The Shopify Plus Migration Scope Worksheet

Twenty-one questions. About ten minutes. An honest read on the scope you are actually carrying.

Migrating to Shopify Plus is one of the decisions you make once and live with for years. The wrong scope estimate is where projects go sideways before a line of code is written: too lean, too optimistic, or missing a real complexity signal entirely.

This worksheet gives you an independent read before any agency conversation. Twenty-one questions, about ten minutes, no pitch. Your answers place your project in one of four complexity tiers and tell you, plainly, what drives the work and what tends to catch teams like yours by surprise.

Fill it out before you call anyone. Bring your result to any conversation you book with us and we will pressure-test it honestly.

Platform + Catalog Shape

These questions establish your starting point. The platform you are leaving and the shape of your catalog set the floor for everything that follows.

What platform are you migrating from? An existing Shopify plan (upgrading from Standard, Advanced, or a prior Plus build to a new architecture) WooCommerce or BigCommerce Magento, Adobe Commerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, or a custom-built platform

Platform + Catalog Shape

How many SKUs does your catalog carry across all products? Fewer than 5,000 5,000 to 25,000 More than 25,000

Above 25,000 SKUs, the standard Shopify product page model needs deliberate engineering. Layered app rules and custom product option logic compound this fast.

Platform + Catalog Shape

How would you describe the current state of your catalog data? Well-structured and consistent across all records; ready to import Mostly clean with gaps in older SKUs or inconsistent attribute coverage Spread across multiple systems, spreadsheets, or exports that will need significant cleanup before import

Data Migration Surface

Beyond your catalog, the data you carry forward shapes how much risk sits below the waterline. Order history, customer accounts, stored payment methods, and SEO equity are where a technically clean migration can still go wrong.

How many customer accounts does your store have? Fewer than 10,000 10,000 to 100,000 More than 100,000

Every one of those accounts carries order history that has to arrive still attached to the right customer. Scale is what turns that from a checklist item into real engineering work.

Data Migration Surface

How many years of order history do you need to bring into Shopify Plus? Fewer than 2 years, or order history is not a business-critical requirement 2 to 5 years More than 5 years

Data Migration Surface

Do customers have stored payment relationships (saved cards, recurring billing) that must keep working after the move? No stored payment methods to carry over Customers save payment methods for faster checkout, but nothing bills automatically Active recurring billing that must transfer without failed charges or lost payment methods

Changing platforms usually means changing payment gateways. Saved cards and billing tokens do not move by themselves, and that is true even if you keep the same subscription app.

Data Migration Surface

How significant is your organic search traffic, and how complex are your existing URL structures? URL structure is simple and a one-to-one redirect map is manageable Moderately complex URL structure (category pages, faceted navigation, localized paths) with some meaningful organic traffic Complex URL structure with meaningful organic traffic you cannot afford to lose during the transition

Integrations + Tech Stack

Integrations are where scopes expand mid-build. What matters most is which systems would stop the business if they went dark on launch day.

How many systems that would stop business operations if they went down on launch day will your new Shopify store connect to? Think ERP, OMS, WMS, 3PL, CRM, email platform, accounting. Zero or one Two or three More than three

More than three business-stopping integrations moves this project up a tier regardless of your other answers. Build the launch sequence around them, not around the go-live date.

Integrations + Tech Stack

How are your current integrations built? Through standard apps, extensions, or off-the-shelf connectors on your current platform A mix of standard connectors and some custom API work Primarily custom-built integrations, bespoke middleware, or legacy EDI connections I'm not sure how they were built

Integrations + Tech Stack

Do you have documentation for your current integrations, data flows, and field mappings? Yes, current and reasonably complete Partial; some documentation exists but is outdated or incomplete No documentation; the integration logic lives in institutional knowledge or a developer who may not be available

Undocumented integrations are one of the most reliable ways a migration scope expands after contract signature. If this is you, budget for discovery before anything else.

Checkout, Payments + Tax

Checkout is where payment rails and compliance surface simultaneously. Changes here are harder to reverse than almost anything else in the build.

Do you sell in multiple currencies or multiple countries? Single currency, single country Multi-currency via a third-party solution today Multiple markets with localized pricing, languages, or distinct tax rules

Checkout, Payments + Tax

How complex are your tax obligations? Standard US sales tax with a small number of nexus states US sales tax across 10 or more nexus states, or one international market with standard VAT International VAT or GST obligations, tax-exempt B2B customers, or a custom tax arrangement that standard tax engines do not cover I'm not sure what our current obligations cover

Checkout, Payments + Tax

How much custom logic does your current checkout carry? A mostly standard checkout with little customization to carry over Some custom business logic (upsells, shipping rules, loyalty redemption) that must be recreated on Shopify's checkout A heavily customized or fully custom checkout (common on Magento and custom-built platforms) whose logic is central to how you convert I'm not sure what our checkout customization actually covers

Shopify's checkout is deliberately more standardized than what legacy platforms allow. The distance between what your checkout does today and what Shopify permits you to customize is real scope.

B2B + Wholesale

B2B on Shopify Plus requires a different build mental model, not just a price list upload. If you have no B2B or wholesale operation, answer "No" and "Not applicable" and keep moving.

Does your business have a B2B or wholesale channel? No Yes, but it is small, manually managed, or runs through a separate tool not connected to your ecommerce platform Yes, and it is a meaningful revenue channel you plan to operate natively on Shopify Plus from launch day

B2B + Wholesale

How complex are your B2B pricing and ordering? Not applicable, or a single discount tier with buyers ordering through a simple flow A handful of customer-specific price lists (fewer than 10), with buyers mostly ordering on their own Many price lists, volume tiers, or contract terms, or ordering that requires rep-placed orders, approval steps, purchase order matching, or terms-based invoicing

Retention Layer

Subscriptions, stored value, and bundles are three of the highest-complexity surface areas on any mid-market store. Together, they can double the scope of an otherwise contained migration.

Do you run a subscription program? No Yes, and you plan to keep your current subscription platform Yes, and the migration includes switching subscription platforms (moving from one billing system to another while keeping active subscribers active)

Retention Layer

Do you carry stored value that must survive the move: gift cards, store credit, or loyalty points? None, or at negligible scale Some outstanding balances or points, with simple rules Stored value is a core retention mechanism, with significant outstanding balances and rules that must carry over intact

Retention Layer

Do you sell product bundles, kits, or subscription boxes? No Simple fixed bundles: the same products packaged together every time Dynamic bundles, build-your-own kits, or subscription box customization that required custom logic on your current platform

Team + Timeline

Internal ownership, content readiness, and deadline pressure are not complexity signals in the technical sense, but they are the variables that determine whether the complexity you have is manageable.

Who owns this migration on your internal team? A dedicated project owner with clear authority, allocated time, and decision-making responsibility Shared responsibility across a few team members, each of whom has other priorities in parallel No clear owner yet, or the migration is being managed around full existing workloads with no protected time

Team + Timeline

How ready is your content for the new site? Product copy, imagery, and page content are finalized and ready to load Core content exists but needs revision, resizing, or reorganization Content is a significant open variable: new photography, copywriting, or substantial page rebuilds are part of the scope

Team + Timeline

Do you have a hard go-live deadline? No fixed deadline; the timeline is driven by readiness A preferred launch window tied to a seasonal or business event, with some flexibility A hard deadline that cannot move: a platform contract expiry, a vendor mandate, or an external commitment already made

One last step

Your complexity read is ready.

Enter your details to see your complexity tier and what it means for scope, budget shape, and where the real risk lives. We will also email you your results.

Your result

Section	Complexity
Platform + Catalog Shape
Data Migration Surface
Integrations + Tech Stack
Checkout, Payments + Tax
B2B + Wholesale
Retention Layer
Team + Timeline

Your migration has a defined scope and few compounding variables. The signals that reliably expand timelines and budgets are not major factors here: platform data model mismatches, business-stopping custom integrations, active subscriptions crossing a billing platform boundary, or significant B2B infrastructure to stand up on day one.

That does not mean this is a small project. A Basic-tier migration still involves real design, theme development, data migration, QA, and launch coordination. What it means is that the scope is knowable before the first line of code runs. At this complexity level, Softlimit builds start from $35,000. The primary risk is not complexity; it is underinvesting in the QA and post-launch monitoring that turns a clean build into a durable one.

You have at least one signal that shifts this from a defined scope into a program requiring deliberate architecture. Whether it is a subscription platform switch, multi-currency markets, a meaningful set of business-critical integrations, or a B2B channel to operate on day one, there is something here that requires careful decisions before the build begins, not during it.

Moderate-tier builds typically run in the mid-five-figure range. Softlimit migrated Moon Juice to Recharge in 25 days against a hard contract deadline, because the migration was scoped as a revenue-protection problem from the start. Moves at this tier look simple until a detail is missed. The right agency for a Moderate-tier build runs a discovery process that surfaces the integration and data decisions before the architecture is set.

Several material complexity signals are overlapping here: a platform with a fundamentally different data model (Magento, SFCC, or a custom build), a large catalog, custom integrations without current documentation, a B2B channel with intricate price structures, a subscription platform migration, or a hard deadline pulling against any of the above. In combination, they turn a migration into a multi-workstream program.

Complex-tier engagements run in the low-six-figure range. For Polyvinyl Records, Softlimit migrated a 15-year custom platform to a unified DTC and B2B Shopify store, and post-migration revenue increased 20%. At this tier, discovery is not a formality; it is the part of the engagement that determines whether the launch is the beginning or a costly re-do.

You are describing a multi-phase program. The complexity signals here are not isolated; they compound: a legacy platform with a fundamentally different data model, business-stopping integrations with limited documentation, active B2B with significant price-list complexity, and subscriptions moving to a new billing platform at the same time, often with a hard deadline layered on top. That is the kind of scope where a phased approach is not optional.

Enterprise-tier engagements with Softlimit are structured as programs with phased delivery and defined workstreams. If your result is here, the most important first conversation is not "how fast can we launch?" but "what sequence makes this safe and durable?" Bring your result to a discovery call. We will map the critical path honestly and tell you where the real risk lives.

Your result tells you what you have. It does not map out how to handle it, or whether the approach you are planning makes sense given the complexity you are actually carrying.

If you want to work through it with people who have built it before, there are two places to start.

A migration audit documents your actual scope surface: the integration and data decisions that need to happen before the build begins, and the risk areas common to your complexity tier. It is a hands-on engagement, not a form to fill out.

If you would rather talk scope directly, bring your result and any questions the worksheet surfaced. We will pressure-test it.

Explore the migration audit Start a conversation

Let's Talk Shop(ify).

Your cart is empty. Let's fix that!

Search

The Shopify Plus Migration Scope Worksheet

Your complexity read is ready.

Footer menu