Many businesses have an established WordPress presence — a content site, a portfolio, a services site — and reach a point where they want to add e-commerce. WordPress can accommodate this through WooCommerce, but for businesses whose primary goal is selling rather than publishing, a dedicated Shopify store is often the cleaner, more scalable choice.
This service is specifically for businesses whose current WordPress site is not running WooCommerce — it is a content, brochure, or portfolio site that needs a commercial channel added or replaced. If you are currently running WooCommerce and want to migrate your e-commerce operation to Shopify, see the WooCommerce to Shopify Migration service instead.
The outcome of this engagement is either a Shopify store that operates alongside your existing WordPress site, or a full migration of your content and commerce to Shopify as a single platform — depending on which approach fits your business better.
Why Add Shopify Rather Than WooCommerce?
If your WordPress site is already working well as a content or marketing platform, there is a strong case for keeping it and adding Shopify as a dedicated commerce layer rather than installing WooCommerce on top of it:
- Shopify is purpose-built for selling. WooCommerce is an e-commerce plugin layered onto a CMS — the distinction matters at scale.
- A separate Shopify store keeps your commerce performance independent of your WordPress hosting and plugin stack.
- Shopify handles PCI compliance, checkout security, and platform updates without any input from you.
- Connecting Shopify to an existing WordPress site is straightforward — products, the cart, and checkout can all be embedded via the Shopify Buy Button or a subdomain setup.
- South African payment gateways — PayFast, PayGate, Peach Payments — are natively supported on Shopify and well-tested in the local market.
What the Migration Covers
The scope of a WordPress to Shopify engagement depends on which route you are taking — adding Shopify alongside WordPress, or consolidating everything onto Shopify.
Adding Shopify to an existing WordPress site:
New Shopify store setup and configuration
- Payment and shipping configuration for the South African market
- Product catalogue build on Shopify
- Connection between your WordPress site and Shopify (Buy Button integration or subdomain)
- SEO setup on the new Shopify store
Consolidating to Shopify (full migration):
- Migration of all relevant WordPress content — pages, posts, images — to Shopify
- Product catalogue build
- URL mapping and 301 redirects from WordPress to Shopify equivalents
- Domain cutover from WordPress to Shopify
- Payment, shipping, and checkout configuration
- SEO and analytics setup
In both cases, customer-facing continuity — your existing URLs, your SEO rankings, your brand presentation — is a primary consideration throughout the engagement.
How We Work
Step 1: Discovery and route selection
We review your current WordPress site, your commercial goals, and your technical setup — and help you decide whether to add Shopify alongside WordPress or consolidate onto Shopify entirely.
Step 2: Shopify store setup
We set up and configure your new Shopify store — theme, navigation, payment gateways, shipping, and core settings.
Step 3: Content and product migration
We migrate the relevant content from WordPress to Shopify, set up your product catalogue, and establish the store structure.
Step 4: URL redirects and integration
We implement the technical connection between WordPress and Shopify (if running both), or set up 301 redirects and complete the domain cutover (if consolidating).
Step 5: Testing and launch
We run a full QA pass before go-live — purchase journey, content rendering, redirects, analytics tracking — and manage the launch.
Pricing
WordPress to Shopify engagements typically range from R23,000 to R85,000 depending on the volume of content being migrated, the size of the product catalogue, and whether you are running both platforms in parallel or consolidating to Shopify entirely.
Ready to Bring Your Commerce onto Shopify?
Fill out the contact form and tell us about your current WordPress site — what you are running on it now, what you are trying to sell, and what has been holding you back. We will outline a migration plan that brings your content, customers, and SEO equity across to Shopify cleanly and without disruption. You are in good hands.