Change platform without starting from zero.
E-commerce migration moves a store between platforms (WooCommerce to Shopify, or off a builder) while preserving search rankings, customer accounts and order history. Haryes maps every URL to a single redirect hop and re-integrates M-Pesa on the new platform.
Migrations fail in public, and they fail on the same four things.
The store looks better, the platform is nicer to use, and organic traffic halves the week after launch. A migration is not a redesign with a new logo on it. It is a transfer of everything the old store had earned.
Four things account for most of the damage.
- URLs change and nobody maps them, so every ranking page becomes a 404.
- Redirects are chained three deep, which bleeds authority and slows every visit.
- Order history and customer accounts are left behind because the export was awkward.
- Payments are reconnected on launch day and tested for the first time with real customers.
How a migration runs
The order is deliberate. Most of the work happens before anything is visible.
Inventory the old store
Every URL, what it ranks for, what it earns, and what should not survive the move at all.
A map of what matters.
Build on the new platform
Catalogue, templates and checkout built and populated in parallel, while the old store keeps trading.
No downtime window.
Map and test redirects
Old URL to new URL, one hop, tested in bulk before launch rather than discovered afterwards.
Rankings carried across.
Transfer data and payments
Products, customers and order history moved, M-Pesa re-integrated and tested on live transactions.
Nothing left behind.
Switch and watch
Launch, then monitor index coverage, errors and orders daily for the first weeks.
Problems caught in days, not quarters.
What gets carried across
Four things, and they are not equally easy. We say which is which before you commit.
Search rankings
Protected by a complete URL map and single-hop redirects. This is the part that is lost most often and recovered most slowly.
The highest priority.
Customers and orders
Accounts and order history transfer, with the caveats of whatever the old platform will export.
Export quality decides.
Catalogue
Products, variants, images and categories, cleaned on the way rather than copied with their existing mess.
A chance to tidy up.
Payments
M-Pesa and any card provider re-integrated and tested on the new platform before the switch.
Tested before launch.
What you get
Scoped against your current store. See e-commerce pricing.
A URL map
Every page accounted for.
- Old to new, one hop
- Pages deliberately retired, not forgotten
- Tested in bulk before launch
The new store
Built in parallel.
- Catalogue transferred and cleaned
- Templates built for your products
- Inside the performance budget
Payments and invoicing
Working before the switch.
- M-Pesa re-integrated and tested
- Invoicing set up for your obligations
- Reconciliation view carried over
Post-launch monitoring
The weeks that decide it.
- Index coverage watched daily
- Errors and 404s caught early
- Order flow confirmed against the old baseline
Questions clients ask before they commit
Will we lose rankings?
A migration with a complete URL map and single-hop redirects usually sees a short dip and a recovery. A migration without one loses rankings that can take many months to rebuild, and some never come back.
Can we move off a website builder?
Yes, and it is one of the more common requests. Builders vary in how much they let you export, so the first step is finding out exactly what can be taken out before planning anything.
How long does a migration take?
Usually four to eight weeks depending on catalogue size and how clean the data is. Most of that is preparation while the old store keeps trading normally.
Do we need to migrate at all?
Sometimes not. If the problem is speed, structure or checkout, fixing the current platform can be cheaper and far less risky. We will say so if that is what we find.
Which way are you moving?
You have outgrown a hosted builder and want control.
We check what can be exported before planning the move.
Plan my migrationMoving between WooCommerce and Shopify in either direction.
Built in parallel, switched once, monitored afterwards.
See e-commerce developmentA migration transfers everything the old store earned. Done without a URL map, it transfers none of it.
