Why stores move off BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a capable platform and most stores on it work. The ones that come to us have usually hit one or more of these:
- The app ecosystem. Shopify's app store is several times larger. When you need a bundle builder, a particular loyalty tool or a connector to your accounting system, the odds it exists, is maintained and is cheap are higher on Shopify.
- The checkout. Shopify's checkout is the same for every store and is tested at a scale no single merchant can match. Customising BigCommerce's checkout is possible, but every change is yours to maintain.
- Theme choices and designers. BigCommerce themes run on Stencil, Shopify themes on Liquid. There are far more Shopify theme designers and themes, so changes are quicker to commission and cheaper to make.
- Plan thresholds. At the time of writing, BigCommerce plans carry yearly sales thresholds, and crossing one moves you up a plan. Growth should feel like good news, not a pricing event.
If one of these is why you are reading, here is what the move involves, what is particular to BigCommerce, and what it costs.
What moves
| Data | Moves? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Products, SKUs, images, stock | Yes | Imported and checked product by product |
| Product options (SKU-generating) | Yes, within limits | Become variants; see below |
| Modifiers (text, uploads, checkboxes) | Yes | Become line item properties or an options app |
| Categories, including nested | Yes | Become collections; nesting rebuilt through menus and filters |
| Customers and addresses | Yes | Imported with newsletter consent |
| Customer groups | Yes | Tags plus discounts on standard; B2B companies on Plus |
| Customer passwords | No | Hashes cannot be read; see FAQ |
| Order history and statuses | Yes | Read-only orders on each customer, original number kept as a tag |
| Store credit and gift certificates | Yes | Reissued as Shopify gift cards |
| Coupons and promotions | Yes | Recreated as discounts |
| Reviews and blog posts | Yes | Reviews into a reviews app; posts into Shopify's blog |
| URL redirects you already have | Yes | Exported, flattened and included in the new redirect map |
| Theme | Rebuilt | Stencil themes do not run on Shopify; theme-store theme or rebuild |
Three things that are particular to BigCommerce
Options and the variant limit
BigCommerce separates variants (combinations with their own SKU and stock) from modifiers (choices that do not create a SKU, such as engraving text or a gift-wrap box), and lets a product carry a lot of both.
Shopify's model is tighter: three options per product and, on a standard set-up, 100 variants. A t-shirt in 6 sizes and 12 colours is 72 variants and fits. A cabinet in 8 widths, 6 finishes and 4 handle styles is 192 and does not.
The fix is decided per product, in the estimate. Modifiers become line item properties, so the customer's choice travels with the order without a SKU. Products over the limit are split along the most natural axis, say one product per finish, with the theme linking them so a shopper sees one product. Where splitting would hurt, a product-options app carries the extra choices. You see every affected product with its proposed fix before you commit.
Customer groups
BigCommerce customer groups do three jobs at once: group pricing, discounts, and control over which categories a group can see. Shopify uses a different tool for each, so the first question is what your groups actually do.
If they give a trade discount to approved customers, standard Shopify covers it: the group becomes a tag, the pricing an automatic discount for tagged customers, and restricted categories collections visible only to them. If your groups are genuine wholesale accounts with price lists, payment terms and several buyers per company, that is what Shopify Plus B2B was built for, priced in the large tier. We put the recommendation in writing, and we say when standard Shopify is enough.
Redirects from a different URL structure
This is the part that goes wrong in self-service moves. BigCommerce product URLs are usually flat (/blue-widget/) and categories nest (/garden/tools/pruners/). Shopify's are /products/blue-widget and /collections/pruners. Nothing matches by default.
We export the complete URL list, including the 301 redirects the store has already accumulated (many BigCommerce stores carry them from an earlier platform), and build one map: every old address to its final new address, in one hop. Chains are collapsed, dead ends caught, ranking image URLs included. The map is checked URL by URL before launch and watched in Search Console for 30 days after.
A worked example
Illustrative numbers, not a client. A US sporting-goods store: 3,400 products, 58 with more than 100 option combinations, 4 customer groups (retail, team, school, dealer), 9 years of URLs including redirects from an earlier platform, a custom Stencil theme.
- 58 products that could not be imported as they were, dealer pricing nobody could explain, 2,200 redirects chained two or three deep, a theme only one freelancer understood
+ the 58 restructured into 134 linked products, 3 groups as tags with automatic discounts and one collection locked to dealers, 7,900 URLs in a single-hop redirect map, design rebuilt on Shopify, live in six weeks
What it costs
Fixed prices, decided from the store scan and written down before any work starts. Full detail on the cost page.
| Store | Fits when | Fixed price |
|---|---|---|
| SmallStandard Shopify theme, up to 5 apps | Up to 500 products, one currency, one language | from $4,500 |
| Mid-sizeCustom theme work, up to 10 apps | Up to 5,000 products, your design rebuilt, option restructuring, a few integrations | $9,000 to $18,000 |
| Large or PlusB2B, multi-currency, custom apps | Over 5,000 products, wholesale price lists, several markets, ERP connections | $18,000 to $35,000 |
| App with no Shopify equivalentPer piece, fixed | Your own business logic that no app covers | $600 to $2,000 |
| Care planOptional, cancel any month | Theme and app updates, small changes, monitoring, a named engineer | $300 to $900 a month |
Redirects and 30 days of post-launch fixes are included in every tier. Half at start, half at launch. Products over the variant limit and the kind of customer groups you run are what most often move a BigCommerce store between tiers; both are measured in the free estimate.
How it runs
Free estimate (2 working days)
You give us the store URL. With read-only admin access we export the catalog, option structure, customer groups and URL list. You get a written estimate: products over the variant limit with a fix for each, the customer-group recommendation, the redirect count, timeline and a fixed price.
Scope and schedule (1 week)
You say yes, we write the full scope, the launch date and who is on the job. You sign; half the fee is paid; we start.
Build on a staging store (2 to 5 weeks)
Catalog, customers, groups and orders imported and checked. Over-limit products restructured as agreed. Theme set up or rebuilt. Apps installed in your own Shopify account. Staging login in the first week and a short written log every working day.
Test, then switch (1 week)
Test orders through every payment method, shipping rate and customer group, on desktop and phone. Redirect map checked URL by URL. Final import of orders placed during the build. DNS switch at a time you choose; BigCommerce kept live for rollback.
Watch and hand over (30 days)
Search Console, redirects and checkout watched daily for 30 days; anything that moved is fixed. Training session, written notes, and the care plan offer.
Where we come from
RiantSoft was founded in Ahmedabad in 2009. Our engineers have spent seventeen years building, patching and moving stores for US and UK clients across Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Shopify. We know what a BigCommerce options export looks like and what a two-deep redirect chain does to a Search Console report. That is why the estimate holds.
Three ways to start
- Get a free migration estimate: the fastest way to a fixed price for your store.
- Read what a migration costs: every price driver explained with examples.
- Email info@riantsoft.com with a question. Written reply within one US business day.
Questions people ask
What happens to products with lots of options?
BigCommerce lets a product carry many options and modifiers. Shopify allows three options and 100 variants per product on a standard set-up (the ceiling is being raised, but many themes and apps still assume 100, so we plan for 100). Products under the limit move as they are. For each product over it, the estimate proposes one of three fixes: split into a product per colour or size family, turn a non-stock option into a line item property, or use a product-options app. Nothing is restructured without your sign-off.
How do customer groups come across?
On standard Shopify, each group becomes a customer tag, and the group's pricing becomes automatic discounts or a wholesale app applied to that tag. Category visibility rules become collections only tagged customers can see. If your groups are real wholesale accounts with price lists, net terms and several buyers per company, Shopify Plus has B2B companies, catalogs and price lists built in, and that is the large tier. We tell you which route fits; standard Shopify is enough more often than you might expect.
Will my URLs and rankings survive?
Yes, with work, and that work is included. BigCommerce product URLs usually sit at the root of the domain (/blue-widget/); Shopify uses /products/blue-widget. Every URL changes. We export your full URL list and your existing redirects, map each to its new address, collapse chains so every old link resolves in one hop, resubmit the sitemap and watch Search Console for 30 days. Expect a short dip while Google recrawls, then recovery.
Do my customers need new accounts?
Accounts, addresses, group tags and order history move. Passwords do not, because BigCommerce stores them as hashes Shopify cannot read. With Shopify's current customer accounts, people log in with a one-time code sent by email and never need a password. If you keep the older account style, each customer sets a password once. We send the announcement email before launch.
What about store credit, gift certificates and reviews?
Store credit balances and open gift certificates are reissued as Shopify gift cards for the same value, attached to the same customer. Built-in BigCommerce reviews are exported and imported into a Shopify reviews app so your stars stay on the product page. Wish lists move through a wishlist app. Each is a line in the estimate so you can see it is covered.
How long does it take?
Four to seven weeks for most BigCommerce stores, from the signed scope to live traffic. A small store on a theme-store theme can be done in three weeks. Stores with thousands of products, heavy option restructuring, B2B pricing or ERP connections take eight to twelve weeks. Your BigCommerce store keeps trading throughout; the switch itself takes minutes on a quiet evening you choose.
Can we keep our BigCommerce apps?
Some apps exist on both platforms (many review, email, loyalty and shipping apps do) and you keep your account and your data. Others are BigCommerce-only and are replaced by a Shopify app that does the same job. A custom app or script that holds your own business logic becomes a small custom piece at a fixed price of $600 to $2,000. The estimate shows each app in one of these three columns.