Software Development Blog

Visualsoft to Shopify Migration - What You Actually Need to Know

If you are running a Visualsoft store and thinking about moving to Shopify, you have probably already heard all the sales pitches.

Shopify is easier. Shopify is cheaper. Shopify is better for growth.

All of that might be true. But nobody is telling you what actually goes wrong during the migration, or how long it really takes, or what happens to your orders while you are switching.

This is the honest version.

Why People Leave Visualsoft

Visualsoft works fine for plenty of businesses. But we see three main reasons people start looking elsewhere:

Cost. The monthly fees add up, especially when you start adding features or need custom development.

Flexibility. If you want to do something Visualsoft was not designed for, you are stuck. Custom builds are expensive and slow.

Support. When something breaks, you are waiting on Visualsoft to fix it. That is frustrating when it is costing you sales.

Shopify looks like the answer because it is cheaper, more flexible, and has thousands of apps. But switching is not straightforward.

What Makes This Migration Tricky

Visualsoft stores are built differently to Shopify stores. Your data is structured differently. Your checkout works differently. Your URLs are completely different.

That means you cannot just export everything and import it into Shopify. You need to map the data properly, rebuild your checkout flow, and set up redirects so Google does not lose all your pages.

Here is what usually goes wrong:

Product data gets messy. Visualsoft uses different fields to Shopify. Variants, options, and attributes do not map across cleanly. You end up with products that look fine in the admin but broken on the front end.

Customer accounts break. Passwords do not transfer. Customers cannot log in. Order history disappears. You spend weeks dealing with support emails.

SEO collapses. Your URLs change. If the redirects are not set up perfectly, Google loses your pages and your rankings drop.

Checkout fails. Payment gateways need reconfiguring. Tax calculations might be wrong. Shipping rules do not work the same way. Orders start failing and you do not notice until customers complain.

All of these problems are avoidable. But only if you plan properly.

What a Proper Migration Looks Like

A good Visualsoft to Shopify migration is not a quick weekend job. It takes planning, testing, and careful execution.

Here is what should happen:

Data mapping first. Before touching anything, map your Visualsoft data to Shopify's structure. Products, variants, customers, orders. Work out what goes where and how to handle the differences.

Parallel running. Keep your Visualsoft store live while you build the Shopify store. Test everything before you switch. Checkout, payments, emails, stock syncing.

Redirect strategy. Every single URL on your Visualsoft site needs a redirect to the equivalent Shopify URL. Miss one category or product and you lose rankings.

Cutover plan. Decide exactly when you are switching and how. DNS change, maintenance page, email to customers. No surprises.

Post-launch monitoring. Watch the first few days closely. Orders processing correctly? Emails sending? Stock updating? Fix problems immediately.

The whole process takes 6 to 12 weeks depending on how complicated your store is. Anyone promising it faster is either cutting corners or lying.

What This Actually Costs

Visualsoft migrations are not cheap. The exact price depends on how much data you have, how many custom features need rebuilding, and whether your checkout has any unusual complexity.

Expect to pay somewhere between £8,000 and £25,000 for a properly managed migration. That includes data migration, theme setup, testing, and support for the first month.

If someone quotes you £2,000, they are not doing it properly. You will pay for it later in lost orders, broken SEO, and weeks of firefighting.

Should You Do It Yourself?

Probably not.

Shopify makes it look easy. Import your products, pick a theme, go live. But that only works if your store is very simple and you do not care about losing your SEO or customer data.

If you are doing serious revenue, or if your store has any complexity at all, get professional help. The cost of a botched migration is far higher than paying someone to do it properly.

What to Do Next

If you are serious about moving from Visualsoft to Shopify, start with a proper discovery phase. Get someone to look at your current setup and give you realistic costs and timelines.

Do not commit to anything until you know exactly what is involved.

Need help with your migration? Our Platform Migration Service takes the stress out of moving platforms. Book a discovery call and we will give you an honest assessment of what it takes.