Magento to Shopify · Cardiff · Select Partner
Leaving Magento?
Cardiff retailers don't need to keep carrying the Magento overhead.
Magento 1 is end of life, and Adobe Commerce now carries a significant licence and infrastructure cost. For many Cardiff retailers, Shopify removes that burden entirely. Whether moving now is right for you is worth thinking through carefully.
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We have worked with Jason & his team to develop our Shopify store, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. The design is clean, modern, and perfectly aligned with our brand identity, while the build is fast, responsive, and easy to manage on the backend. They clearly understood our vision and delivered a store we’re genuinely proud of. Highly recommend to any brand looking for a top-quality Shopify partner.
Magento is getting more expensive to own. Here's what that means for Cardiff retailers.
Cardiff is the commercial and retail capital of Wales, and one of the UK's faster-growing city economies. From the independent retailers and lifestyle brands around the Castle Quarter and the city's Victorian and Edwardian arcades, to the larger multi-channel operators serving the wider South Wales region and the digital businesses clustered around Cardiff Bay and the city centre, this is a region with real commercial weight. Many of those retailers built their online presence years ago, and a good number did so on Magento. At the time, it was a sensible choice. But the economics of Magento have shifted, and for a lot of those businesses, staying put is now the more expensive and more fragile option.
Magento 1 reached end of life in June 2020. It no longer receives official security patches, which leaves stores still running on it carrying real and growing risk. Magento Open Source (Magento 2) is still maintained, but it is self-hosted, which means the cost of hosting, security patching, and specialist developers sits with you. Adobe Commerce, the commercial edition, adds a substantial annual licence fee on top of all of that. The total cost of ownership of a Magento store, once you add up hosting, patching, developer time, and extension licences, is frequently far higher than retailers realise.
The question for most Cardiff Magento merchants is not really whether Shopify could do the job. It comfortably can, for the overwhelming majority of mid-market stores. The questions that matter are when to move, who to use to get there, and how to protect the data and SEO you have built up over years.
We have migrated complex Magento fashion stores to Shopify.
Dev Partners has migrated high-volume fashion and retail brands off Magento to Shopify, including AX Paris, Chi Chi London, and Motel Rocks. These were not simple catalogue transfers: large product ranges, complex variant structures, ERP and fulfilment integrations, and years of accumulated custom functionality. Every one moved cleanly, kept trading throughout, and launched without SEO ranking drops or data loss.
Your three routes, honestly compared
There is no single right answer for every retailer, but there are meaningful differences. Here is a fair comparison.
| Criteria | Stay on Magento / Adobe Commerce | Migrate to Shopify with Dev Partners | Another Shopify agency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Retailers with deep, genuinely Magento-specific requirementsAnd budget for the ongoing cost of running it well | Mid-market retailers who want lower running costs and less maintenanceWith proven, complex Magento migration experience behind the work | Retailers with a simple catalogue and minimal custom functionalityStandard migrations only |
| Ongoing platform & hosting cost | ~ HighHosting, security patching, and Adobe Commerce licence where applicable | ✓ Lower & predictableFully hosted Shopify plan, no servers to maintain | ✓ Lower & predictableSame Shopify hosting model |
| Security maintained for you | ~ Your responsibilityMagento 1 is end of life; Magento 2 patching is on you | ✓ Handled by ShopifyPlatform security and PCI compliance managed for you | ✓ Handled by Shopify |
| Proven complex Magento migration | ~ N/ANo migration involved if you stay | ✓ YesAX Paris, Chi Chi London, Motel Rocks migrated off Magento | ~ VariesAsk what Magento migrations they have actually delivered |
| Custom functionality & extensions | ✓ Highly flexibleBut complex and costly to maintain | ✓ Rebuilt cleanlyBespoke Shopify code, apps, and ERP integrations | ~ VariesCheck what they have built versus configured |
| Day-to-day admin experience | ~ Powerful but heavyOften needs developer involvement for routine changes | ✓ Clean and intuitiveYour team manages products and promotions without devs | ✓ Clean and intuitiveSame Shopify admin |
| UK-based team, no offshoring | ~ Depends on your developer | ✓ Fully UK in-houseYou deal directly with the people doing the work | ~ Varies by agency |
Your options in plain English
What each route involves, and what it means for your Cardiff business on the other side.
You engage Dev Partners directly as your Shopify migration partner. Your products and variants, customer accounts, order history, CMS content, and custom functionality move from Magento or Adobe Commerce to Shopify, with comprehensive 301 redirect mapping to protect your SEO. On the other side you have a fully hosted store with no security patching to manage, no server bills, and no Adobe Commerce licence fee.
For Cardiff retailers, the economics are usually compelling. Your ongoing platform cost becomes your Shopify subscription plus whatever you choose to spend on development support, instead of the layered cost of hosting, patching, specialist Magento developers, and extension licences. Most mid-market retailers find their total cost of ownership drops, and the time their team spends keeping the platform stable drops with it.
What it requires is an agency that has genuinely done complex Magento migrations before, understands Magento's EAV data model and how it maps to Shopify, and can rebuild bespoke functionality cleanly. We have done exactly this for high-volume fashion brands, and we are fully UK-based with no offshoring.
Staying on Magento is a legitimate choice for some retailers, and we will be honest about when it is the right one. If your store relies on deep, genuinely Magento-specific capability, you have B2B requirements that Adobe Commerce handles particularly well, or you have a strong in-house Magento team and the budget to run the platform properly, staying put can make sense. Magento remains a highly flexible, capable platform.
The questions worth asking honestly before you commit: if you are still on Magento 1, how are you managing the security risk now that patches have stopped? What is your true annual total cost of ownership once hosting, patching, developer time, and any Adobe Commerce licence are added up? And how dependent are you on a small number of specialist developers who are increasingly hard to find and replace?
For a smaller number of retailers, the answers justify staying. For most mid-market stores in Cardiff, they point towards a move. The point is to make the decision with the real numbers in front of you, not by inertia.
There are plenty of Shopify agencies serving Cardiff and South Wales. For a standard migration with a straightforward catalogue, no unusual custom functionality, and clean data, many competent developers can manage it adequately.
Magento migrations get complicated in the detail: the EAV data model and custom attributes that do not map cleanly to Shopify products and metafields, configurable products and complex variant structures, accumulated third-party extensions, and years of indexed URLs that need careful 301 redirect mapping from Magento's specific URL structure. Ask any agency directly whether they have migrated from Magento before, how they handle custom functionality with no direct Shopify equivalent, and what their approach is to SEO redirect mapping for Magento URLs. Vague answers are a risk signal.
What makes a Magento migration different
Migrating from Magento or Adobe Commerce to Shopify is not a straightforward replatform. Here's where the complexity sits and why it matters who you use.
Catalogue & data architecture
Magento's EAV data model, custom product attributes, configurable products, and category structures do not map directly to Shopify. Getting this right means clean products, variants, and metafields on the other side. Getting it wrong means years of messy corrections.
Custom functionality & extensions
Magento stores often rely on bespoke modules, custom pricing and promotion rules, and a stack of third-party extensions built up over years. Each needs to be identified, understood, and rebuilt properly in Shopify with native features, apps, or custom code, not approximated.
SEO preservation
Years of search rankings, backlinks, and indexed URLs need preserving through careful 301 redirect mapping. Magento's URL structure and category paths are specific, and a generic redirect approach will lose rankings built over years.
Customer & order history
Complete customer accounts, order history, and loyalty data need to migrate cleanly. This is business-critical information that needs careful handling and validation, not bulk-importing and hoping for the best.
Integrations & infrastructure
ERP connections, warehouse and stock management, fulfilment, and marketing tools all need reconnecting to Shopify, and the self-hosted infrastructure behind Magento is retired. Some integrations have Shopify apps; others require custom integration work.
Go-live risk management
The switchover from a live Magento store to a live Shopify store is the highest-risk moment. A staged approach, where the Shopify store is fully built, tested, and signed off alongside the live Magento store, with a clear cutover and rollback plan, protects your trading throughout.
How we handle it for Cardiff retailers
We have developed a structured migration process built specifically around Magento and Adobe Commerce stores, not adapted from a generic replatforming checklist. We know where the data complexity sits, which custom functionality patterns appear most commonly, and how to rebuild them in Shopify cleanly and maintainably. Your Magento store stays live and trading throughout, and the switch happens at a single controlled point when everything is confirmed working.
We are not figuring this out for the first time on your project. We have migrated high-volume Magento fashion stores already.
- Discovery and audit of catalogue, extensions, integrations, data volumes, and SEO footprint
- Full product catalogue migration including configurable products, variants, images, and metafields
- Customer account and complete order history transfer, mapped and validated before go-live
- 301 redirect mapping built specifically for Magento URL structures, with a post-migration SEO audit
- Rebuild of custom functionality, pricing and promotion logic, and bespoke modules on Shopify
- Reconnection to your existing ERP, warehouse, and fulfilment systems
- Staged, controlled go-live with a rollback plan and intensive post-launch monitoring
Fashion brands we have migrated off Magento to Shopify
These are high-volume fashion retailers with large product ranges, complex variant structures, ERP integrations, and years of accumulated custom Magento functionality. Not simple catalogue transfers. Every one migrated cleanly, kept trading throughout, and launched without SEO ranking drops or data loss.
AX Paris
UK fashion brand. Clean, modern Shopify store, fast and responsive, easy for the team to manage day to day. Read the case study.
Chi Chi London
High-volume fashion migration with a full ERP integration rebuilt on Shopify and comprehensive SEO redirect mapping.
Motel Rocks
Migration followed by Oracle NetSuite and 3PL integration, with custom functionality rebuilt cleanly. Read the case study.
What Cardiff Magento merchants ask us
The questions we hear most often from retailers in Cardiff and across South Wales.
Questions to ask before you commit to anything
Whether you are staying on Magento or moving to Shopify, these are the questions that matter.
What is my true total cost of ownership today?
Add up hosting, security patching, developer time, extension licences, and any Adobe Commerce fee. Compare that honestly to a Shopify plan plus development support. The real number is often higher than retailers assume.
Have they actually migrated from Magento before?
Ask specifically and ask for examples. Magento's EAV data model and custom functionality patterns are handled poorly by a general migration approach. We have migrated AX Paris, Chi Chi London, and Motel Rocks.
Who will be doing the work day to day?
Some agencies pitch senior people and deliver via juniors or offshore teams. Ask directly who writes the code and manages your project. At Dev Partners it is the same UK-based people you speak to.
What happens to your custom functionality?
List everything your Magento store does that is not standard, including extensions and bespoke modules. Ask how each item would be handled on Shopify. Vague answers are a risk signal.
How is SEO and 301 redirect mapping handled?
Magento URL structures are specific. Ask how every product, category, and CMS URL will be mapped to its Shopify equivalent, and whether a post-migration technical SEO audit is included.
How do they handle the go-live risk?
Ask specifically how go-live is managed, what the rollback plan is, and how they have handled this on previous Magento migrations. If they haven't done one, you are their test case.
Working with Cardiff businesses
Cardiff is the retail and commercial capital of Wales, home to a strong mix of independent retailers and lifestyle brands, established multi-channel operators, and a growing cluster of digital and ecommerce businesses serving the wider South Wales region. Many of those retailers built their stores on Magento years ago and are now weighing up the cost and maintenance of staying versus the move to a fully hosted platform.
Dev Partners is a Shopify Select Partner based in Gravesend, Kent. We work with businesses across the UK and most of our project work is delivered remotely. Distance does not affect the quality of the migration. If it is useful to meet in person at any point in the project, we are happy to come to Cardiff.
What matters for a Magento migration is not where the agency is located. It is whether they have done this specific migration before, whether they understand the data complexity, and whether they will still be there three months after go-live. On all three, we can give you a straight answer.
Other areas we serve
What our clients say
20 clients. A few of their words.
A well-rounded team, ensuring a full suite of expertise & resource is always available. CDS Global have seen the successful completion of major projects over the years where Dev Partners' ability to grasp the underlying business needs to provide a future-proof solution has been invaluable.
We have worked with Jason & his team to develop our Shopify store, and the experience was outstanding from start to finish. The design is clean, modern, and perfectly aligned with our brand identity, while the build is fast, responsive, and easy to manage on the backend. They clearly understood our vision and delivered a store we're genuinely proud of. Highly recommend to any brand looking for a top-quality Shopify partner.
After ongoing issues and delays with our previous developers, we brought in Rob & Jason at Dev Partners to take over all our websites and bespoke software. What a breath of fresh air, fully focused, excellent pre-launch designs and clear communication throughout. Highly recommended.
BPC Energy Ltd turned to Dev Partners for a complete turnkey solution, and they exceeded our expectations. The team handled everything from project management to development and support with real care and attention. They understood what we were aiming for, stayed on top of every detail, and always delivered on schedule with excellent quality.
Working with Dev Partners to redesign and modernise our WMS system: the whole process has been thoroughly professional from the outset and a delight to work with. Cannot recommend enough.
Great agency. Have used Dev Partners for several years and they have built 20+ sites for us, in addition to taking on our legacy websites, upgrading and maintaining. Easy to work with and some great practical ideas to improve our digital offerings.
Jones Hire have been working with Dev Partners on several projects, which have been very successful. They linked our catering database to a new improved website so clients can easily place and update orders, created a custom warehouse picking app to fulfil all our challenging requirements, and are currently developing a custom transport app to streamline our loading and delivery process.
We have been trying to reinvent our website for over 5 years, trying to make it convert and failing each time. Spoke to Rob at Dev Partners, the team helped create our new site and the improvement was instant.
We have been working with Rob and the team for about 10 years now. Dev Partners helped us build a completely bespoke CRM from scratch which manages our daily business and is always well maintained. We have been able to use the system and roll it out in our new franchise branches.
We collaborated with Dev Partners on the front end of a fairly complex telemarketing platform. Rob and Jason took the time to properly understand the moving parts, asked the right questions, and delivered a clean, intuitive interface that's made the system far easier for our team to use.
I have been working with the team at Dev Partners for the last 3 years and we have always been impressed with the speed in which they act on things for us, along with the honest open communication. The team are a valuable and vital part of our supply chain.
We've had a program for our business in the electronic security sector that Dev Partners developed and keep up to date. They've never let us down, always there when needed. Thanks Rob and the team.
Dev Partners have been working with us for just over 2 years. They have significantly upgraded and redesigned our existing web platforms, and always deliver a first class service.
Dev Partners helped us build an event website. The team were very knowledgeable, easy to work with and quick to deliver a high quality product.
Working with Dev Partners has been an exceptional experience. Their team is highly skilled, professional, and committed to delivering results. What truly sets them apart is their communication and transparency; we always felt informed, supported, and confident.
We've worked with Dev Partners a few times to support us on bespoke web build tasks. They're very easy to work with, approachable, and explain the detail in a way that's understandable. A great partner for technical issues at sensible prices.
Excellent customer service backed up with solid experience. As a media business we have had five websites built by Dev Partners. I would certainly recommend them.
Found Dev Partners and they were great, nothing too much trouble. They managed to help us with integrating our old existing system with Shopify.
I've worked with Rob and his team off and on for many years and have always found them to be professional, knowledgeable, and best of all, they listen to their clients and deliver what is required.
We have worked with Dev Partners for 7 years and can highly recommend them for their expertise and excellent customer service.
Cardiff retailer weighing up your Magento options?
Let's have an honest conversation about what your migration actually involves.
We are not going to tell you that moving off Magento is automatically right for every retailer. But we will give you a straight assessment of what's involved, what it would cost, and whether we are the right fit or whether another route makes more sense for your business. No ballpark quotes. No optimistic timelines.
A good first conversation covers:
- Your Magento or Adobe Commerce setup: catalogue size, extensions, integrations
- What custom functionality your store relies on and how it maps to Shopify
- Total cost comparison: staying on Magento versus moving to Shopify
- SEO considerations and your current rankings picture
- Realistic migration timeline and a controlled go-live approach
Calls are typically 30 to 45 minutes. We reply to all enquiries within one working day.
Book a Free Consultation
Tell us about your Magento store and we will be in touch within one working day.
