Making the decision to move your online store to a new platform is a big step. If you’re currently using EKM, you might be feeling that your business has outgrown its capabilities and you’re ready for something more powerful. This process of moving is often called a platform migration. While it sounds technical, understanding what an EKM migration involves is the first step to a smooth and successful transition.
So, what does an EKM migration really mean? It’s the process of transferring all of your store’s important information—products, customer details, order history, and content—from the EKM platform over to a new one, like Shopify. It’s more than just a simple copy and paste; it’s about carefully rebuilding your business on a stronger foundation without losing the progress you’ve already made. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know before you make the switch.
Preparing for a Platform Migration
Good preparation is the secret to a stress-free migration. Before you start moving anything, it’s essential to get organised. This phase is all about knowing what you have, what you need to keep, and what you can leave behind.
Data Audit
First, you need to conduct a data audit. This means making a list of all the data your EKM store holds. Think about:
- Products: How many products do you have? Do they have variations like size and colour? Are your product descriptions up to date?
- Customers: How many customer accounts do you have? What information do you store for them?
- Orders: How much order history do you want to bring over?
- Content: This includes your blog posts, “About Us” page, and any other informational pages.
An audit helps you understand the scale of the migration and ensures nothing important gets forgotten.
Content Cleanup
A migration is the perfect opportunity for a spring clean. Over time, online stores can accumulate outdated content, old product pages, or low-quality images. Before moving, go through your site and clean things up.
- Update product descriptions and images.
- Remove any pages that are no longer relevant.
- Check for broken links.
Starting on your new platform with clean, high-quality data will make your new store more effective from day one.
The Migration Roadmap
Once you’ve prepared, the actual migration can begin. The process follows a clear roadmap, moving one piece of your business at a time to ensure everything is transferred correctly.
Products
Your products are at the heart of your store. This step involves exporting all your product information from EKM and importing it into Shopify. This includes product titles, descriptions, prices, SKUs, and images. It’s also a chance to organise your products into collections (Shopify’s version of categories) to make them easier for customers to find.
Customers
Your customer data is incredibly valuable. This part of the migration involves transferring customer names, email addresses, and shipping information. Shopify allows you to import this data so that your existing customers can create accounts on your new site easily, without having to re-enter all their details.
Orders & History
While it may not be possible to move every single detail of past orders, you can migrate key order history. This is useful for your own records and for understanding customer buying patterns. Having this history in your new platform helps maintain a sense of continuity for your business operations.
SEO & Redirects
This is one of the most critical steps in any EKM migration. Your store has likely built up valuable search engine rankings over time. To keep those rankings, you must set up 301 redirects. A redirect tells search engines like Google that a page has permanently moved to a new address. For every page on your old EKM site, you need to create a redirect to the corresponding page on your new Shopify site. Skipping this step can cause your search traffic to drop significantly after you launch.
Design & Theme Setup
This is the fun part. While your data is being moved, you can work on the look and feel of your new store. Shopify offers a wide range of professional, mobile-friendly themes. You can choose a theme that fits your brand and customise it to create a unique and engaging shopping experience. This is your chance to build a modern, beautiful storefront that you couldn’t achieve on EKM.
Common Fears & How to Avoid Them
It’s natural to have fears about a platform migration. The most common ones are losing data, losing SEO rankings, and experiencing downtime that affects sales.
- Fear of Losing Data: This is why the data audit and a structured migration process are so important. By carefully exporting and backing up your information from EKM, you can ensure that all your vital product and customer data is transferred safely.
- Fear of Losing SEO: A thorough redirect strategy is the answer. By mapping every old URL to its new one, you tell search engines exactly where to find your content, preserving your hard-earned rankings.
- Fear of Downtime: A professional migration process involves building and testing the new site behind the scenes. Your old EKM store stays live until the new Shopify store is perfect. The final switch-over can be done in minutes, meaning there is virtually no downtime.
The key to avoiding these issues is planning and working with an experienced partner who understands the process of an EKM migration.
Why Shopify Makes Migration Worth It
Going through a migration takes effort, so is it worth it? With Shopify, the answer is a resounding yes. The benefits you gain will quickly outweigh the short-term effort of the move. Shopify offers:
- Total Creative Freedom: Build a store that truly reflects your brand.
- Limitless Functionality: The Shopify App Store lets you add any feature you need.
- Scalability for Growth: Shopify can handle your business growth, no matter how big you get.
- Powerful Tools: Access advanced analytics, marketing features, and global selling tools to boost your sales.
Migrating to Shopify isn’t just a sideways move; it’s a major upgrade for your business.
Why Choose Media Mole for Your EKM Migration
While you can attempt a migration yourself, it can be complex and risky. At Media Mole, we are specialists in platform migrations. We have a proven, stress-free process for both EKM migration and Sellerdeck Migration.
We take care of the entire process, from the initial data audit to the final launch. Our team ensures that your data is moved securely, your SEO is protected, and your new Shopify store is built to convert. We handle the technical details so you can focus on what you do best: running your business.
Final Tips
Thinking about making the switch? Here are a few final tips:
- Don’t Rush: Take the time to plan properly. A well-planned migration is a successful one.
- Communicate with Your Customers: Let them know you’re moving to a new and improved website. Build some excitement!
- Ask for Help: Don’t be afraid to partner with experts. An experienced team can save you time, money, and a lot of stress.
An EKM migration is your opportunity to build a better future for your online business. With careful planning and the right support, you can move to Shopify with confidence and unlock your store’s true potential.