Moving Off Dukaan or ShopDeck to Shopify Without Losing Data

Moving a store off Dukaan or ShopDeck to Shopify is less about the move itself and more about what you carry across. Products, customers, orders and Google rankings each behave differently on import. This guide covers what each one takes, what Shopify refuses, and the order to work in. We checked Shopify's help pages in October 2026. We could not open a Dukaan help page that describes its export options, so we do not describe them here.

What can you export from Dukaan?

This is the first thing to confirm, and we could not verify it. We could not open a Dukaan help article that lists product, customer or order exports, and our searches did not surface one. So do not plan around a file you have not seen. Log in to your Dukaan dashboard, look for export or download options under products, customers and orders, and write down exactly which files it gives you and in what format.

If the dashboard does not offer a clean CSV for any of them, ask Dukaan support in writing for the files. For orders, ask for line items, discounts, shipping charges and payment status, not just a total. The same check applies if you are moving from ShopDeck. Whatever you cannot export, you will have to rebuild by hand or keep as an archive.

What does Shopify accept on import?

Shopify's product CSV import has a 15 MB file limit. Column headers are case-sensitive, so Handle must be written exactly that way, and the file must be UTF-8. If the format does not match or a header is missing, the import fails. Products are matched by handle. Without the overwrite option, a row whose handle already exists is ignored. With it, the CSV values replace the matching columns, and a blank cell overwrites the existing value with blank. Shopify's product import guide lists these rules.

Two warnings from the same guide are worth keeping. Sorting the file in a spreadsheet can break image links, and an option column that is missing from the file can delete existing variant data. CSV imports also cannot bulk-delete products. Test with ten products before you run the full catalogue.

The customer CSV needs an Email column, even if individual values are blank. Each file can be up to 15 MB. Rows with a duplicate email or phone number are skipped, and only the last matching profile is imported, so clean duplicates first. Total spent and total orders are not imported, and order information cannot come through the customer file.

When we checked Shopify's Store Importer listing, it said the app was not currently available on the Shopify App Store. Check that listing before you assume it can move your Dukaan data. We also could not confirm a bulk order import in the Shopify help pages we read. Plan to keep old orders as a read-only archive in CSV or PDF form, for returns, warranty claims and GST queries.

What cannot be migrated, and what should you archive?

Most of the disappointment in a migration comes from items people assumed would move. This table sets expectations before you start.

How do you keep Google rankings during the move?

Google's guidance on site moves with URL changes is clear. It recommends permanent server-side redirects from each old URL to its new one, using 301 or 308 status codes. It asks you to avoid redirect chains, where one redirect points to another redirect. It also says to keep redirects in place for a long time, generally at least a year, and to update your sitemap and submit the new one in Search Console.

Google also says the Change of Address tool in Search Console is only for domain or subdomain changes. If your domain stays the same, you do not need it. Its last piece of advice matters just as much: change one thing at a time. Do not change the domain, the CMS and the page layout in the same week, because then you cannot tell which change moved your rankings.

How do Shopify URL redirects work, and where do they fail?

In the Shopify admin, go to Content, then Menus, click View URL Redirects, and create a redirect with a path in Redirect from and a destination in Redirect to. Shopify's URL redirect guide says redirects start working immediately. For a large store, use the CSV import instead. Shopify provides a sample template, and you can export existing redirects to check them.

Three limits decide whether your plan works. First, redirects only work on URLs that show an error, such as a 404. If the old URL still loads a page on the new store, the redirect is ignored. Second, some paths cannot be redirected at all, including /products, /collections, /collections/all, /cart and /orders. Third, the store-wide cap is 100,000 redirects on standard plans and 20,000,000 on Plus. Build your map from a crawl of the old site, not from memory, and check every old URL that had search traffic.

Do you need to transfer your domain, or just point DNS?

Shopify's domain pages confirm that you can use a domain bought from any third-party provider. So you do not have to move the registration to connect your store. The question to answer first is who holds the domain registration today, because that decides where renewal and DNS changes happen. Transfer rules, unlock codes and waiting periods belong to your registrar, so read their policy and do not rely on a timeline from a blog, including this one.

Shopify manages DNS for a Shopify-managed domain from the Domains section of your admin. For a third-party domain, copy the records Shopify gives you from the admin on the day you connect, not from an old forum post. Do not switch DNS until the product import and the redirect map have been tested on the Shopify preview address.

How do you set up Indian payments again?

Your Dukaan payment gateway does not move with your data. You set up a gateway again on Shopify, which means a merchant account, KYC checks and test orders. Shopify's India pricing page, checked on 15 October 2026, lists third-party payment provider transaction fees of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced. Those fees sit on top of whatever your gateway charges, so count them in your margin.

The same pricing page says Shopify Payments is available only in certain countries, so check its supported-country list rather than assuming. Gateways such as Razorpay and Cashfree are common choices for Indian merchants, and our Razorpay and Cashfree comparison covers the trade-offs. Before cut-over, place a live test order with a small amount, test a refund, and confirm your cash on delivery settings if you offer them.

What is the step-by-step plan?

1. Export and inventory. Pull every product, customer and order file Dukaan gives you, list installed apps, and crawl the live site for every URL.
2. Decide the catalogue model. Map Dukaan categories and attributes to Shopify product types, tags and variant options before you clean the file.
3. Build the store on a preview address. Install a Shopify theme, set up pages and navigation, and do not point your domain yet.
4. Clean and import products. Fix handles and headers, test ten products, then import the full file and check images and variants.
5. Build and import the redirect map. Map each old URL with search traffic to its closest new page, and import the redirects CSV.
6. Import customers and plan the password reset. Remove duplicates, import with the Email column, and tell customers they need to set a new password.
7. Set up payments and test. Connect the gateway, run live test orders, refunds and COD if you use it.
8. Cut over and watch. Archive old orders, update DNS, submit the new sitemap, and check 404 errors and rankings for several weeks.

Should you migrate now, or fix Dukaan first?

Migrate when the cost of staying is higher than the cost of moving. If Dukaan will not give you the data you need, or the pages most likely to rank are the ones at risk, move sooner. If the current store works and the only problem is one missing feature, fix that first. Our Shopify vs Dukaan and ShopDeck comparison lays out where each platform fits.

If your current store is on Wix or WooCommerce rather than Dukaan, the same steps apply, but the export and URL details differ. Our Wix to Shopify migration guide and WooCommerce to Shopify migration guide cover those moves.

Want a second pair of eyes on your migration plan?

Free migration checklist review. Email hello@exactwhy.com with the subject line "Free migration checklist review". Tell us what your Dukaan export contains, how many products and customers you have, who holds your domain, and whether you use cash on delivery. We reply within 4 hours with a checklist review: what moves, what needs a rebuild, and the redirect risks we would check first.

If the review shows a complicated move, we can book a free migration planning call to go through the plan together. We will not quote a price until we know the scope.