Squarespace to Shopify
Squarespace to Shopify migration for Australian brands
Squarespace is lovely for design-led sites with a small shop. When your catalogue, stock and fulfilment outgrow it, Shopify gives you stronger ecommerce tools. We migrate your products, customers and orders and redirect your /shop/p/ URLs so your search traffic follows.
Why brands leave Squarespace
- Ecommerce depth. Inventory, discounting, shipping and tax tools are more developed on Shopify.
- Apps. Shopify's app ecosystem covers subscriptions, bundles, wholesale and loyalty, where Squarespace extensions are limited.
- Shipping in Australia. Carrier-calculated rates and label tools for Australia Post and StarTrack are easier to run.
- Checkout. Shop Pay, Afterpay, Zip and wallets give higher-converting checkouts for many stores.
- Scaling. Larger catalogues and busy sale days sit better on a store platform.
What moves, and how
Products and variants
Squarespace exports products to CSV. We reformat it for Shopify. Titles, descriptions, SKUs, prices and variants move cleanly, and images are re-uploaded and checked.
Categories
Product categories become Shopify collections.
Customers
Customer lists export to CSV and import to Shopify. Passwords do not transfer, so customers receive an account invite after launch.
Order history
Orders export to CSV and import as historical records, and we check which fields are available.
Reviews
Squarespace has limited native review features, so reviews may come from a third-party tool. If it exports, we import into a Shopify reviews app.
Gift cards
Outstanding balances are recreated as Shopify gift cards.
Blog
Squarespace blog posts can be exported via its WordPress-format export, which we then convert and load into Shopify's blog. Images and internal links are fixed.
Memberships, scheduling and digital products
These do not transfer. We replace each with a Shopify app or a separate tool, after talking through whether you need them.
What changes in your URLs
Squarespace product pages typically live at /shop/p/product-name, and store category pages sit under /shop/. Blog posts sit under your blog page, such as /blog/post-title. Shopify uses /products/, /collections/ and /blogs/news/. Every product URL changes, so redirects matter.
Squarespace gives little control over URL structure, so we crawl the live site and combine it with Search Console to see what actually ranks. We then create a 301 for each page that matters, one path to one path, as Shopify requires.
| Squarespace | Shopify |
|---|---|
| /shop/p/linen-shirt | /products/linen-shirt |
| /shop/shirts | /collections/shirts |
| /blog/our-story | /blogs/news/our-story |
| /about | /pages/about |
What needs real work
- Design. Squarespace layouts do not export. We design the Shopify theme fresh. Many Squarespace brands care about design, so we carry the look across. See store design.
- Domain. If your domain sits with Squarespace, we repoint it at launch, or help you transfer it so it is under your own control.
- Forms and content pages. These are rebuilt using Shopify pages and a forms app where needed.
- Email campaigns. Lists move to Klaviyo or Shopify Email, and flows are rebuilt. See Klaviyo flows.
- Tax and shipping. We set up GST and Australian carrier rates. See GST setup.
How the migration runs
Step 1
Export and audit
We export your catalogue, customers and orders, crawl the site and list your top pages.
Step 2
Design and build
We build the Shopify theme and import data to staging.
Step 3
Redirects and QA
We load the redirect map and test checkout and mobile speed.
Step 4
Launch
We switch the domain, submit the sitemap and monitor Search Console.
Migrations are included in the Custom package ($18,500 ex GST). For small catalogues on a premium theme, Launch may be enough and we will tell you at scoping. See pricing and the migration service.
Protecting your Google rankings
- Step 1Crawl the live Squarespace site to capture every /shop/p/ product, store category and blog URL.
- Step 2301 each address to its Shopify equivalent, prioritising pages with Search Console clicks and backlinks.
- Step 3Carry over page titles, meta descriptions and image alt text into Shopify's SEO fields, since Squarespace exports them unevenly.
- Step 4Keep the same domain, disconnect Squarespace cleanly at cutover and resubmit the sitemap.
- Step 5Monitor 404s and indexing for several weeks after launch.
When to stay on Squarespace
If your site is primarily a portfolio, studio or service business and the shop sells a few items, Squarespace may do everything you need, and its design tools are strong. If you sell digital downloads, courses or appointments through Squarespace features and the volume is low, keep it. Moving costs time and money, and a small shop may not pay it back. If you are not limited by the platform, stay. Our guide to Shopify against Wix and Squarespace for ecommerce goes through the real differences.
Squarespace to Shopify: common questions
Can I export my Squarespace products?
Yes. Squarespace exports products to CSV from the store dashboard. We reformat that file for Shopify and check variants, images and prices.
Will I lose my search rankings?
Some movement is normal after any platform change. A complete redirect map and carried-over metadata keep it small, and we monitor Search Console afterwards.
Can my new store look like my Squarespace site?
Yes. We rebuild the design in a Shopify theme. If you want to improve it at the same time, we can do that too.
What happens to my blog?
Posts are exported, converted and loaded into Shopify's blog, with each /blog/ URL redirected to its new address.
Can I keep my domain?
Yes. We repoint it to Shopify at launch, or help you transfer it if it is registered with Squarespace.
How long does it take?
3 to 6 weeks depending on catalogue size and content volume.
Further reading
Comparison8 min read
Shopify vs Wix and Squarespace for ecommerce
Wix and Squarespace are website builders that added shops. Shopify is a shop that added a website. For a handful of products the builders are fine. Past that, the differences start to cost money.
Costs8 min read
How much does a Shopify website cost in Australia?
There are two bills: the one to build the store and the one that arrives every month after. Here is how both break down for an Australian brand, in AUD, with the figures we could check and the ones we will not guess at.
Checklist9 min read
The Shopify migration checklist: from old platform to launch day
A migration goes well when the boring work is done early: a complete URL list, a redirect map, clean data and a test plan. Here is the order we follow.
Ready to leave Squarespace?
Send us your store address. We'll crawl it, count what needs to move, and come back with a fixed quote and a date.