Same store, from Squarespace to Shopify, free move

We move your Squarespace store to Shopify for free, usually in about 2 weeks. Products, customers and fulfilled orders come across, your blog posts and pages are copied over by hand, and every old /p/ product address redirects to its Shopify page. The only bill is your Shopify plan, from $49 a month in Canada or $37 a month billed yearly, plus any paid apps you add.

What the Squarespace exports contain

Products

Squarespace exports physical and service products to CSV, up to 10,000 at a time. Digital products aren't part of that export. The file also leaves out variant images, image alt text and customer reviews, and Shopify's own migration guide notes that featured images need attention after the import. In practice we re-attach the right photo to each variant and write alt text as we go, which helps accessibility and image search at the same time.

Customers

The contact export gives us names and emails, but it doesn't include contact notes or saved addresses. If your customers' shipping addresses matter to you, for repeat orders or subscriptions, we pull them from the order export instead and attach them to each customer.

Orders

You can export orders to CSV and filter them by date and status. We export only fulfilled orders, which is what Shopify's guide recommends for history. Shopify can't import orders from a plain CSV, so we use a migration app for that step. You see every past order in your new admin, linked to the right customer.

Blog posts and pages need hands, not files

This is the part that surprises Squarespace owners. Squarespace exports blog posts and pages only as a WordPress XML file, and only one blog page at that. Shopify can't read that file. So we copy your posts and pages across ourselves, keep the images, fix the headings and give each one a redirect. For a blog with a few dozen posts this fits easily in the setup. For hundreds, we'll talk about which ones are worth moving.

Redirects from /p/ URLs

On Squarespace 7.1 a product address looks like /shop/p/linen-apron, where "shop" is the name of your store page and the /p/ can't be removed. On Shopify it becomes /products/linen-apron. Blog posts move from your blog page's path to /blogs/news/ or a blog name you choose. We map each old address to its new one, load the list into Shopify's URL redirects, and test it before your domain switches.

Discount codes and gift cards

We recreate your Squarespace discount codes as Shopify discounts with the same codes, so a code printed on a postcard or sent in last month's newsletter still works. Gift card balances are different: they can't be imported from a file on standard Shopify plans. We reissue each open balance as a Shopify gift card and either send customers their new code or hand you the list to send yourself, with a short note we write for you.

French: built in rather than bolted on

Squarespace sites that sell in two languages usually rely on Weglot, a separate paid translation service. Shopify publishes French natively: each language gets its own /fr addresses, and checkout and order emails appear in the customer's language. Your free setup includes the French version, so if you're paying for a translation add-on today, that bill can stop.

Why Squarespace sellers move

Squarespace makes beautiful sites, and that's often why people chose it. The move usually comes when the shop needs more than a site: variants beyond what the store page handles well, inventory across a warehouse and a shop, selling at markets with a card reader, wholesale, or apps for subscriptions and bundles. Shopify's app store and POS cover those without workarounds.

The steps

1. Exports: products, contacts and fulfilled orders, done together on a call or with your login.
2. Import and clean-up: variant photos, alt text, collections and customer addresses.
3. Theme: a free Shopify theme customized to keep the look you liked on Squarespace.
4. Content: blog posts and pages copied by hand, with redirects.
5. Setup: payments, GST/HST and QST, shipping, domain, French version.
6. Review, transfer of the store to you, then launch.

When you shouldn't switch

• Most of your revenue comes from Squarespace member areas, courses or Acuity appointments. Shopify can do those with apps, but it's not a like-for-like swap.
• Your site is mostly editorial or a portfolio and the shop is a small side. Squarespace may serve you better for less effort.
• You've just renewed a yearly Squarespace plan. Nothing stops you moving now, but you might wait until it's closer to ending.

To compare the two in more depth, see our Shopify vs Squarespace comparison, and for running costs, what Shopify costs in Canada. Ready? Send the request form and choose "Squarespace". The full terms are on our free Shopify setup page.