Migrating to BigCommerce: Step-by-Step Guide from Any Platform

Migrating to BigCommerce: Your Complete Playbook

Platform migration services is a high-stakes project. Done right, it unlocks growth. Done poorly, it damages SEO rankings, disrupts revenue and frustrates customers. This guide covers everything you need for a successful BigCommerce migration.

Pre-Migration Assessment

Audit Your Current Store

Before touching any data, document:

• Total SKUs, categories and product variants
• Customer accounts and order history volume
• Active integrations and third-party services
• Custom functionality and business logic
• Current URL structure and SEO performance

Define Success Criteria

Set measurable goals:

• Zero data loss for products, customers and orders
• Less than 5% organic traffic drop in the first 30 days
• All integrations functional within one week of launch
• Sub-3-second page load times on the new platform

Data Migration Strategy

Products

BigCommerce provides CSV import tools and APIs for product migration:

• Basic data: names, descriptions, prices, SKUs, images
• Variants: size, colour, material with individual pricing
• Custom fields: specifications, dimensions, material details
• Categories: preserve hierarchy and product assignments
• Images: migrate all product images maintaining alt text

Customers

Transfer customer data while respecting privacy:

• Account details including name, email and addresses
• Customer group assignments for B2B pricing
• Order history for reference and reordering
• Loyalty points or credit balances
• Communication preferences and consent records

Orders

Historical orders provide valuable data:

• Import completed orders for customer reference
• Maintain order numbers for continuity
• Preserve tracking information and fulfilment status
• Transfer refund and return records

SEO Preservation

URL Mapping

Create a comprehensive redirect map:

Meta Data Transfer

Preserve all SEO metadata:

• Page titles and meta descriptions
• Image alt text and file names
• Heading structure and content formatting
• Schema markup for products and pages

Technical SEO Checklist

• Submit updated sitemap to Google Search Console
• Verify all 301 redirects resolve correctly
• Check for crawl errors daily for the first two weeks
• Monitor indexed page count for unexpected drops
• Validate structured data on key page templates

Integration Migration

Payment Gateways

BigCommerce supports 65+ payment gateways:

• Configure primary and backup payment providers
• Test all payment flows including refunds
• Verify PCI compliance settings
• Set up fraud detection rules

Shipping

Configure shipping methods to match current offering:

• Flat rate, weight-based and carrier-calculated options
• Free shipping thresholds and promotional rules
• International shipping zones and duties
• Real-time carrier rate integrations

Third-Party Services

Reconnect essential services:

• Email marketing platforms (Klaviyo, Mailchimp)
• Analytics tools (Google Analytics 4, Meta Pixel)
• ERP and inventory management systems
• Customer service platforms (Zendesk, Gorgias)

Testing Protocol

Functional Testing

Before going live, test every customer-facing flow:

• Product browsing and search
• Add to cart and cart management
• Guest and registered checkout
• Account creation and login
• Order tracking and returns
• Mobile responsiveness across devices

Performance Testing

Verify speed and stability:

• Load testing with expected traffic volumes
• Page speed testing on key templates
• Mobile performance on 3G and 4G connections
• CDN configuration and cache hit rates

Launch Strategy

Soft Launch

Reduce risk with a staged approach:

1. Launch with a subset of products and monitor

2. Direct a small percentage of traffic to the new store

3. Compare conversion rates and identify issues

4. Gradually increase traffic over one to two weeks

Hard Launch

For brands preferring a clean cutover:

1. Schedule during lowest-traffic hours

2. Switch DNS and activate redirects simultaneously

3. Monitor real-time analytics for the first 24 hours

4. Have rollback plan ready in case of critical issues

Post-Migration Monitoring

Track these metrics daily for the first month:

• Organic traffic compared to pre-migration baseline
• Conversion rate by device and traffic source
• Average page load time
• Cart abandonment rate
• Customer support ticket volume

Globify manages end-to-end BigCommerce migrations with dedicated project management, technical implementation and post-launch support. Contact us for a migration assessment.