7 reasons to migrate from Prestashop to Shopify

Are you looking to migrate from Prestashop to Shopify and looking for an agency? Have you been using Prestashop for a while but would like to try a new solution? Why not Shopify ? If you see Shopify as a solution that doesn't measure up to Prestashop, then read this article quickly before investing in a new version of Prestashop.

Why migrate from Prestashop to Shopify?

As a Shopify certified agency but having worked for many years on Prestashop, we do many e-commerce site migrations from Prestashop to Shopify and it is each time for the same reasons.

• Are you tired of doing technical updates to Prestashop all the time?
• Do you find the Prestashop interface outdated?
• Is your development agency charging you too much for each project or modification?
• Do you regularly encounter bugs with your e-commerce site?
• Do you spend more time solving technical problems than marketing?
• Are you having trouble finding competent and reliable people on Prestashop?

So the good news is, all of this can become history by switching to Shopify.

Why, after more than 10 years of working on open source solutions, did we decide to migrate all our customers to Shopify?

Our team has been working on e-commerce sites for over 15 years. And for a long time, we were strong advocates of Prestashop, even Prestashop 1.7, and Magento . Despite their flaws, they were the best e-commerce solutions available on the market.

But what was true in the past is much less true today. A newcomer has emerged and achieved the impossible: offering a near-perfect e-commerce solution for virtually every merchant in the world.

And believe me, we had a hard time believing it at first. Like many, we were convinced that Shopify , a SaaS solution, couldn't offer the same technical openness or flexibility as open source. We didn't know it yet, but we were wrong.

Shopify, the advantages of SaaS and open source at the same time.

Shopify has achieved a feat: combining the best of SaaS and the best of open source to offer a fast, flexible, productivity-oriented solution that is also extremely open, with its API and front end that can be modified at will. For those who are curious, we have written a comprehensive article comparing Shopify vs. Prestashop

Here are 7 reasons to migrate from PrestaShop to Shopify for the next redesign of your e-commerce site.

1 Increase productivity

This is definitely the number one reason why you'll become a Shopify addict after migrating. The clean, streamlined, and super-fast interface will boost your productivity. No plugins will slow down your back office or complicate your e-commerce life.

Everything is at your fingertips and can be configured in just a few clicks.

The proof: we produced a webinar where in 1 hour it is possible to set up a Shopify store from A to Z without any technical knowledge.

Of course, if you go through a Shopify agency , it's often to have custom developments. That's good, because it's entirely possible with Shopify.

2 Have a custom site quickly

Using Shopify's API (Application Programming Interface) and our Shopify Partner developers, we can build your dream site for you.

Need a specific feature? You can modify the front end at will and create or add apps to match your needs 100% without reinventing the wheel.

3 Automate processes as much as possible

As technical integration is often quick and easy, there is often still budget left to automate the various tasks as much as possible and increase your productivity.

With Shopify and its extremely open e-commerce system, it is possible to virtually connect all the technical service providers around: PIM, ERP, Accounting, Logistics, WMS etc.

Why deprive yourself of the opportunity to automate your e-commerce as much as possible and increase your productivity? With Shopify APIs and tools like Integromat or Zapier , it is possible to significantly boost your productivity by migrating from Prestashop to Shopify .

4 Goodbye to bugs and technical problems

Have you ever installed a module that crashed your Prestashop site and caused you to lose sales? With Shopify, that's ancient history. I know it's hard to believe when you have a poorly performing, buggy site, but yes, high-performing, bug-free e-commerce sites do exist.

With Shopify, if one app doesn't work, everything else works. Bug-free. It's nearly impossible to crash a Shopify app through an app or bug. Why? Because by using the API, it limits the impact of each issue.

In open source solutions, the different overlays can conflict and generate significant drops in turnover.

Who has never updated a module on Prestashop by clicking on the big orange button and crashed their entire site?

The infamous incessant updates of all Prestashop addons which represent a permanent risk for your store

5 Say goodbye to hosting and traffic problems

Have you ever spent hours searching for the right PrestaShop hosting? Only to experience sometimes unexplained performance drops? With Shopify Cloud, you're protected from such problems.

Got a busy day with lots of visitors? No problem, and you won't pay any extra.

You no longer have to worry about server-side performance improvements, Shopify takes care of that for you.

6 You can test themes in just a few clicks

If you've ever tried to modify your Prestashop theme, you know that it can be a real ordeal. Here's what you can read on some Prestashop sites:

Sometimes the Prestashop theme installer module does not work properly and therefore does not allow the template to be installed.

In fact, this module is unfortunately not always very reliable.

Or Again

Once the template is installed, product images often no longer appear. The same goes for category, scene, manufacturer, and supplier images.

This is completely normal.

It's like a dream! Is it normal for changing a theme to almost crash a site? On Shopify, it takes 3 clicks and a little less than a minute to change themes without any technical glitches. No, it's not science fiction!

7 You will save money!

What? But Prestashop is free and Shopify is paid, so how can you save money by switching to Shopify?

Well, PrestaShop isn't free, far from it. You have to pay for: modules, a server, a website creation team, technical maintenance, etc. All of this represents a cost that we call the e-commerce cost of ownership (TCO: total cost of ownership).

And very often, our clients have a much lower TCO under Shopify VS Prestashop.

So if you're tired of dealing with bugs or spending time solving problems that have no value for your e-commerce site and you'd like to focus on your online sales business, contact our e-commerce agency Pikka, a Shopify specialist, now for a quote for migrating from Prestashop to Shopify !

Prestashop to Shopify Migration FAQ

What data can be recovered when migrating from Prestashop to Shopify?

During the migration project, Pikka's teams will take care of reintegrating all your Prestashop content into Shopify, including for example:

• The orders
• Customers
• The products
• Category contents
• CMS content
• Custom fields
• Static content

Customer passwords will not be imported for security reasons, but each customer will still be able to retrieve their existing orders on Shopify and access their order history.

Pikka's teams are experts in importing several hundred thousand orders if necessary.

What is the project timeline for migrating from Prestashop to Shopify?

A typical migration project lasts between 3 and 6 months, this remains indicative and can be shorter in certain cases (small site, urgent project, design already validated) but the typical timeframe for managing the entire migration is around 3/4 months.

I have a custom design on my Shopify site, how will this work on Shopify?

We will create a unique Shopify theme that reflects your image! Every brand has its own graphic identity, and it's essential to find it on Shopify. Creating a custom theme that reflects your image is therefore essential. Pikka's UX, UI, and web integration teams are here for that!