“How long will it take?” is the first question every retailer asks about replatforming. The honest answer: most migrations run 6–12 weeks — but what sits behind that range matters more than the number.

What drives the timeline

  • Catalogue size — thousands of SKUs and variants take longer to migrate and QA.
  • Integrations — ERP, 3PL, subscriptions and custom systems add scope.
  • Design — a light theme build is faster than a bespoke, custom-designed store.
  • Content — blogs, guides and landing pages all need migrating.
  • Decision speed — the biggest hidden variable is how quickly feedback and sign-off happen on your side.

What happens week to week

A typical migration moves through: audit and planning → SEO and redirect mapping → design and build → data migration → QA in staging → a monitored launch. Each stage has clear deliverables, so you always know what’s happening.

How to avoid delays

The projects that overrun usually do so for non-technical reasons: slow approvals, unclear requirements, or content that isn’t ready. Nominating a single decision-maker and preparing your content early keeps things moving.

Get a firm timeline

After a quick audit we give you a fixed timeline and price — no open-ended hourly bills. See how our Shopify migration service is structured, or download the Ecommerce Migration Checklist to prepare.

Book a free audit and we’ll map out the schedule for your store.