Why Migrate to MedusaJS?
The ecommerce landscape is evolving rapidly. Legacy platforms like Magento 2, Shopify, and WooCommerce—while powerful—come with significant limitations that hinder growth, increase costs, and slow innovation.
This comprehensive guide walks you through every step of migrating to MedusaJS—from initial assessment through post-launch optimization. Whether you're coming from Magento 2, Shopify, WooCommerce, or another platform, we'll show you how to execute a successful migration that delivers immediate business value.
Migration is more than just moving data—it's an opportunity to reimagine your ecommerce operations, eliminate technical debt, and build a foundation for sustainable growth. Let's get started.
From Magento 2
- High operational costs (hosting, licensing, development)
- Slow page loads and poor performance at scale
- Complex, monolithic architecture difficult to customize
- Expensive developer talent and lengthy development cycles
- Rigid frontend limiting modern UX capabilities
From Shopify
- Transaction fees eating into margins (0.5-2% per sale)
- Limited customization within Liquid templates
- Monthly app fees adding up quickly
- Lack of data ownership and access
- Hitting platform limits as business grows
From WooCommerce/WordPress
- Performance degradation with catalog growth
- Plugin conflicts and compatibility nightmares
- Security vulnerabilities from WordPress core
- Difficulty scaling to high traffic
- Not built for complex B2B requirements
True Headless Architecture
Complete freedom to build any customer experience with your choice of frontend technology
- Next.js, Gatsby, Vue, React—use what works best
- Mobile apps with native performance
- Omnichannel experiences (web, mobile, IoT)
- No template limitations
Open Source Freedom
No licensing fees, no vendor lock-in, complete control
- Zero platform fees or transaction charges
- Own your code and data completely
- No artificial limitations
- Active community support
Modern Developer Experience
Built with modern technologies developers love
- Node.js and TypeScript
- Clean, documented APIs
- Faster development cycles
- Lower development costs
Enterprise-Ready Scalability
Architecture designed to scale effortlessly
- Handle millions of products
- Multi-region deployment
- Microservices-friendly
- Cloud-native infrastructure
Cost Efficiency
Dramatically lower total cost of ownership
- 60-70% reduction in hosting costs
- No platform or transaction fees
- Faster feature development
- Predictable, transparent pricing
What You Gain from Migration
- **Immediate Performance Improvements**: 3-5x faster page loads, better Core Web Vitals, improved SEO rankings
- **Significant Cost Reduction**: Eliminate platform fees, reduce hosting costs, lower development expenses
- **Unlimited Customization**: Build exactly what your business needs without platform constraints
- **Future-Proof Technology**: Modern architecture that evolves with web standards
- **Better Customer Experiences**: Fast, engaging storefronts that convert better
- **Competitive Advantage**: Capabilities that set you apart from competitors on legacy platforms
Migration Assessment & Planning
Successful migration starts with thorough assessment. Before writing a single line of code or migrating any data, we must understand your current state, requirements, and goals.
Our Assessment Process
Current Platform Analysis
Comprehensive review of your existing ecommerce infrastructure
- **Platform & Version**: Current platform, version, edition (if applicable)
- **Store Structure**: Multi-store setup, regions, currencies, languages
- **Data Volume**: Products (SKUs, variants), customers, orders, content
- **Extensions/Apps**: Installed plugins, apps, and their purposes
- **Custom Functionality**: Modifications to core, custom features, unique workflows
- **Integrations**: Third-party systems (ERP, CRM, PIM, shipping, payments, marketing)
- **Theme/Design**: Current design, customizations, responsive implementation
- **Performance**: Current speed, server resources, bottlenecks
- **Technical Debt**: Known issues, workarounds, maintenance challenges
Business Requirements Workshop
Deep dive into your business model, goals, and future needs
- **Business Model**: B2C, B2B, marketplace, subscription, hybrid
- **Revenue Model**: Standard sales, recurring, usage-based, freemium
- **Customer Segments**: Who are your customers and how do they shop?
- **Growth Plans**: Expected growth, new markets, product expansion
- **Critical Features**: Must-have functionality for business operations
- **Nice-to-Have Features**: Features you'd like but aren't critical
- **Pain Points**: Current frustrations with existing platform
- **Success Criteria**: How will you measure migration success?
Technical Access & Discovery
Hands-on analysis of your current system
- Code review of customizations
- Database structure analysis
- Performance profiling
- Integration endpoint testing
- Security assessment
- SEO configuration review
Data Quality Assessment
Evaluate the quality and completeness of data to be migrated
Migration Questionnaire
We provide a detailed questionnaire to gather essential information:
Current Platform Details
- Platform name and version
- Hosting environment details
- Monthly traffic and order volume
- Number of products/SKUs
- Number of active customers
- Multi-store/multi-language setup
Extensions & Functionality
- Extension name and purpose
- Why is it essential?
- Does it store data that needs migration?
- Known MedusaJS alternative (if any)
- Custom modifications made
Custom Features
- Feature description
- How does it work?
- Is data migration required?
- How critical is this feature?
- Can it be improved in migration?
Integrations
- System/service name
- Type of integration (API, file, etc.)
- Data synchronized
- Sync frequency
- Business criticality
- Current pain points
Design & Frontend
- Keep current design or redesign?
- Mobile responsiveness requirements
- Brand guidelines available?
- Design inspiration examples
- Accessibility requirements
- Performance goals (page load time)
Communication Framework
Transparent, proactive communication is essential for successful migration. You'll always know where the project stands, what's next, and how we're addressing challenges.
Migration Strategy & Approach
Every migration is unique. We tailor our approach to your business needs, risk tolerance, timeline, and budget—choosing the strategy that maximizes value while minimizing disruption.
Risk Mitigation Strategies
Data Loss During Migration
- Multiple backup points throughout process
- Validation at each stage
- Rollback procedures documented
- Never delete source data until confirmed success
Downtime During Cutover
- Schedule during low-traffic periods
- Parallel run capability if needed
- Automated cutover scripts
- Rollback plan ready
- Team standing by during launch
Performance Issues Post-Launch
- Load testing before launch
- Performance monitoring from day one
- CDN and caching properly configured
- Rapid response team for issues
- Gradual traffic ramp-up option
Missing Functionality
- Comprehensive requirement gathering
- User acceptance testing
- Feature parity checklist
- Prioritized post-launch roadmap
- Quick-response development capability
SEO Ranking Loss
- 301 redirects for all URLs
- Maintain URL structure where possible
- Submit updated sitemap
- Monitor rankings closely
- SEO optimization throughout build
Data Migration
Data is the lifeblood of your business. Our migration process ensures 100% data integrity with zero loss—from products and customers to orders and content.
Data Migration Process
Data Analysis & Mapping
Understand source data structure and map to MedusaJS schema
- Analyze source database schema
- Identify all data to be migrated
- Map source fields to MedusaJS entities
- Identify data transformations needed
- Document custom data handling
- Create migration specification
Migration Script Development
Build robust scripts to extract, transform, and load data
- Develop extraction scripts
- Implement transformation logic
- Handle edge cases and errors
- Add validation and logging
- Create rollback procedures
- Optimize for large datasets
Test Migration
Migrate copy of production data to staging environment
- Create production database copy
- Run migration scripts
- Validate data integrity
- Check relationships and references
- Test with actual product data
- Identify and fix issues
Data Validation
Comprehensive verification that all data migrated correctly
- Record count validation
- Sample data verification
- Relationship integrity checks
- Special characters and encoding
- Image and media file verification
- Custom field validation
Production Migration
Final data migration to production MedusaJS instance
- Schedule migration window
- Final production database backup
- Run migration scripts
- Real-time validation
- Smoke testing
- Customer communication
Delta/Incremental Migration
Sync changes made during development period
- Identify new/changed records
- Migrate incremental data
- Validate delta migration
- Final cutover preparation
Data Validation & Quality Assurance
Automated Validation
- Record count matching (source vs. destination)
- Required field completeness
- Data type correctness
- Relationship integrity (foreign keys)
- Duplicate detection
- Range and format validation
Sample Verification
- Random sample of each entity type
- High-value items (top products, VIP customers)
- Edge cases and complex scenarios
- Side-by-side comparison
- Client review and sign-off
Functional Testing
- Place test orders
- Calculate prices correctly
- Apply discounts and promotions
- Process returns and refunds
- Customer account operations
- Search and filtering
What Data Gets Migrated
Product Catalog
- SKU, title, description
- Prices (all tiers and customer groups)
- Images and media
- Categories and tags
- Variants and options
- Inventory levels
- Product attributes
- SEO metadata
- Related products
- Category hierarchy
- Names and descriptions
- Images and banners
- SEO data
- Category-specific attributes
- Option-specific pricing
- Inventory tracking per variant
Customer Data
- Email, name, phone
- Password hashes (if compatible)
- Customer groups/segments
- Account creation date
- Marketing preferences
- Custom attributes
- Billing and shipping addresses
- Default address flags
- Address validation status
- Group definitions
- Group-specific pricing
- Access permissions
Order History
- Order number and date
- Order status and history
- Line items with prices
- Discounts and promotions applied
- Shipping method and cost
- Payment method
- Tax calculations
- Order notes and comments
- Fulfillment status
- Refund amounts and reasons
- Return requests
- RMA numbers
- Refund status
Content & SEO
- Page content and HTML
- Page titles and metadata
- URL keys
- Publish status
- Post content
- Author information
- Categories and tags
- Publication dates
- Old URLs → New URLs mapping
- 301 permanent redirects
- Redirect priority rules
Configuration
- Store information
- Currency and region settings
- Tax rates and rules
- Shipping zones and methods
- Payment gateway config
Media Assets
- Product images
- Category images
- Content images
- Downloadable products
- Document attachments
Platform-Specific Data Migration Challenges
From Magento 2
Magento's Entity-Attribute-Value structure is complex
Solution: Custom extraction logic to flatten EAV data into MedusaJS's simpler schema
Complex multi-store, multi-website configurations
Solution: Strategic mapping to MedusaJS regions and sales channels
Numerous custom product and customer attributes
Solution: Map to MedusaJS metadata fields with proper typing
Complex tier pricing for customer groups
Solution: Implement using MedusaJS price lists and customer groups
From Shopify
Custom data stored in Shopify metafields
Solution: Map metafields to MedusaJS metadata with namespace preservation
Data from Shopify apps that won't transfer
Solution: Identify app data, export where possible, rebuild functionality in MedusaJS
Shopify API rate limits and data access restrictions
Solution: Batch requests, respect rate limits, use export files where available
Shopify's variant structure differs from MedusaJS
Solution: Transform variant model to MedusaJS options and variants
From WooCommerce
Data intertwined with WordPress posts and users
Solution: Extract commerce data separately from content management data
Custom tables from WooCommerce plugins
Solution: Analyze each plugin's data, map to MedusaJS equivalents
Products stored as WordPress posts with meta
Solution: Custom extraction from wp_posts and wp_postmeta tables
WooCommerce variable product structure
Solution: Transform to MedusaJS products with variants and options
Common Data Migration Mistakes
Migrating to Non-Empty MedusaJS
Installing plugins or themes before migrating data causes conflicts and errors
Consequence: Data integrity issues, failed migration, manual cleanup required
Prevention: Always migrate to clean MedusaJS installation, then add customizations
Not Testing with Production Data
Testing migration with sample data instead of actual production database copy
Consequence: Issues discovered only after go-live, potential data loss
Prevention: Always test with complete production data copy in staging
Ignoring Data Cleanup
Migrating bad data (duplicates, orphaned records, test data)
Consequence: Poor data quality in new system from day one
Prevention: Audit and clean data before migration, it's an opportunity to start fresh
No Rollback Plan
Assuming migration will work perfectly without contingency
Consequence: Extended downtime if issues arise, panic during problems
Prevention: Document rollback procedures, test them, have team ready
Data Migration Timeline
Data migration typically occurs throughout the project:
- Week 1-2: Analysis and mapping
- Week 3-4: Script development
- Week 5: First test migration
- Week 6-10: Iterative testing and refinement
- Week 11: Final test migration and validation
- Week 15-16: Production migration and cutover
Functionality Implementation
Recreating your store's functionality on MedusaJS—from standard features to complex custom logic. This is where MedusaJS's extensibility truly shines.
Functionality Implementation Strategy
Core Commerce Features
Standard ecommerce functionality available in MedusaJS
Approach: Configure and customize MedusaJS core
Effort: Low to Medium - mostly configuration
- Product catalog management
- Shopping cart and checkout
- Customer accounts and authentication
- Order management
- Multi-currency and regions
- Tax calculation
- Shipping options
- Discount and promotion engine
- Gift cards
- Return and exchange handling
Official MedusaJS Plugins
Functionality available through official plugins
Approach: Install, configure, and integrate official plugins
Effort: Low - install and configure
- Stripe / PayPal payments
- SendGrid email
- Algolia / Meilisearch search
- Segment analytics
- Contentful CMS
- MinIO file storage
Community Plugins
Functionality from MedusaJS community
Approach: Evaluate, install, and potentially customize
Effort: Low to Medium - depends on customization needed
- Code quality assessment
- Maintenance and support
- Compatibility verification
- Customization needs
- Alternative options
Custom Plugin Development
Unique functionality requiring custom development
Approach: Build custom MedusaJS plugins following best practices
Effort: Medium to High - depends on complexity
- Complex B2B pricing logic
- Custom workflow automation
- Specialized inventory management
- Industry-specific compliance
- Unique checkout flows
- Custom reporting and analytics
- Proprietary integrations
Storefront Development
Your storefront is where customers experience your brand and make purchase decisions. We build fast, conversion-optimized storefronts that delight users and drive revenue.
Storefront Development
Migrate Existing Design
Recreate your current storefront design on MedusaJS
- Brand continuity for customers
- No design costs
- Faster to market
- Known conversion performance
Process
- Extract design system from current site
- Rebuild in modern framework (Next.js, etc.)
- Optimize for performance
- Enhance mobile experience
- Improve accessibility
Starter Template Customization
Start with MedusaJS starter, customize to your brand
- Proven architecture and patterns
- Fastest time to market
- Lower cost than custom
- Best practices built-in
Process
- Select starter (Next.js or Gatsby)
- Apply brand colors, typography, imagery
- Customize layouts and components
- Add required features
- Optimize and test
Custom Storefront Design
Complete custom design and development from scratch
- Unique, differentiated experience
- Optimized for your specific needs
- Competitive advantage
- Unlimited possibilities
Process
- UX research and strategy
- Wireframing and user flows
- Visual design and branding
- Design system creation
- Component development
- Performance optimization
Frontend Technology Selection
We recommend the best frontend framework for your specific needs:
Testing & Launch
Rigorous testing ensures a smooth launch. We validate every aspect before cutover—functionality, performance, security, and user experience.
Comprehensive Testing Strategy
Unit Testing
Test individual components and functions in isolation
Coverage: Plugin services and methodsData transformation logicBusiness rule validationAPI endpoint handlersUtility functions
Tools: Jest, React Testing Library
Integration Testing
Test how components work together
Coverage: Plugin interactionsDatabase operationsAPI integrationsEvent handlingThird-party services
Tools: Jest, Supertest
Functional Testing
Verify all features work as specified
Tools: Manual testing, test case checklists
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Client validates system meets requirements
Performance Testing
Validate system handles expected load
Tools: k6, Apache JMeter, Lighthouse
Security Testing
Identify vulnerabilities before launch
Tools: OWASP ZAP, npm audit
Cross-Browser Testing
Ensure compatibility across browsers
Platform-Specific Migration Guides
Detailed guides for migrating from specific platforms to MedusaJS
Each platform has unique characteristics, challenges, and considerations. Select your current platform for a detailed migration guide: