BigCommerce to Shopify Migration: Categories, B2B, Price Lists

Who it is for

Your BigCommerce plan renews at a number that no longer matches what you get
The apps and integrations you want are on Shopify, and the ones you have are not maintained
You run B2B pricing, customer groups or price lists and every quote you got treated them as an afterthought
Your category tree is deep, and you have been told it will simply become tags
You need order history and customer data moved, not just the catalogue
You want someone who has actually built on BigCommerce, not only on Shopify

What moves across

Products and variants	As is	With options, modifiers, SKUs and inventory tracking settings.
Product images	As is	Re-uploaded with alt text preserved.
Nested categories	By hand	BigCommerce categories nest several levels deep; Shopify collections are flat. The tree is mapped to collections and tags by hand — this is the single largest decision in a BigCommerce migration, and it is made with you during the audit.
Custom fields	Partly	Product custom fields move to metafields. Fields used for storefront logic are rebuilt rather than copied.
Stock levels	As is	Per variant and per location.
Customer accounts	As is	Names, addresses, contact details and consent.
Customer passwords	Does not move	No migration moves passwords — the hashes are not portable. Customers set a new one on first login.
Customer groups	By hand	Shopify has no direct equivalent. Rebuilt as customer tags plus B2B company profiles on Plus, or as tag-driven pricing rules elsewhere.
Price lists	By hand	Rebuilt as Shopify B2B catalogues on Plus, or as Functions-based pricing where Plus is not in play.
Order history	As is	Line items, totals, dates and statuses, imported as historical orders.
Product reviews	Partly	BigCommerce native reviews export and re-import into Judge.me or Yotpo.
Coupons and discounts	Partly	Straightforward discounts move; cart-level rules are rebuilt as Shopify discounts or Functions.
URLs and redirects	By hand	A 301 map from every old address to its new one, built by hand because the category structures do not line up.
SEO titles and descriptions	As is	Page titles and meta descriptions move into Shopify SEO fields.
Blog posts	As is	Posts and images move to Shopify blogs.

What is included

Audit and category mapping

The category tree, customer groups and price lists are reviewed first, because they are what makes a BigCommerce migration different. You get a written mapping to approve before anything moves.

Catalogue migration

Products, variants, modifiers, images, custom fields and stock, moved in bulk rather than product by product.

Customers and orders

Customer records and full order history with line items, totals and dates.

B2B rebuild

Customer groups and price lists rebuilt as Shopify B2B companies and catalogues on Plus, or as tag-driven pricing with Functions elsewhere.

Redirect map

A hand-built 301 map, necessary here because nested category URLs have no automatic Shopify counterpart.

Apps and integrations

Payments, shipping, ERP, search and analytics reconnected on the new store.

Reconciliation and launch

Counts compared before and after, checkout and B2B pricing tested, domain switched and watched.

How the work goes

1

Audit and mapping

We measure the catalogue and map the category tree, customer groups and price lists onto Shopify structures. You approve the mapping before anything is moved.

3–5 days
2

Test migration

Data is moved to a Shopify development store while BigCommerce keeps trading.

5–10 days
3

Reconciliation and B2B testing

Counts compared, redirects verified, and B2B pricing checked against real customer scenarios rather than a sample of one.

4–6 days
4

Launch and watch

Domain switched, then two weeks of watching crawl errors, redirects and orders.

1–2 days

Price

€20–30 / hour

This project: €1,900–4,500

The rate covers development, testing and the handover. Scoping your project, writing the estimate and answering questions before you commit are not billed.

Minimum engagement: 10 hours. Below that, the back-and-forth costs more than the work itself.

Rates and budgets

Questions and answers

What happens to our nested category structure?

It is mapped by hand. BigCommerce nests categories several levels deep and Shopify collections are flat, so the tree becomes a combination of collections, automated collection rules and tags. The mapping is designed during the audit and approved by you before the move, because getting it wrong costs both navigation and search traffic.

Can our B2B pricing survive the move?

Yes, but it is rebuilt rather than copied. On Shopify Plus, customer groups and price lists become B2B companies and catalogues. Off Plus, the same behaviour is built with customer tags and Functions. Either way the rules are tested against real customer scenarios before launch.

Do you have real BigCommerce experience, or only Shopify?

Both. The studio has built complex B2B integrations on BigCommerce — reordering, third-party search and connected systems — and has moved a store of roughly 2,000 products and 15,000 historical orders onto BigCommerce from a proprietary cloud platform. Knowing where BigCommerce keeps things is what makes the mapping fast.

Will we lose search rankings?

URLs change, so some movement is unavoidable. The 301 map carries authority from the old addresses to the new ones. Because BigCommerce category URLs have no automatic Shopify counterpart, this map is built by hand — that work is what protects the traffic.

How long does a BigCommerce migration take?

Three to five weeks for most stores. The category mapping and any B2B rebuild are what stretch the timeline, not the catalogue size.

Will the store go offline?

No. The Shopify store is built in parallel and the domain is switched only after reconciliation and checkout testing.