How to transition from Mopro to a new e-commerce platform?

[Luxeport]

I have a Canadian e-commerce website that is based in the US.  When my website was created, I needed to create the e-commerce portioin of my website using Shopify, so my complete product set and checkout is currently set up on Shopify, but I pay way to much every month to the US company to host my site so I want to move it over onto Shopify using a Shopify Theme.  Where do I start to make this transition??  What questions do I need from my US hosting company to begin and should I hire a Shopify Partner to move it over?  I want to seriously improve the look and feel of my website, which will also include rejuvenation of my current photography.  I found someone on Upworks who said they cold do it.....but want the opinion of this group before I dive in???

[made4Uo]

Hi @Luxeport 

If you have some time, I would recommend to try it for your self first. Shopify offers a free trial, and also guide for migration here. When you are unable to do it, then I would suggest to hire someone to do this for you. Since your product is already set up in Shopify, you can skip some of the migration steps You can try the free themes here, and see which one you like best. 

[StephensWorld]

Hey Luxeport,

If your products/collections/orders/customers are already on Shopify, then you wouldn't really be needing a 'migration' but rather a 'new store build'. 

There's not really going to be any way to 'port over' the old/current website into Shopify, so whoever you hire will essentially be re-creating the site (and hopefully making some improvements & cleaning things up, as they do so).  This is easier than a migration, since the products are already in Shopify, so it's really just the front-end website (and then maybe some apps) that need to be setup. 

The main thing that will dictate the look/feel of the site is which Shopify theme you choose to go with (https://themes.shopify.com/themes). I strongly recommend purchasing a theme, where the 'demo version' of the theme is as close to what you want your site to look like, as possible. Using a theme that's as close to what you want will decrease the need for having custom coding done afterwards (which will potentially save you a lot of money). 

A Shopify Expert/Partner should be doing the following for you:

• looking at your current site, to get an idea of how you're currently doing things
• making some theme recommendations (at least 2: one rec for getting as close to how the current site looks, and then another rec for if you want to go in a different direction to make improvements). 
• when they set up the theme/site for you, they'll reference the old site and manually recreate each of your content pages + homepage.
• they'll edit and customize the settings build into the theme, to change how specific pages and sections are displayed, to best suit your needs.
• they'll identify things which will need custom coding (based on your requirements & suggestions) and then either do the coding themselves or else refer you to someone who can do the coding for you.
• they'll work with you to add any apps you may want (to provide additional functionality, or things that the theme doesn't have built in -- ex. custom product options, wholesale pricing, live chat widget, etc.).
• they'll help you edit your domain DNS settings when you're ready to make the new site live.
• they'll answer any questions & provide step-by-step instructions on how to edit things and where to find specific settings to edit.

If you're looking to take advantage of this opportunity to improve upon things, then it would be a good idea to get some new assets made, before hiring the Expert/Partner to do the setup for you ... logo, banner images, videos, text -- which can then be easily added in (or swapped for old assets), before going live with the new store. 

In your specific scenario (where the bulk of the data is already on Shopify), you probably wouldn't really need to work with your current US hosting company at all for this -- beyond reaching out to cancel your services with them, once the new Shopify store is live. 

If you're looking to hire someone for this, I'd love to throw my name into the hat: https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/partner/stephensworld

... or else you could hire an Expert/Partner from this page (https://www.shopify.com/partners/directory/services/store-setup/customize-design).

I hope the above helps point you in the right direction! 🙂

Cheers,

Stephen

[Luxeport]

Hi, this is Barb from Luxeport. You just replied to my questions around website migration for my Luxeport store.
Given you have viewed my current store and saw the state of my current imagery/website, what would you charge me to handle the migration and the image rejuvenation for me? Please keep in mind, I am doing this to significantly improve the site and ensure I have all the SEO tools built in.

Regards,
Barb
Luxeport

[StephensWorld]

Hey Barb,

I've taken a look at your current site (luxeport.com) and I'm very confident that I could re-create something similar (but better) for you on Shopify. 

If you're interested in moving forward, please email me directly at support@stephensworld.ca -- and then we can talk about pricing, recommendations, images, themes, etc.

Cheers,

Stephen