Convert Shopify Theme To WordPress?

Today, every business looks for a better way to present its products and services online. Among the most popular platforms for developing an eCommerce site, Shopify and WordPress stand at the forefront. One is strong in one specific aspect while the other has strength in another; each of them serves two different purposes. Running an online store can be easy while providing huge flexibility. Shopify gives robust options for customization.

Or perhaps you built your e-commerce using Shopify, and now it just makes you want to switch over to WordPress. Perhaps you'll discover another level of customization, malleability, or perhaps even a completely different feel for your eCommerce. Converting from Shopify theme to WordPress: you can't just flip on the switch, but these guidelines will make it possible.

In this blog, we will walk you through step-by-step on how to convert a Shopify theme into WordPress. The spectrum covers everything about eCommerce Website Designing India, from the difference between two platforms to the nitty-gritty steps involved.

Knowing Shopify and WordPress:

Before discussing the conversion process, it would be helpful to mention that Shopify and WordPress share some core differences.

Shopify is a hosted e-commerce platform. It offers an easy interface for creating online stores. There are built-in tools for managing products, making payments, shipping, and so on. The Shopify themes are designed for eCommerce functionality, and customization requires a certain level of knowledge in liquid coding (Shopify proprietary language).

WordPress is a content management system that powers millions of websites in the world. Although WordPress is not specifically focused on eCommerce, it is highly extensible since it has plugins like WooCommerce that can transform your WordPress site into a full-fledged online store. WordPress themes are pretty customizable and are primarily made for blogging or general sites, but with the right tools, they can quickly be transformed into fully featured eCommerce websites.

This makes Shopify specific for eCommerce purposes and WordPress much more flexible, requiring an enormously huge amount of customization efforts, so basically converting a Shopify theme to WordPress is really a transition from a platform especially made for eCommerce to that which will require much customization effort to get the functionality similar.

Why Convert to WordPress from Shopify?

There are quite a number of reasons why any business would want to switch over from Shopify to WordPress.

• Personalization: You also have entitlement access to codes, so there are so many options that can lead to wide-ranging site alterations over and above what occurs at Shopify.
• This is free usage of WordPress, and it makes anyone able to run his or her e-commerce at a much cheaper cost compared to the paid that he will be required to pay in Shopify.
• Ownership: WordPress gives you complete control of your website. You can go as far as customizing your database and server to suit your preference without a third-party service.

Having done that, it's now time to proceed on with explaining how to turn a Shopify theme into WordPress.

Steps to Convert Shopify Theme into WordPress

1. Data backup for Shopify store

Before you do that, make sure you have a full Shopify store backup. You will need to save all your important data here, such as:

• Products (name, description, price, and images)
• Orders and customers information
• Content (pages, blog posts)
• If you want to save some customized design elements, use theme files.
• You can export most of this data directly from Shopify.

2. Deploy Your WordPress Site

To get started, you’ll need a WordPress website. This can be done by:

• You will need a web host in order to install WordPress. Good choices include Bluehost, SiteGround, or WP Engine; they all offer one-click WordPress installation and make the process pretty simple.
• Install WordPress: After purchasing hosting, install WordPress on your server. Many hosting providers offer automatic installation.
• Select a Domain: If you're transferring your website, you will want to forward your new WordPress site to the domain name that you had when you were with Shopify.

3. Install WooCommerce Plugin

If you’re transitioning from Shopify to WordPress, you’ll need to install WooCommerce, which is the most popular plugin for turning a WordPress website into an eCommerce store.

• Go to the Plugins section of your WordPress site, search for "WooCommerce," and install it.
• It follows the setup wizard and installs the store settings, including payment options, shipping methods, and tax rules.

4. Choose and Install a WordPress Theme

Shopify themes cannot be directly used in WordPress due to differences in how themes are structured. Therefore, you’ll need to choose a new WordPress theme. Many themes are designed specifically for eCommerce and integrate seamlessly with WooCommerce.

This is what you are looking for in a theme:

• This means ensuring the theme is WooCommerce friendly, that is, that it will work without a glitch using the plugin and its features.
• Options of customizing: Select a flexible theme, through which you can make it similar to the actual version of your Shopify store. Mobile responsiveness: Most of your traffic will be coming from mobile devices. So, make sure that the theme is fully responsive and looks great on any screen size. You can find free and paid themes on the official WordPress theme directory or even third-party websites like ThemeForest and StudioPress.

5. Import your Shopify store into WordPress

Transfer product information, customer details, and orders: This is the most significant stage. There are various techniques used to do this:

• Manual Data Entry: If your shop is small, you can paste and copy all your products, descriptions, images, and prices. This is time-consuming for large-sized shops.
• Description Tool: There are many plugins and tools that make this easier than it is. One example is a "Cart2Cart" migration tool for Shopify to WooCommerce. Such tools help one transfer his product catalogue, his images, customer data, order history, etc., into WordPress with very little work. Hire an Expert: In case you have a big shop or a high amount of data that you need to transfer, you may hire an expert for this task. Experts ensure that all the things are safely transferred and not lost in case of transfer.

6. Make your WordPress website look like Shopify

The most boring part of the process of converting a Shopify theme to WordPress is redesigning your Shopify store. You cannot just apply a Shopify theme directly to WordPress; you have to alter the WordPress theme to resemble your original store. Here's what you do:

• Customize the Header and Footer: Using WordPress's built-in customiser, you have the power to change both the header and footer. There is where you add your logo and your navigation menus, among other essentials.
• Personalized Pages: You can create bespoke pages, for example, about us page, contact us, FAQs, privacy policy, etc. You can set it up with WordPress page builders or a block editor.
• A page builder such as Elementor or WPBakery allows you to gain more control over the layout and design by not having to know any code to add rows, columns, buttons, or even a product grid, which therefore closely models your structure of a Shopify store. Besides this, you can add your own custom CSS for styling and perfecting the design style of your store in Shopify.

7. Test Your WordPress Store

Once your store is built and designed, test it carefully before putting it live online. Inspect the following elements:

Functionality: Your site's checkout process, options for paying, pages containing products, and functionality for checking out the cart.

Responsiveness: Your site will look fantastic both on your computer as well as on mobile phones.

Speed: Ensure the speed of loading your site fast by taking the aid of the caching plugin or WP Rocket/W3 Total Cache.

8. Launch your New WordPress Store

Now that everything has been tested, it's finally time to unleash the new WordPress store online. All of your settings on SEO should be perfectly in place so everything else will flow well in regards to search engine rankings. Setup redirects from the old Shopify URL to your WordPress URLs. Update your social media and email campaigns, as well as your marketing materials for your new WordPress site link.

Conclusion

Shopify conversion to WordPress may seem quite a difficult task, but following steps makes it possible to switch from one platform to the other. Shopify is not harsh on the designing and functionality part; however, WordPress gives greater freedom and control over how your site looks and behaves.

It means you can create a fully functional eCommerce store in WordPress that looks and feels like your old Shopify website by utilizing WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, through the customization of your theme, and the amount of care you give to the migration process, where you're exhausting all tests to ensure every single transition for you and your customers.

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