Migrate your ecommerce store to Shopify in Japan – keep your data and search traffic

Why stores in Japan migrate to Shopify

Most migrations start when the current cart can no longer do what the business needs. If these sound familiar, it is time to plan the move:

• The design options are too limited to show your brand properly
• You want subscriptions, pre-orders, member tiers or overseas sales, and your cart makes it hard
• EC-CUBE or WooCommerce updates, hosting and security take too much time
• Transaction fees and paid add-ons keep growing with your sales
• You want clean Google Shopping, Instagram and GA4 integrations

Shopify combines an app ecosystem, flexible themes, built-in payments including Shopify Payments, and multi-currency, multi-language selling. That makes it a solid home for a store you plan to grow for years. For a small catalog where simplicity comes first, BASE can still be the better fit – see BASE vs Shopify for a side-by-side view.

What data moves to Shopify, and what needs extra work

Most carts export CSV files, which are then mapped to Shopify's format and imported. The key is knowing in advance which items transfer cleanly.

• Products: titles, descriptions, prices, stock, SKUs, images and variants. Every cart structures fields differently, so we build a column mapping first
• Categories: rebuilt as Shopify collections; deep category trees are usually simplified with menus and tags
• Customers: names, emails, addresses and marketing consent. Passwords cannot be moved, so customers activate their accounts on the new store
• Order history: not part of the standard CSV import; use a dedicated app or keep the old records for reference
• Points and member tiers: Shopify has no built-in points system, so an app replaces it and balances are transferred by plan
• Pages and blog: including your Specified Commercial Transactions Act page, shipping and return policies

Subscriptions need special care. Saved payment details usually cannot move between carts, so re-registration and the switch date must be planned. It is also worth checking your privacy policy covers moving customer data to the new system.

Notes for each platform you might be leaving

The effort depends heavily on where you are coming from:

• BASE and STORES: with your own domain, you can point it to Shopify and redirect old URLs. On the default subdomain (thebase.in, stores.jp and similar) redirects are not possible, so less search traffic carries over
• Color Me Shop: product URLs use query parameters, so redirect rules are tested before launch. Options are rebuilt as Shopify variants
• MakeShop and futureshop: the more custom features you use – tiers, points, special order flows – the more app replacements we check one by one
• EC-CUBE: data can be pulled straight from the database, but custom features take time to document. Time the hosting cancellation carefully
• WooCommerce: decide whether the WordPress blog moves too. If articles drive your traffic, keeping the blog and moving only the store is an option

Japan-specific features such as delivery date and time slots, noshi gift wrapping, deferred payment and convenience store payment are added on Shopify through apps or payment providers. List what your daily operations depend on and confirm each item works on the new store.

Redirects and SEO: protecting rankings and revenue

Shopify uses fixed URL patterns such as /products/ and /collections/, so your URLs will change. 301 redirects from every old URL to its new one are essential.

• List every old URL – products, categories, pages, blog posts – and map each to its new URL
• Bulk-import the map into Shopify's URL redirects as a CSV
• Carry over product copy, page titles, meta descriptions and image alt text
• Submit the sitemap in Search Console right after launch and watch for 404s
• Reinstall GA4, Google Ads and Meta Ads tags and conversion tracking
• Switch the Google Merchant Center product feed to the new store

Our guide to 301 redirects and site migration SEO walks through the checks in detail. Even a careful move can cause rankings to fluctuate for a while, so we keep an eye on the numbers for several weeks after the switch.

Migration steps and a typical timeline

A store with tens to a few hundred products typically takes one to two months. Large catalogs or stores with members and subscriptions to carry over usually take three months or more.

• Inventory: products, features in use, payment and shipping methods, integrations, monthly order volume
• Plan: theme and design, collections, required apps, URL map
• Data migration: convert and import products and customers, check images and stock
• Test orders: payments, shipping fees, email notifications, stock updates
• Switch: point the domain at a quiet hour and activate redirects
• After launch: account activation emails, 404s, tracking and ad feeds

Have these ready: admin access to your current cart, product and customer CSV exports, domain details, and your payment and shipping contracts. Cancel the old cart only after exports and redirects are confirmed. If you also want a fresh design, see ecommerce site renewal.

How UNANOBO handles a Shopify migration

Before you commit, UNANOBO builds a free demo: a Shopify store using your brand and real products from your current shop. You click through it on a computer and phone, and decide whether to move once you are happy with how it looks and works.

The process is free demo, feedback, launch, growth. The founder handles every project personally – from the data inventory and redirects to ads and tracking after launch – so you keep one contact throughout. Everything runs by message, in Japanese or English.