Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify / Skio

This document is intended to provide an overview of the process for migrating subscription data from WooCommerce to Shopify with Skio. Some information / steps described may not pertain to all use-cases or stores.

Considerations / requirements

When migrating subscription data from WooCommerce to Shopify / Skio, there are 3 primary considerations.

1. Payment method data
   
   When migrating subscriptions from WooCommerce to Shopify, one of the most important steps is migrating the payment methods for your existing subscribers over to Shopify. This is a requirement of the Shopify Subscriptions API, as any subscription record generated in Shopify needs to have a valid payment method on file in Shopify's payment vaulting system.
   
   Shopify has a list of payment processors that are compatible with the Shopify Subscriptions API here: Shopify subscriptions eligibility . 
   
   If the payment processor that your WooCommerce store uses for storing and processing customer payment data is NOT listed on that page, it may not be possible to migrate your customers' payment methods from WooCommerce to Shopify. In this case, the Skio team typically recommends migrating your existing subscriber payment data from the non-compatible payment processor to a Shopify-compatible payment processor, such as Stripe.
   
   If your current WooCommerce payment processor is in fact listed on that page, the Skio team will need to perform some additional payment method related verifications to determine what percentage of your existing subscribers appear to be able to generate a payment method in Shopify using the information provided, and what percentage of customers may not be able to be migrated due to payment method related errors.
    

2. Customer account export / import
   
   In order for the Skio team to begin any payment method related testing, it is essential that your existing WooCommerce subscribers' customer account information is uploaded into Shopify. Shopify offers specific documentation to assist in performing this export from WooCommerce and import into Shopify: Migrate from WooCommerce .
    

3. Product mapping
   
   After all payment method related verifications have been completed, the Skio team will be able to move forward with the subscription data migration process! This will involve mapping product data from WooCommerce to Shopify in order to determine which products in WooCommerce a customer should be subscribed to in Shopify. The Skio team may request the merchant to provide this data in the form of a CSV which will be provided during the subscription data migration process.

Subscription data migration process

Before the Skio team can work on the subscription data migration process from WooCommerce to Shopify / Skio, some payment method related testing will be required to ensure that it is possible to generate the required payment methods in Shopify for each of your WooCommerce subscribers. More information about this payment method review can be found here: Migrating subscriptions from outside of Shopify .

After all payment method testing is complete the subscription data migration process can continue!

In regards to timing, when migrating subscriptions into Skio from WooCommerce, our team's recommendation is to 1) go live with Shopify/Skio, and then 2) turn off the WooCommerce store (meaning disabling recurring order processing and preventing customers from creating new subscriptions / managing their subscriptions in WooCommerce). This prevents gaps in the migration data in Shopify / Skio, as new customers may "slip" into WooCommerce during the subscription data migration process.

Alternatively, if a store needs to migrate subscriptions from WooCommerce into Skio without first turning off their existing WooCommerce store, our recommended approach is:

1. Skio team generates an initial migration preview of the subscription data being migrated from WooCommerce over to Skio. This involves testing and confirming that we have all of the product-related data necessary and it is mapped as expected (ex. converting WooCommerce product IDs to Shopify product variant IDs, updating prices if needed). This is the proof-of-concept before the actual migration date, since that should be as close to the "go-live" date for the Shopify store as possible.

2. When the initial migration preview is complete, our team will provide a high-level overview CSV file (product, price, frequency, # of subscriptions) as well as a full-detailed JSON file (each subscription record) showing the data that is to be migrated into Skio, based on the data from WooCommerce.

3. The merchant's team will need to review the migration preview data, ask questions, and confirm it all looks correct based on the previous subscription program in WooCommerce.

4. As soon as the merchant's team is ready to make the switch / go live with the new Shopify store, the Skio team will do the first full subscription data migration, migrating subscription data from WooCommerce into Skio.

5. Because subscriptions will still be billing in WooCommerce, these migrated subscriptions will be set to NOT bill in Skio. This is a setting that can then be turned on later for all migrated subscriptions, once recurring order processing has been turned off in WooCommerce.

6. As soon as possible after the migration is complete, the merchant's team will need to make the switch / go live with your Shopify store, turning off the WooCommerce store. The reason for this timing is to minimize the window of time where a) new subscriptions may be made in WooCommerce, and b) existing subscribers may make changes to their subscriptions in WooCommerce, but their data was already migrated into Skio.

7. Once the Shopify store is live and the WooCommerce store has been turned off / recurring order processing is disabled, the Skio team can then turn on billing for all migrated subscriptions in Skio to start placing orders via Shopify.

8. With the previously-migrated subscriptions now billing in Skio and WooCommerce turned off, one final export of subscription data from WooCommerce will be required in order to migrate any new customers who subscribed in WooCommerce during the transition over to Skio.