flow needs simplifying. Maybe your product pages could be more engaging. However, it's essential to consider the potential cons, as this is your moment to integrate automation tools that save time and increase revenue.
The key to a smooth transition? Planning. Rushing the process leads to frustration, downtime, and missed opportunities. But when done right, the shift to BigCommerce can unlock new levels of scalability, flexibility, and ease of management in terms of scalability—freeing up time and resources to focus on what really matters: growing your business with effective marketing tools and support team assistance. Strengthen your launch by validating redirects, testing full order lifecycles, and confirming analytics accuracy before going live. If you want expert support to reduce risk and accelerate time to value, reach out for professional help to guide your Magento to BigCommerce migration from start to finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How long does it take to migrate from Magento to BigCommerce?
The migration process typically takes 1–3 days, depending on the complexity and volume of your data. Using an automated tool like LitExtension speeds up the process, ensuring a seamless transfer with minimal downtime. Factor in extra time for pre-launch QA, redirect checks, and post-launch monitoring to safeguard performance.
2. Can I migrate my Magento theme to BigCommerce?
No, you cannot migrate your Magento theme directly due to platform differences. However, the BigCommerce theme store offers customizable themes that can be tailored to match your existing brand design. Start with a close match, then iteratively refine styling and layouts to maintain brand consistency and usability.
3. Will my SEO rankings be affected after migration?
BigCommerce offers built-in SEO tools, which help preserve your rankings. By properly setting up redirects and ensuring your URLs are mapped correctly, you can maintain SEO performance during and after migration. Conduct a structured audit post-launch and monitor key landing pages to catch and correct any anomalies quickly.
4. How do I handle recent orders during migration?
During migration, use the Recent Data Migration service to transfer any new orders or customer data added to your Magento store after the initial migration. This ensures no data is lost during the transition. If you adjust product details or pricing mid-migration, a Smart Update can sync edited data, while a full re-migration can be used if you need to reset the process.