Squarespace to Shopify migration, done properly

Why stores move from Squarespace to Shopify (and when to stay)

Squarespace is a website builder with a capable store built in. Shopify is a commerce platform that also runs your website. The difference shows as the catalogue, the team and the number of sales channels grow.

Owners usually move for two reasons:

• Bigger catalogues. Squarespace allows up to six options and 250 variants per product (Squarespace). Shopify allows up to 2,048 variants, but only three options (Shopify), which matters during the move.
• Apps and integrations. The Shopify App Store adds reviews, subscriptions, bundles, wholesale tools or a warehouse connection without rebuilding the site.

Staying is reasonable if the shop is a small part of a content-led site, you sell a handful of products or services, or you rely on Squarespace's member areas, courses or scheduling. A migration takes time and money, and search traffic can wobble while Google catches up. Move because a specific limit is costing you sales.

What moves, and what doesn't

Products and variants

Squarespace exports physical and service products to a CSV file, up to 10,000 products (Squarespace: export products). Download products can't be exported, nor can their uploaded files (Squarespace: download products), so find your originals first.

The file isn't in Shopify's format. Shopify's Squarespace guide lists the conversions: Product URL becomes the URL handle, categories become a product type, weights convert to grams, the regular price of a sale item moves to compare-at price, and Visible becomes Published. Products with more than three options must be restructured first.

Images

Featured images, variant images and alt text aren't exported, so plan to reattach and rewrite them. Shopify pulls images from links in the CSV, which must be publicly reachable: import before you close the Squarespace site.

Categories

Rebuild categories as Shopify collections, chosen by hand or filled automatically by conditions such as product type or tag.

Customers and passwords

Squarespace's customer CSV has no country column, so add country codes, and map its marketing column to Shopify's “Accepts Email Marketing”. Notes and saved addresses don't export, except the address on each customer's latest physical order.

Passwords never move. With Shopify's current customer accounts, people sign in with their email and a one-time code. Stores on legacy accounts, which Shopify has deprecated, must invite customers to set a new password (Shopify: legacy customer accounts).

Orders

Squarespace exports orders only for active, visible products, so export before you hide or delete anything (Squarespace: export orders). Shopify has no built-in CSV import for historical orders: they come in through a migration app or the API, after products and customers (Shopify: CSV migration). Turn off staff order notifications first.

Blog posts, pages and design

Squarespace's site export is a WordPress XML file with one blog page and no store pages or products (Squarespace: export your site). Shopify can't import it, so posts are copied, moved with an app or sent through the API. Pages and design are rebuilt, not moved.

SEO, discounts, gift cards and reviews

• SEO titles and descriptions aren't in Squarespace's product file. Fill Shopify's SEO columns (up to 70 and 320 characters) or edit them in the admin.
• Discount codes need recreating in Shopify.
• Issued gift cards can't be imported by CSV; Shopify points to migration apps or its GiftCard API. Record every unspent balance.
• Product reviews can't be exported from Squarespace at all.

URL changes and keeping your rankings

Shopify uses fixed prefixes: /products/, /collections/, /pages/ and /blogs/<blog>/. On a standard Shopify store only the handle after the prefix can change, so nearly every Squarespace URL changes, and each one with traffic or links needs a 301 redirect.

/store stands for your store page's slug, and news is Shopify's default blog, which you can rename. On version 7.1, store categories can have their own slug instead of ?category=. Some Squarespace blogs put the date in post URLs, depending on the blog's URL format (Squarespace: URL slugs).

Build the full list

• Your Squarespace sitemap at /sitemap.xml (Squarespace: site map).
• The Product URL column in the product export.
• Google Search Console's Performance and Pages reports.
• Top landing pages in analytics, and pages with backlinks.

Create the redirects

In Shopify, go to Content > Menus > URL redirects. Add redirects one at a time, or import a CSV based on Shopify's sample file. Standard plans allow up to 100,000 (Shopify: URL redirects). Matrixify can bulk-import redirects, and Vostari Converter: Squarespace generates a redirect CSV from Squarespace files.

Know the catches

• Redirects only fire on broken URLs. If a path still loads a page in Shopify, the redirect is ignored.
• Reserved prefixes. Shopify can't redirect URLs that begin with /shop, /cart, /apps, /orders and a few others. If your store page uses the /shop slug, test some product URLs early. If they're refused, update every link you control (ads, product feeds, social profiles) and let your sitemap do the rest.
• Query strings. Shopify warns that URLs with query strings, like ?category= links, might not redirect as expected. Test them.
• Closest match, not the home page. Send discontinued products to the most relevant collection.
• Before the domain moves. Shopify recommends setting up redirects before you switch the domain.

Your domain and email

If your domain is registered with Squarespace

You can connect it (keep it with Squarespace and point it at Shopify) or transfer it. Connecting is quicker and safer on launch day; you can transfer later.

To connect, Shopify's guide has you delete Squarespace's default DNS records, then add an A record for @ pointing to 23.227.38.65 and a CNAME for www pointing to shops.myshopify.com. Then add the domain under Settings > Domains in Shopify, with a verification TXT record if asked.

Copy every DNS record before you delete anything. Email depends on the MX, SPF, DKIM and verification records: keep them and remove only the website records.

If you transfer it

• Squarespace may lock a domain for 60 days after registration, a transfer or a change of contact details (Squarespace: transfer away).
• Turn off Domain Lock and request the transfer code in Squarespace.
• Shopify doesn't copy custom DNS records, and an email address on the domain being moved can stop working during the transfer. Save your records and use an address on another domain (Shopify: transferring domains).
• Shopify says a transfer can take up to 20 days; the domain keeps working meanwhile.
• Some extensions, including .co.uk, can't be transferred to Shopify. Connect those instead.

If it's registered elsewhere

Disconnect it from the Squarespace site, then change the A and CNAME records at your registrar. Shopify notes that a domain still connected to the old platform can cause SSL errors.

Email

Shopify doesn't host email (Shopify: email hosting). Google Workspace keeps working while its records stay in place. If you bought it through Squarespace, it stays billed there unless you cancel it, and a domain transfer doesn't cancel your Squarespace site.

Squarespace features and their Shopify equivalents

• Download products: Shopify Digital Products, Shopify's free app. Upload your original files again.
• Subscriptions: Shopify Subscriptions (free, by Shopify) or another subscription app. Shopify's contract import only takes subscriptions already running through Shopify checkout, so existing Squarespace subscribers will usually need to sign up again. Plan that message early.
• Gift cards: built into Shopify. Sell new ones as gift card products, and bring outstanding balances over with a migration app or the GiftCard API, as close to launch as you can.
• Product reviews: a review app. Shopify's guide names Judge.me, Loox and Yotpo.
• Email campaigns: Shopify Messaging (Shopify's email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing app) or another email platform. Squarespace's mailing list export separates subscribed, unsubscribed and cleaned contacts; only mark subscribed people as accepting marketing.
• Form blocks: Shopify Forms (free) for sign-up and enquiry forms.
• Member areas and courses: Shopify has no built-in equivalent, so you'll need an app.
• More than three options: an options app or theme customisation, per Shopify's variant guide.
• Extensions for shipping, printing or accounting: check each provider has a Shopify app before you commit.

Step-by-step migration plan

1. Audit. List products with more than three options, download products, subscriptions, gift card balances and extensions. Decide whether to import historical orders or just archive them.
2. Export while Squarespace is live: products, customers, mailing lists, orders, the site XML as a backup, original download files, your URL list, and screenshots of shipping, tax and policy settings.
3. Create the Shopify store and keep it private. Private mode (Online Store > Preferences) shows visitors a password page and hides the store from search engines (Shopify: password page).
4. Set up the foundations: shipping, taxes, payments, policies, notification emails and staff accounts.
5. Import in order: products, then customers, then orders. Test a small batch first, then check prices, weights, stock, variants and images.
6. Build the storefront: theme, collections, navigation, pages, blog posts, and SEO titles and descriptions.
7. Rebuild features: reviews, subscriptions, gift cards, discount codes, forms, email marketing, analytics and ad tracking.
8. Import redirects and test a sample on the store's myshopify.com address.
9. Place test orders: successful and failed payments, a refund, a cancellation and a partial fulfilment.
10. Freeze and sync. Pause edits on Squarespace, then bring across final stock, new customers, recent orders and gift card balances.
11. Switch the domain. Point DNS at Shopify, keep the email records and set the primary domain.
12. Go live. Turn off private mode, and keep the Squarespace site for a few weeks as a reference.

Launch day and the first 30 days

On launch day

• Load the domain with and without www, and check HTTPS works without warnings.
• Open your 20 most valuable old URLs and confirm each lands on the right page.
• Place a real order with a real card, then refund it.
• Send email to and from your domain to confirm mail still flows.
• Check analytics and ad tracking, and update links in ads and social profiles.
• Submit Shopify's automatic sitemap.xml in Google Search Console; it can't be read while the store is private (Shopify: migration considerations).

The first 30 days

• Check Search Console's Pages report for “Not found (404)” URLs and redirect anything missed.
• Compare clicks and positions for your top pages and queries with a pre-launch baseline. Shopify notes indexing can take a few days to a few weeks, so expect some movement.
• Watch conversion rate and support messages for problems with sign-in, discounts or gift cards.
• Keep your exports and the old site until you're sure nothing is missing.

What affects the cost and timeline

There's no standard price for a migration, because the work depends on what you have:

• Catalogue: how many products and variants, how many break the three-option limit, and how many images need reattaching.
• Data: customers, historical orders, reviews, gift card balances and subscriptions each add mapping and checking.
• Content: how many pages and blog posts must be rebuilt or copied, especially across several blogs.
• Design: a ready-made theme with light customisation, or a custom design.
• Apps and custom features: integrations, plus anything that needs development.
• SEO care: how many URLs carry traffic or links, and how much of the redirect map is manual.
• Timing: avoid your busiest weeks and allow for domain locks.

A small, simple store moves fairly quickly; a large catalogue with subscriptions and a custom design takes much longer. Agree scope and launch date before work starts.

Questions