Merchants migrating from WordPress and WooCommerce to Shopify are doing so in larger numbers than ever. Shopify processed $378.4 billion in GMV in 2025, and the platform now has a 2:1 migration ratio in its favor, twice as many stores join as leave.
Most merchants making the switch cite the same reasons: managing hosting, security patches, plugin conflicts and server performance on WordPress takes time they would rather spend growing the business.
We have helped ecommerce brands move from WordPress and WooCommerce to Shopify across retail, fashion and consumer goods. The domain transfer is almost always the step that causes the most anxiety and almost always the step that goes smoothest when you know what to expect beforehand.
This guide walks you through the full process in 2026, including the current DNS settings, the difference between connecting and transferring and everything to check once your domain is live on Shopify.
Why Merchants Move From WordPress to Shopify in 2026
Before getting into the technical steps, it helps to understand the context. WordPress is free to install, but the total cost of running it at scale is not.
Most WooCommerce stores spend 5 to 10 hours a month on maintenance: plugin updates, hosting upgrades, security patches, and fixing things that broke when a plugin updated. Merchants who move to Shopify typically save 20 to 30 percent in operational overhead by switching to a fully managed platform.
Shopify is Level 1 PCI DSS compliant out of the box. It handles hosting, SSL certificates, server uptime (99.99 percent guaranteed), and security patches without any involvement from the merchant. For a store doing serious volume, that reliability is worth a lot more than the monthly subscription cost.
The domain transfer is the final piece of the migration. Get it right and your customers never notice the change. Get it wrong and you can have a window of downtime during one of your busiest periods.
Connect vs Transfer: Understanding the Difference
There are two ways to get your WordPress domain working with Shopify, and understanding which one you need saves a lot of confusion.
Connecting your domain means updating the DNS records at your current registrar (WordPress.com, GoDaddy, Namecheap, or whoever holds your domain) so they point at Shopify's servers. Your domain stays registered with that provider. You still log in there to renew it and manage DNS. The domain just loads your Shopify store instead of WordPress.
Transferring your domain means moving the domain registration itself to Shopify. After the transfer, you manage everything: DNS, renewals, and billing directly inside your Shopify admin. No separate registrar dashboard. No remembering to renew somewhere else.
For most merchants moving from WordPress to Shopify, the recommended approach is to connect first and transfer second. Connect the domain before you transfer it so your store stays accessible to customers during the transfer window, which can take up to 20 days. If you transfer without connecting first, visitors may see connection errors during that window.
Step 1: Before You Start
A few things to sort out before touching anything.
Back up your DNS records. Shopify does not copy custom DNS records from your old registrar when a transfer completes. If you have MX records for email, SPF and DKIM records for email authentication, or any other custom entries, write them all down before you start. You will need to recreate them in Shopify after the transfer.
Check transfer eligibility. ICANN rules mean a domain cannot be transferred within 60 days of registration, a previous transfer, or certain registrant information changes. If any of those apply, you will need to wait. Also, some country-code domain extensions (like .co.uk) cannot be transferred to Shopify at all. In those cases, connecting the domain is your only option, which works perfectly well.
Use a separate email address. During the transfer process, your registrar sends confirmation emails and authorization codes to the email on your account. If that email address is on the domain being transferred (for example, hello@yourdomain.com), it may stop working temporarily during DNS changes and you could miss critical emails. Use a Gmail, Outlook, or other external address for the transfer process.
Step 2: Connect Your Domain to Shopify
This is the DNS update step. It points your domain at Shopify's servers so your store loads correctly.
For automatic connection (GoDaddy or IONOS only):
Go to Settings, then Domains in your Shopify admin. Click Connect existing domain, enter your domain name without the www, click Next, then click Connect automatically. You will be prompted to log in to your GoDaddy or IONOS account. The connection happens within a few clicks and usually propagates within 24 to 48 hours.
For manual connection (all other registrars including WordPress.com):
Log in to your domain registrar and find the DNS management section. Make the following changes:
Update the A record to point to Shopify's IPv4 address: 23.227.38.65. Delete any other A records on the domain. If you see a field for Host, set it to the @ symbol.
Update the AAAA record to point to Shopify's IPv6 address: 2620:0127:f00f:5::. Delete any other AAAA records.
Update the CNAME record with the name www to point to shops.myshopify.com. Include the period at the end of the domain name.
Save all changes.
Once saved, go back to your Shopify admin under Settings and then Domains. Click Verify connection. Shopify will confirm when the domain is successfully pointing to your store. This can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours depending on how quickly DNS changes propagate globally.
Step 3: Transfer the Domain to Shopify
Once your domain is connected and your store is loading correctly, you can move on to the full transfer. This is optional but recommended if you want everything managed in one place.
Unlock your domain at your current registrar. Every registrar locks domains by default to prevent unauthorised transfers. Find the Domain Lock or Transfer Lock setting in your registrar account and turn it off. GoDaddy: go to Advanced DNS Settings, find the domain, and disable the domain lock. Namecheap: go to Domain List, click Manage, find the Sharing and Transfer tab, and unlock. Bluehost: go to Domain Manager, find your domain, open the Lock tab, and click Unlock.
Get the authorization code. After unlocking, request an authorization code (sometimes called an EPP code or transfer code) from your registrar. It will be sent to the email address on your account.
Initiate the transfer in Shopify. Go to Settings and then Domains in your Shopify admin. Click on your connected domain, then click Transfer to Shopify and enter the authorization code when prompted. Shopify will confirm receipt and begin the transfer process.
Approve the transfer email. Your old registrar will send a confirmation email. Approve it promptly. If you miss it or it goes to spam, the transfer can stall. The full transfer takes up to 20 days but usually completes faster. Do not re-lock the domain at your old registrar during this period.
Step 4: Post-Transfer Checks
Once the transfer completes, go through this list before calling it done.
Recreate any custom DNS records you noted in Step 1. MX records for email are the most commonly missed item. If your business email stops working after the transfer, this is almost certainly why.
Confirm your SSL certificate is active. Shopify provides SSL automatically for transferred domains. Check that your store loads on both yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com with the padlock showing in the browser.
Set your primary domain. In Settings and then Domains, make sure your custom domain is set as the primary domain rather than your .myshopify.com address.
Set up 301 redirects. If you are migrating content from WordPress to Shopify and your URL structure has changed, set up 301 redirects from your old WordPress URLs to the new Shopify pages. This protects your SEO rankings and prevents customers from hitting broken links. Shopify has a built-in redirects tool under Online Store and then Navigation.
Check Google Search Console. Add your Shopify domain as a property in Search Console and submit your sitemap. This tells Google to crawl your new URLs and helps your rankings recover faster after migration.
Lucent Innovation's Thoughts
Transferring your domain from WordPress to Shopify is not complicated once you know the sequence: connect first, then transfer. The DNS changes take 24 to 48 hours. The full transfer takes up to 20 days. Back up your DNS records before you start, use an external email address for transfer communications, and run through the post-transfer checklist before you announce the new store to customers.
Most merchants get through the connection step in under an hour. The transfer itself runs in the background with minimal input from you once the authorization code is submitted.
If you are moving a larger WooCommerce store with hundreds of products, customer data, and order history, the domain is just one piece of a broader migration that takes real planning to do without losing SEO rankings or customer data.
Domain transfers are the straightforward part. The migration itself moving product data, customer records, order history, and building a Shopify store that actually converts better than the WordPress site is where real planning matters.
Lucent Innovation is a certified Shopify Plus partner. We handle end-to-end WordPress and WooCommerce to Shopify migrations for ecommerce brands across retail, fashion, consumer goods, and more. That includes data migration, custom theme development, app integration, SEO preservation with full 301 redirect mapping, and ongoing Shopify development after launch.
Whether you need a dedicated Shopify developer for a specific part of the project or a full agency team to own the migration from start to finish, we have both.
