TL;DR: A BigCommerce migration protects revenue when data transfer, 301 redirects, and store functionality are planned together instead of in sequence. The platform you are leaving decides most of the work, and the June 2026 payment fee changed the cost math for stores on third-party gateways. Done properly, replatforming holds your rankings and lifts conversion. This guide covers the full process, the cost, and the traps.
A BigCommerce migration moves your entire store, products, customers, order history, content, and the search rankings you have spent years earning, onto BigCommerce. Replatforming goes one step further, rebuilding how the store works while the data moves. Has your current platform started charging you in slow page loads, failed integrations, and features you cannot ship without a developer on call? Any one of those is reason enough to plan a move.
The full ecommerce platform migration path to BigCommerce runs through six decisions: when to replatform, which platform you are leaving, what moves, what it costs in 2026, how to protect organic traffic, and who executes the move. This guide draws on ecommerce site migration work Optimum7 has run for mid-market and enterprise stores, including moves that held their full search footprint through launch. One pricing change reshaped the 2026 decision, and the platform you are migrating from reshapes the rest.
When to Replatform to BigCommerce: 4 Signs You’ve Outgrown Your Platform
Replatform when your current platform blocks revenue you can measure, not when a competitor launches a new theme. BigCommerce fits stores in the $1M to $50M range that have outgrown a hosted cart’s ceilings on customization, staff permissions, and integrations. The four situations below are what push a store off an outdated ecommerce platform and onto BigCommerce, and they drive the BigCommerce replatforming projects Optimum7 runs.
Shopify Plus is the destination stores weigh most often against BigCommerce. The right call depends on transaction fees, B2B requirements, and how much custom development the roadmap needs. Optimum7’s Shopify Plus migration and replatforming guide covers that path in full, and a focused Shopify migration breakdown is worth reading alongside this one before you commit to either platform.
The Platform You Migrate From Changes the Whole Job
Which platform are you leaving, and do you know what it will and will not hand over cleanly? Every source platform stores data, URLs, and integrations differently, so the move from Shopify looks nothing like the move from Volusion. The bulk import of products and customers is the easy part on all of them. The risk lives in the details below, and each path has one that breaks launches more than the rest.
What Gets Migrated: Data, SEO, and Store Functionality
A migration moves four asset classes, and each one fails differently when it is rushed: products and variants, customer records and order history, content and URLs, and the custom functionality that makes the store work. Each moves a different way, and each carries a catch that a one-click import quietly misses.
Order history is the asset merchants underestimate. Because orders move by API, historical orders should carry an M-MIG source flag so they are excluded from the store’s trailing-twelve-month sales volume, which is what drives your plan’s GMV threshold. Skip that step and your migrated history inflates the number BigCommerce uses to price your plan.
Data that does not fit a standard field is where quiet loss happens. Order notes, custom attributes, and non-native fields have to be mapped into BigCommerce custom fields before import, or they disappear, because the default bulk-import spreadsheet has no column for them. A one-click tool skips this work, which is why a real migration starts with a field-by-field audit of the source data.
| Asset class | How it moves | The catch to plan for |
|---|---|---|
| Products and variants | CSV or the Data Migration app | Source option and variant structures often need remapping to BigCommerce’s model before import |
| Customers | Native import by app or CSV | Passwords are encrypted at the source and never transfer, so returning shoppers reset on first login |
| Orders | API only, never CSV | Flag historical orders with an M-MIG source so they do not inflate the trailing sales volume that sets your plan tier |
| Content and URLs | Manual export plus a 301 redirect map | Every indexed URL needs a mapped redirect, or the rankings behind it slide |
| Custom and non-native fields | Mapped into BigCommerce custom fields | Order notes and custom attributes with no destination column are dropped silently on import |
| Functionality and integrations | Rebuilt on BigCommerce, not transferred | Configurators, ERP and PIM connectors, and subscriptions have to be live at go-live, not after |
Functionality is where a migration either modernizes a store or breaks it. When Optimum7 moved automotive retailer LCE Performance from Volusion to BigCommerce, the catalog depended on a Year/Make/Model finder and a KIT product configurator with conditional pricing, features the old platform could not run natively. Both were rebuilt on BigCommerce so that 6,700+ products stayed shoppable by exact vehicle fitment. Optimum7’s custom development team rebuilds this kind of logic while the store is being moved, so the features work on day one.
What a BigCommerce Migration Costs in 2026
Budget in two layers: the one-time migration project and the ongoing platform cost that changed in June 2026. Do you know what share of your revenue runs through a third-party payment gateway? That number now drives your real BigCommerce migration cost, because of a fee that did not exist a year ago.
On June 1, 2026, BigCommerce introduced an Open Payment Provider fee on orders processed through non-native gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. The rate depends on your plan: 2.0% on Core, 1.0% on Growth, and 0.6% on Scale, with a custom rate on Performance. It applies to offline and manual orders too, including B2B purchase orders. For a store routing most revenue through a third-party gateway, that fee can outweigh the difference between two monthly plans, so price your real gateway mix before you pick one.
BigCommerce Open Payment Provider Fee by Plan (2026)
Fee on orders processed through non-native gateways
Rates apply to orders through non-native gateways, including offline and B2B purchase orders. Source: BigCommerce, 2026.
Complexity sets the project price, not catalog size, and the platform license is the small part. Industry benchmarks put license fees at only 20 to 40 percent of a replatforming budget; implementation, data migration, and integration work make up the rest.
| Migration type | What it involves | Typical timeline | Typical project cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard catalog move | Products, customers, orders, 301 redirects, template setup | 4 to 8 weeks | $15K to $50K |
| Mid-market replatform | Custom features, integrations, and B2B configuration | 5 to 10 months | $150K to $300K |
| Enterprise or B2B migration | Large data volume, staged validation, ERP connection, complex catalog logic | 8 to 14 months | $250K to $600K+ |
The SEO Risk in a BigCommerce Migration, and How to Protect Your Rankings
The fastest way to lose money in a migration is to lose the organic traffic you already have. URLs change, redirects get missed, and rankings that took years to build slide within weeks of launch. If your rankings dropped the Monday after go-live, would you know which redirects failed? A disciplined migration answers that question before it can happen.
Across 892 documented site migrations. Search Engine Journal, 2025. Source
Optimum7 has moved stores without that drop. On the LCE Performance migration from Volusion to BigCommerce, comprehensive 301 redirects with preserved metadata and structured data carried 100% of SEO equity across the move, with zero data loss and zero downtime at launch. Building and testing the redirect map before launch is what makes that outcome repeatable.
The redirect playbook is short and non-negotiable: export a complete inventory of your live URLs, map every old URL to its new BigCommerce address, implement 301 redirects before launch, resubmit your sitemap in Google Search Console at cutover, then monitor coverage and rankings daily for the first month. A complete 301 redirect strategy for BigCommerce migrations is the single most important task in the entire project, and Optimum7’s SEO team maps those redirects before a new store ever goes live.
How to Migrate to BigCommerce, Step by Step
Every clean move to BigCommerce follows the same sequence, and it starts weeks before any data moves. Rushing to the import step is the most common reason a migrate-to-BigCommerce project runs over. Optimum7 works in this order.
Before you start: the pre-migration checklist
Preparation decides the timeline. Before touching the new store, inventory five things: every indexed URL with its organic traffic and inbound links, so the redirect map is ready; every integration (ERP, PIM, payment, tax, reviews, subscriptions), which the new store rebuilds from scratch; your payment configuration, including any non-native gateway that will trigger the Open Payment Provider fee; all custom and non-native data fields that need mapping; and a fully configured staging environment built before a single record imports.
The first 72 hours after launch
Launch opens the risk window. Work the same five checks every day through the first three days.
Keeping the old store reachable through this window is what makes a rollback possible if something breaks.
Migrating a B2B Store to BigCommerce
B2B migrations carry a variable that consumer stores do not. BigCommerce’s B2B Edition runs customer-group pricing, custom price lists, quote requests, shared shopping lists, and purchase-order checkout as native configuration, so those workflows are recreated as settings during setup instead of transferred as data. That speeds the build, and it makes post-launch verification non-optional: pricing tied to customer groups has to be re-tested group by group, because a single mismapped price list shows the wrong number to the wrong buyer.
The financial catch is the Open Payment Provider fee. It applies to offline and manual payment methods, including purchase orders, so a B2B store running on POs pays the fee on that volume even though no card gateway ever touched the transaction. A store doing $2M a year mostly through purchase orders on the Scale plan would owe roughly $12,000 in annual fees on PO volume alone at the 0.6% rate, and closer to $20,000 on the Growth plan’s 1.0%. Card payments can route through an Embedded provider such as Stripe, PayPal, or Adyen to sidestep the fee; purchase orders cannot.
Annual Fee on $2M in Purchase-Order Volume
The Open Payment Provider fee applies to POs even though no card gateway is used
Source: BigCommerce, 2026.
Before you commit, run that fee math against your real payment mix, then validate the migration in staging with live test purchase orders across each customer group, confirming the ERP connection, quote approvals, and group pricing all fire correctly. A B2B store that skips this can pick a plan that looks cheaper monthly and costs more the moment the fee lands on its PO volume.
Rebuilding Your Storefront: Stencil, Catalyst, or Makeswift
The theme rebuild is a real decision, and BigCommerce now offers three routes. A standard build should default to Stencil, the proven server-rendered theme engine with zero-config hosting and the fastest time to launch. It fits standard B2C and simpler B2B builds and keeps ongoing maintenance low.
Choose Catalyst, BigCommerce’s headless React framework, when you need the performance ceiling, multi-channel reach, or a headless CMS and have React capability on the team. Makeswift is a visual page builder that layers onto Catalyst, giving marketers drag-and-drop control without a developer. The table below matches each route to the store that fits it.
| Route | Best for | Hosting and maintenance | Time to launch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stencil | Standard B2C and simpler B2B stores | Server-rendered, zero-config hosting, low ongoing maintenance | Fastest |
| Catalyst | Performance ceiling, multi-channel reach, or a headless CMS, with React on the team | Headless React, self-managed hosting and dependency upkeep | Longest |
| Makeswift | Marketers who need drag-and-drop page control without a developer | A visual builder layered on the Catalyst stack | Adds to a Catalyst build |
Match the route to the roadmap, because paying for headless on a store that does not need it is wasted budget.
Common Myths About BigCommerce Migration
“Migrating means losing my Google rankings”
Rankings hold when 301 redirects are mapped and tested before launch. Traffic loss during a migration traces to missed or broken redirects, and mapping them ahead of go-live keeps rankings stable. The LCE Performance migration held its full SEO equity through exactly that redirect work.
“A migration app will handle everything”
A BigCommerce migration tool moves the bulk catalog and customer records well. It stops short of rebuilding custom functionality, mapping non-standard data, importing orders by API, and setting up the redirects that protect your traffic. The automated share is the easy part; the remaining work is the actual project.
“I will lose my order history and customer data”
Order history and customer accounts transfer intact through BigCommerce’s API when the migration is planned. The LCE Performance move carried 273,000+ orders and 154,000+ customer accounts with full purchase history and zero data loss.
“BigCommerce is only for huge enterprises”
BigCommerce runs stores from the low seven figures up through enterprise. The platform plans scale with GMV, and BigCommerce platform migrations are common among mid-market brands in the $1M to $50M range that need custom functionality without an enterprise license.
Choosing a BigCommerce Migration Partner
The difference between a migration that protects revenue and one that leaks it is usually the team running it. A capable BigCommerce migration company maps redirects before launch, rebuilds custom functionality natively, and validates data in stages instead of trusting a one-click import. BigCommerce migration services vary widely, so ask for named client outcomes, not promises.
Optimum7’s ecommerce migration team has run these moves across Volusion, 3dCart, Shift4Shop, Shopify, and Magento. If a move to BigCommerce is on your roadmap, talk to the team before you lock a launch date, and read the signs of a platform you have already outgrown in our guide to ecommerce replatforming signals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a BigCommerce migration cost?
Cost follows build complexity. Industry benchmarks put a standard catalog move around $15K to $50K, mid-market replatforming at $150K to $300K, and enterprise projects at $250K and up, with the platform license only 20 to 40 percent of the total. Factor in BigCommerce’s 2026 Open Payment Provider fee on third-party gateways separately, since it affects your ongoing cost instead of the one-time project.
How long does it take to migrate to BigCommerce?
A standard catalog move typically takes 4 to 8 weeks. Mid-market replatforming with custom functionality, integrations, and B2B configuration runs 5 to 10 months, and enterprise moves with large data volumes and staged validation take 8 to 14 months. The timeline depends on complexity, not catalog size alone.
Will I lose my Google rankings when I migrate to BigCommerce?
Not when redirects are handled correctly. Mapping every old URL to its new address with 301 redirects before launch preserves the rankings you already hold. Traffic loss during a migration comes from missed or broken redirects, which is why the redirect map is built and tested before the new store goes live.
Does a BigCommerce migration cause downtime?
A well-planned migration launches with zero downtime. Keeping the old store live during DNS propagation and lowering the DNS TTL ahead of cutover lets the switch happen without a gap in availability. Optimum7’s enterprise migrations have launched with zero downtime and zero data loss.
What data does not transfer automatically to BigCommerce?
Products, variants, and customers import natively, but orders move only through the API, and non-native fields such as order notes and custom attributes have to be mapped into BigCommerce custom fields first or they are lost. Design, third-party integrations, and custom functionality do not transfer at all and are rebuilt on BigCommerce.
Can I migrate to BigCommerce myself, or do I need an agency?
A small catalog with no custom features can move using BigCommerce’s own migration services and a data-transfer tool. Stores with custom functionality, large order histories, or B2B requirements benefit from a BigCommerce migration expert or agency that maps data field by field and rebuilds features natively, since that work sits outside what automated tools handle.
About the author: Duran Inci is the CEO and Co-Founder of Optimum7, an ecommerce development and digital marketing agency. He helps mid-market and enterprise brands scale revenue through conversion optimization, SEO, and custom ecommerce solutions.
