A Detailed Guideline on Migrating From Big Cartel to Shopify

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Holding 16.36% of the total E-commerce share globally, Shopify is one of the biggest eCommerce platforms in 2024. The high return on investments and great scalability have attracted over 1.4 million merchants and 100,000 businesses to this platform. In addition, due to the ease of use, vast app catalog, and integrated payment options, over 4.4 billion online stores and an average of 2.1 million daily active users have migrated to Shopify to power their businesses in 2024. Shopify has made commerce better for every store.

If you have the intention to migrate to Shopify, especially migrate from Big Cartel to Shopify, but you find it too complicated? Then you have come to the right place. In this article, we’re going to give you valuable insight into the detailed guidelines on how to switch from Big Cartel to Shopify. Don’t hesitate any longer, let’s scroll down to view details.

4 Steps to Migrate From Big Cartel to Shopify

Step 1: Export Your Big Cartel Data

To export your Big Cartel data, particularly products and orders, follow these steps:

First, steps to export product data form Big Cartel:

• To export product data from Big Cartel, you need to convert your frontend Product page into a JSON file.
• Access this URL in your browser: example.bigcartel.com/product.json, replacing “example” with your store’s actual domain name. This action appends “.json” to your standard product gallery URL on Big Cartel, generating a JSON text file in the browser.

• Right-click on a blank area of the page and choose “Save As…”. Ensure no text is highlighted on the page before saving to prevent download issues. Alternatively, use the browser’s “Share This Page” button to save it to your device.

• Save the .json file to your device.
• Convert the .json file to a CSV file using an online converter..
• Upload the saved JSON file, and download the converted CSV file containing your product data.

Second, export order data from Big Cartel:

• Log in to your account on my.bigcartel.com;
• Go to the “Orders” section;
• Choose either the “Unshipped” or “Shipped” tab;
• Refine your search for specific data by selecting the “Search” option from the drop-down menu.
• Click on “Download CSV” from the action menu.

Step 2: Create Your Shopify Account

If you haven’t had a Shopify store for the Shopify migration process yet, you need to create one.

• Navigate to the Shopify homepage and select the “Start free trial” button.
• Choose to answer questions to help Shopify understand your business and generate a customized store for you. If not, select “Skip All” to access Shopify’s dashboard immediately.

On doing so, you will receive a 3-day free trial period to explore and test Shopify’ in-app features. However, to create a full-fledged store that can accept payment from your customers, you need to upgrade to the “$1 for the first month” trial plan provided by Shopify.

Step 3: Pay For The Shopify Plan

Once you have identified your goals and priorities, it’s essential to select the appropriate Shopify pricing package. You can compare the different Shopify plans according to your income, your business requirements, and the data transfer requirements.

Start by selecting a plan that aligns with your product range, expected website traffic, and future expansion plans. Shopify provides a range of plan options tailored to meet the needs of everyone.

Shopify now provides 3 pricing plans, which are Basic, Shopify, and Advanced:

• Basic: Suitable for individuals and small businesses.
• Shopify: Suitable for small businesses because of its advanced reporting features and increased staff accounts allowance.
• Advanced: Ideal for medium to large businesses due to its customizable reporting options and competitive transaction fees.

Step 4: Migrate Data From Big Cartel to Shopify

After exporting data from Big Cartel, it is very important that you then import this data into your Shopify store. During this stage, by clicking on the “Select All” box, all details regarding the products, customers, orders, and other key information from the exported file will be transferred into your Shopify database. If you only want to transfer some specific data type, select each entity box respectively.

Efficiently Migrate From Big Cartel to Shopify with BSS Commerce

As we mentioned above, you can switch from Big Cartel to Shopify by either doing it yourself manually or hiring an expert. However, these will cost you more time and money as it requires decent technical knowledge to avoid possible data problems that may arise. Additionally, because each Big Cartel store has an exclusive database structure, moving to Shopify requires a complicated procedure. That’s when migration services come into play. And BSS might be one of your best options. As a globally trusted partner for diverse eCommerce services, including Shopify migration services, we possess 4 unique core strengths that define us:

• We are recognized as a “Shopify Expert”, a prestigious badge reserved only for highly specialized agencies. We also have a proficient testing team who are recognized as an “ISTQB Platinum Partner”, representing the pinnacle of testing proficiency that a development agency can attain at the national level.
• With over 11 years of experience in successfully executing numerous projects for renowned brands across more than 150 countries worldwide, we possess extensive expertise, a deep understanding of markets, and comprehensive business knowledge across various industries and business models. This enables us to assist you in developing the most effective and efficient eCommerce solution suited to your needs.
• At BSS Commerce, we prioritize Integrity as a core value. Once project scope, pricing, and timeline are established, you can trust that there will be minimal to no alterations in the agreed terms, and any changes will be openly communicated, ensuring complete transparency throughout the project execution.
• Our unparalleled commitment to customer satisfaction has earned us the trust of thousands of clients globally, reflected in our impressive 90% rate of recurring customers. Additionally, our Time-zone Flexibility allows us to fulfill urgent requirements promptly with swift deliverables.

With the above-mentioned strengths, we are confident to be one of your best choices for the migration service. You can check out our BSS Website for more details.

Big Cartel to Shopify Post-Migration Checklist

If you’ve just finished a Shopify migration with BSS Commerce, here is the checklist to set up your Shopify store after the process.

Check Any Possible Post-Migration Errors

After completing all the necessary steps to migrate from Big Cartel to Shopify, all of your products, except for those that are currently out-of-stock, will be visible on your storefront. Therefore, you can easily find them from the catalog or by onsite search. However, it’s important for you to check your product details carefully, including product descriptions, images, variants, and meta descriptions.

For those unfamiliar with Shopify, it’s essential to note that there aren’t categories and subcategories on Shopify. Instead, you will have collections and product tags. As a result, data organized in categories and subcategories on your Source store will be transitioned to matching collections and tags on Shopify.

In case you encounter any issues with the migrated data, it’s advisable to use the Shopify Backup and re-run the migration process.

After checking data on your front end, login to the admin area and carefully check customs as well as order data from the backend.

Choose A Proper Shopify Theme

Theme is essential for the success of any Shopify business as it represents the store’s image and performance. To select a suitable Shopify theme, you can visit the “Shopify Theme Store”, which offers a variety of professional templates..

There are a few criteria that you can follow to choose a theme that aligns well with your business:

• Theme style: Depending on your business style, you can select a suitable template by using the filter on the “Shopify Theme Store”.
• Checkout process: According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate in the eCommerce industry is 69.8%. One of the major reasons for this is the bad checkout experience of the online business. Therefore, we recommend you to choose a theme that doesn’t require buyers to fill in too much information at the checkout. You can integrate a third-party app with your store to create the one-step checkout page. Also, it would be great to let shoppers know which step they are in via the progress bar.

Test The Transaction

It’s necessary to conduct test transactions to ensure they work as you expected. By placing a trial order, you will understand your customer’s experience of buying products on your website. Then, you can make some changes to improve the customer’s experience, making it more user-friendly and enjoyable.

Here are a few different types of transactions that you can run test orders for:

• Completing a successful and a failed transaction
• Refunding and canceling an order
• Fulfilling or partially fulfilling an order
• Saving a successful order

Integrate A Payment Gateway

Shopify Payments is Shopify’s own payment provider, it allows you to receive credit card payments through your Shopify Store. This feature can be activated within your Shopify admin panel, under Settings & Payment Providers.

In addition to Shopify Payments, Shopify also supports numerous Third-Party Payment Gateways worldwide for safe online transactions. It’s advisable to consider integrating certain third-party Payment Gateways (such as PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Stripe), but be prepared to pay them extra charges and abide by their restrictions.

Configure Shipping

Upon completing the checkout process, customers are billed for the shipping costs along with their purchased items. Before launching your new business, it’s crucial for you to set up the Shipping Rates and Options properly.

With Shopify, you can add shipping, local delivery, and local pickup options. Consider your customers’ preferences and determine the most suitable option for each shipping destination. And according to your needs, you can customize Shopify’s shipping prices in the following ways:

• Flat-rate Shipping — At the time of Checkout, apply a certain amount for Shipping Rate.
• Calculate Shipping — Calculate Shipping Rates using Third Party Service providers.
• Discount Calculated Shipping — To provide clients with Discounted Shipping Rates.
• Free Shipping — To provide Free Shipping to your customers.

Empower Your SEO performance

If you want your new Shopify store to claim prominent visibility on the search engine result, empowering your SEO performance is crucial. Here is a checklist of basic SEO-related activities we recommend for you:

• Improve your meta description for optimization;
• Remove and fix broken links;
• Employ Shopify SEO applications;
• Ensure short URLs with the primary keyword;
• Assess and enhance loading speed;
• Boost SEO presence through Google Business profile setup;
• Include primary keywords in the main title and initial paragraph of your blog articles.

FAQs

How to Switch Data From Big Cartel to Shopify For Free?

To migrate data from Big Cartel to Shopify at no cost, you can handle the process yourself by following the steps outlined below:

• Step 1: Export your Big Cartel data
• Step 2: Create Your Shopify Account
• Step 3: Pay For The Shopify Plan
• Step 4: Migrate Data From Big Cartel to Shopify

You can review the specific guidance for each step that we mentioned above.

Are There Any Credible Migration Services That I Can Choose?

Although Shopify provides user-friendly tools for store owners to handle the migration themselves, opting for a reputable migration service can simplify the process, particularly for extensive or intricate stores. For a Shopify Plus re-platforming project, collaborating with a seasoned specialist such as BSS Commerce is the most efficient approach to save time, money, and avoid challenges.

With over 11 years of experience and a track record of success with over 100,000 clients globally, BSS Commerce offers top-tier Shopify Migration Services. Entrust us for a seamless transition to Shopify Plus, ensuring brand identity preservation and digital growth.

What Should I Do After Migrating From Big Cartel to Shopify?

If you’ve just finished a Shopify migration with BSS Commerce, here is the checklist to set up your Shopify store after the process.

• Check Any Possible Post-Migration Errors
• Choose A Proper Shopify Theme
• Test The Transaction
• Integrate A Payment Gateway
• Configure Shipping
• Empower Your SEO performance

Bottom Line

In conclusion, Shopify is a great alternative if you’re thinking about moving away from Big Cartel. Hopefully, with the above useful information, this post has given you valuable guidelines on how to migrate Big Cartel to Shopify. And if you have a Big Cartel store that you want to migrate to Shopify, you can do it with BSS Commerce. With our powerful Apps and Shopify store development services, we have helped over 100,000 B2B and B2C eCommerce brands to build up, boost conversions and rocket sales fast.

CONTACT NOW to let us know your problems. We are willing to support you every time.