A fashion or lifestyle brand on Magento with 10,000+ SKUs and an existing ERP integration that can't afford downtime
Migrating from Magento to Shopify Plus Without Breaking Your ERP
Zero-downtime cutover approach
This blueprint describes our proven approach. Specific outcomes vary by engagement.
Ideal For
Australian fashion, lifestyle, or retail brands on Magento 2 with an existing ERP (NetSuite or Business Central) needing to migrate to Shopify Plus without disrupting operations. Especially relevant if your current Magento-to-ERP integration is custom-built, undocumented, or maintained by a single developer who may no longer be with the company.
The Problem
The core risk in any replatforming project isn't the storefront - it's the integration layer. The new store launches, orders start flowing, and the integration either isn't ready or was rushed and starts dropping orders. For brands doing $10M+ online, even a few hours of integration downtime means tens of thousands in lost revenue.
Magento-to-ERP integrations tend to be custom-built Node.js or PHP applications running on standalone infrastructure with no monitoring, no error handling, and documentation that consists of comments in the source code. The developer who built it frequently moves on, leaving a black box.
The migration has several dimensions of complexity: catalogue migration with size/colour variant matrices (60+ variants per product), five years of customer order history, B2B wholesale portals with custom price tiers, SEO equity across thousands of indexed URLs, and the whole thing must happen without the ERP integration missing a beat.
Our Approach
We take an integration-first approach. Rather than migrating the storefront and then building the ERP integration, we reverse the sequence.
Phase 1: Build the New Integration Layer (Weeks 1-6)
While the live Magento store continues operating, we build all Celigo flows against a Shopify Plus development store:
Order sync (Shopify to NetSuite): Real-time webhook-triggered flow with GST handling (price-inclusive on Shopify, recorded separately in NetSuite), payment method mapping, and discount code translation.
Inventory sync (NetSuite to Shopify): Scheduled flow aggregating available-to-promise across all warehouse locations, excluding committed and in-transit stock.
Product sync (NetSuite to Shopify): Event-driven flow with custom handling for fashion variant structures - NetSuite matrix items mapped to Shopify's variant model.
Customer sync: Bidirectional customer data flow ensuring new registrations create NetSuite records and existing data (loyalty, credit terms) is accessible.
Fulfilment sync: Tracking data pushed back to Shopify when NetSuite item fulfilment is created.
Each flow is tested with production-equivalent data - not samples, but the actual product catalogue and order patterns.
Phase 2: Data Migration (Weeks 7-10)
Catalogue migration of 10,000+ SKUs with full variant data and imagery. Customer records with email subscription status preserved. Historical order import for account lookups. URL redirect map covering 15,000-25,000 unique URLs built programmatically.
Phase 3: B2B Channel (Weeks 11-14)
Rebuild wholesale experience using Shopify Plus B2B features. Each account migrated with price tier mapped to NetSuite price level. Company accounts with net payment terms (30/60/90 day).
Phase 4: Cutover (Week 15)
DNS switch during lowest-traffic window identified from 12 months of GA4 data. Sequence: freeze Magento orders, run final delta sync, switch DNS, verify Celigo flows, unfreeze. Target: under 4 hours, zero orders lost.
Phase 5: Hypercare (Weeks 16-18)
Two weeks of active monitoring. We typically catch 8-15 edge cases in the first week - unusual variant configurations, legacy discount codes, address format differences.
Typical Impact
Annual platform cost
Before
$120-200K
After
$40-60K typical
Integration reliability
Before
Custom, unmonitored
After
Celigo, fully monitored
Feature deployment
Before
Months
After
Weeks
Cutover downtime
Before
N/A
After
Target: zero
Expected Outcome
Annual platform cost drops from $120-200K (Magento hosting, security patching, development) to $40-60K (Shopify Plus subscription plus apps). Integration reliability goes from custom black box to Celigo with full error handling and dashboards. Feature deployment from months to weeks. SEO traffic typically dips 5-10% in weeks 1-2 then recovers fully within 4-6 weeks.
Want to explore this approach?
Every project starts with a conversation. Tell us what you're working with and we'll tailor this blueprint to your situation.
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