How-to

How to migrate from Squarespace to Shopify in 2022

If you are currently running your eCommerce business from Squarespace, but feel that your business has grown, it might be time to move onto a platform that can meet your current needs.

Posted 8 months ago by Jonathan Kennedy

Can I move my website from Squarespace to Shopify?

You most definitely can! Just like you can import WooCommerce products to Shopify, or migrate Big Cartel to Shopify, you can also migrate your Squarespace store to Shopify.

It is a very simple process, and we will be taking you through it step by step to make it as easy and hassle-free as possible

Why should I switch from Squarespace to Shopify?

While both are eCommerce platforms that you can use to build your online business, there are quite a few benefits that come with moving from Squarespace to Shopify.

We are going to elaborate on, and discuss a few of the reasons why it is beneficial below.

The purpose of the websites

When Shopify was first built, its main goal was to target eCommerce companies. Because of this, it was built as a very strong e-commerce platform and has always been made to cater to these types of businesses.

Squarespace, on the other hand, was built as a general platform to build websites. The e-commerce functionalities were only added later on. e-commerce was never its main goal, so it wasn’t built as strongly on this basis as Shopify was.

Squarespace is absolutely fine if you have a photography business, for example, and are promoting a service. But, as soon as your business has an element of eCommerce and selling goods, Squarespace lacks in certain aspects.

Marketing purposes

Shopify is a much better choice when it comes to marketing. It integrates extremely well with Google, and Facebook, for example, which makes it a great option for those with an advertising budget, or stores who want to set up marketing efforts in the future.

Shopify also makes it very easy to run marketing campaigns without the help of an agent, as it has built-in marketing channels. This is something that Squarespace doesn’t have, which is a big disadvantage for advertising your business.

Customization opportunities

There are many more opportunities to customize your store on Shopify than there are on Squarespace. Thanks to the liquid code that Shopify uses, the possibilities are almost endless.

While Shopify is a dream for coders, it is just as easy and efficient for non-coders. There are numerous Shopify themes available that are highly customizable and will boost the overall appearance of your store.

What is even better is that you can hire developers like HeyCarson if you are wanting more in-depth customization for your Shopify themes.

Squarespace is a lot harder to customize and is very limiting on both the front and back end. It is targeted toward non-coders, which makes its customization quite limited.

But, even for non-coders, Squarespace’s customization is limiting.

When you create a Squarespace account, you are offered a set template that you can build on. But unfortunately, this limits customization and branding for your business.

Customization is a huge part of what helps with sales. Having a store that is eye-catching, unique, and professional-looking will do wonders for your business and is something that can’t be overlooked.

Payment options

On Shopify, there are more than 100 different payment gateways. Squarespace is very limited in this regard and only offers three different payment gateways. These payment gateways include PayPal, Stripe, and Apple Pay.

Unfortunately, these three payment methods are not accessible to everyone. Many people don’t have a Stripe or PayPal account and don’t own an iPhone either. This makes Squarespace very limited in this regard and can cause customers to turn away.

Shopify’s payment platforms are a lot more universal. It uses both Apple Pay and Google Pay, which means that you can make a payment no matter what type of phone you have.

Shopify also offers the option of paying with your credit card or debit card or using PayFast. This means that anyone with a bank account can make purchases from Shopify. This isn’t the case with Squarespace.

Having a large variety of payment methods available makes it much more likely for people to make purchases.

Search engine optimization

Shopify was built with search engine optimization (SEO) in the front of their minds. Shopify automatically makes use of some basic SEO principles on product listings, which increases traffic to these products.

Shopify also has one up on Squarespace when it comes to URL mapping and 301 redirecting. This prevents search engines from sending customers to the wrong pages. It brings a lot of traffic to your Shopify store, which helps with marketing and sales.

The apps available on Shopify

Shopify has a third-party app store that helps you to optimize your store, increase sales, better your design, and solve complex issues.

Squarespace has a basic app integration, but nothing that can compare or compete with Shopify’s.

How to migrate from Squarespace to Shopify

Below, we are going to be explaining how to manually migrate your eCommerce store from Squarespace to Shopify.

This is the method we prefer as you have more control, and you also don’t need to pay for it. But, it is also possible to use a migration app to do this. A migration app is something that is commonly used when you are doing a migration that is similar to one from Prestashop to Shopify or Magento to Shopify Plus.

Step 1: Create a Shopify account and store

If you already have a Shopify account and store you can skip this step. If you don’t please read on and follow the instructions below.

Sign up for Shopify.
Create a store on Shopify.

Take a bit of time to set the store up properly. Adjust the settings, and choose how your store will look and function.

Step 2: Choose and add a Shopify theme

Your store’s theme says a lot about it and is something that can easily contribute to your store’s success or lack thereof.

Shopify has a plethora of beautiful themes to choose from. It is very simple to add one from the Shopify theme store too.

Start at your Shopify Admin page.
Go to Online Store, followed by Themes.
Click on Explore Themes.
A window with themes will pop up. Click on any theme to preview it or read about its features.
Click on the Add button if you would like to use that theme and add it to your Shopify store.

Step 3: Export the data from your Squarespace store

The first step is to export the store data from your Squarespace store. This includes data like your products and customers’ data.

Start by going to the Home Menu in your Squarespace store.
Click on Settings.
Go to Advanced, followed by Import/Export.
Choose the Export option.
Select all of the products from the export menu.
Click on Download.

This will download all of your selected product data into a CSV file that you can use to import to Shopify later on.

Next up, you want to export your orders. Before doing this, it is important to note that if you have any orders that are still pending you need to make sure that you close them out before you move them over to Shopify.

If you try to import orders that are pending to Shopify, they will import as if they were completed, which could lead to you missing important orders.

The order export process is very straightforward.

Go to the Home menu of your Squarespace website.
Click on Commerce, followed by Orders.
You can click on which type of orders you’d like to export. The choice is between orders that are Completed, Pending, or Cancelled.
If you need to search for any orders, “?” while the panel is open.
Click on Download CSV to let the download begin.

This export may take some time, but once it is complete it will download as a CSV file onto your computer.

Step 4: Import your Squarespace data to your new Shopify store

The next step is to import the files that you just exported from Squarespace to Shopify.

Go to your Shopify Admin page.
Find the Apps tab and click on it.
Look for where it says Store Importer, and click on this.
Once in the Store Importer, select the Squarespace option from the drop-down menu.
Click on Add Files.
Choose the CSV files that were exported in the first step.
Click on Continue Export.
Select Import to commence with the import process.

Step 5: Review the product data in your Shopify store

Once the import process has been completed, the next step is to review the product data that you have imported, make sure it was successful, and make any changes and modifications if it is necessary.

Go to the Import Summary page.
Review the details of behaviors and errors that may have occurred during your import.

Possible behaviors and errors that may have occurred

The following are common behaviors and errors that occur when you import data to Shopify. It is important to look out for them, and make changes when needed.

The store data that you imported was successful

This is the notification that you hope for. It shows that all of your data was imported successfully,

Some data failed to import

This can be products, orders, or customers. Squarespace has an export limitation of 2000 products, and each variant of the product is considered to be a single product. For example, if you have a product on Squarespace that has 4 variants, that will be considered as 4 products.

So, if you have 3000 products and variants in your store, 1000 would not have been imported due to the export limit. This means that you would have to add the remaining 1000 products manually.

Alternatively, you can import new data on top of already existing data. So, you will have to start by going back to your Squarespace store and selecting only the products that didn’t import.

Export this as a CSV file as you did previously.

All that you will have to do now is select “Start New Import” in your Shopify store. None of your old data will get deleted.

If some of the data on the new import is the same as existing data in your Shopify store, the matching products will not be imported, so no duplications will occur.

Products are imported successfully but have failed to publish

If products have been imported successfully but are not published it means that your product visibility was set as hidden when you exported your data from Squarespace.

To correct this, you will manually have to make your products available for your sales channels.

Some of your product variants did not import

If some of your product variants seem to be missing it means that that product is not imported completely. You will have to add this product to your Shopify Store manually.

There are dimensions missing from imported products

If product dimensions are missing, you will need to manually add them to your product descriptions.

Your gift cards and digital products have not been imported

The exporting process on Squarespace does not account for gift cards and digital products, so these will not be found on your export file, which is why they weren’t imported.

Since these can’t be imported, you will have to manually add them to your Shopify store.

Step 5: Customize your Shopify store

Once you have reviewed your import, made changes, and are happy with it, it is time to customize your store.

As we mentioned before, HeyCarson offers full theme customization. If you want your theme to perfectly fit and reflect your brand, submit a task with us.

Step 6: Switch your website’s domain

Once all of your products, customers, orders, and content has been successfully imported to Shopify, and you have customized your Shopify store to your liking, you will then need to switch your website’s domain.

This is the final step of the migration process, and it will ensure that your website traffic gets diverted to your new Shopify store and not your old Squarespace store.

To do this, you will firstly need to make sure that you were registered with Squarespace for at least 60 days. Unfortunately, this is a prerequisite if you want to make a domain switch.

To make the switch, you will need to unlock the domain.

Go to the Home Menu in your Squarespace store.
Click on Settings, and then Domains.
Select the domain that you would like to transfer, and make sure that the block where it says “Lock Domain” is unchecked.

Next, you will need to get the transfer key.

A button that says “Get Transfer Key” will appear at the bottom of your screen after you have unlocked the domain.
Click on this button, and copy the transfer key that comes up.

The code that you have just copied will need to be given to your new domain provider so that your transfer can be authorized. The provider may refer to it as an “Authorization Code” or an “EPP Code”.

The last step is to transfer the domain.

Go to your Shopify Admin page.
Click on Online Store.
Go to where it says Domains.
If you haven’t connected any domain to your Shopify store yet, click on Connect existing domain, and then select Transfer in your domain.
If you have already linked a domain to your Shopify store, select Transfer Domain. After this, enter the domain that you would like to transfer to Shopify, but don’t include “www.”.
Select Next.
Click on Verify Domain.

how to switch from squarespace to shopify

A message saying “Domain Unlocked” will pop up if it is ready to be transferred.

Click on Next.
A verification box will appear.
Type in the authorization code that you acquired a few steps back.
Click Next, followed by Buy and Transfer.

An email will be sent to you from the domain provider, as you will need to approve the domain transfer

Click on the link that you receive via email saying Approve/Confirm Transfer.

Once the domain has been approved, it can take up to 20 days to be completed. So, a tip we can recommend is to keep your Squarespace open and running until the transfer has been completed and all the traffic has been properly diverted to your Shopify store.

Conclusion

Migrating from Squarespace to Shopify is a very simple and easy process. It is becoming more of a common thing to do, just like moving from Weebly to Shopify is.

Shopify is an exceptionally dynamic e-commerce platform, so migration brings a lot of benefits to your business.

Shopify is also more advanced and has more functionalities than Squarespace does. Migrating to Shopify will be advantageous to you in the long run.

Did you find our blog helpful? Then consider checking other guides:

Jonathan Kennedy

Jonathan is the founder at HeyCarson. He loves building communities, working on digital products and helping others reach new heights in their businesses and careers.

Check all articles from Jonathan Kennedy