From Shopify to WooCommerce: Import Your First Shopify Product With Shop2woo Import products via JSON URL

In this article, we’ll walk through the entire journey of importing products from Shopify into WooCommerce using Shop2woo—from copying your Shopify URL to seeing products appear in your Woo store.

Imagine we’re sitting together at your computer. We’ll go slowly and explain why each step matters.

1. Understanding the Shopify JSON URL #

Shop2woo uses Shopify’s products JSON endpoint. In plain English, this is a special URL that returns product data in a machine‑readable format (JSON) instead of a normal HTML page.

A typical URL looks like:

https://yourstore.myshopify.com/products.json?limit=250&page=1

Let’s break that down:

• yourstore.myshopify.com – your Shopify shop domain.
• /products.json – tells Shopify we want the product list in JSON format.
• limit=250 – the number of products per “page”. Shopify caps this at 250.
• page=1 – which “page” of products we want. Use 1 for the first batch, 2 for the next, etc.

Tip: For your very first test, you might use limit=20 or limit=50 so everything happens fast and you can verify the result.

To confirm the URL works:

1. Paste it into your browser.
2. If it works, you’ll see either a JSON blob (lots of curly braces and text) or your browser will prompt to download a file.
3. If you see an error or a normal storefront page, the URL is wrong or your store is not public.

2. Opening the Shop2woo Import screen #

In your WordPress admin:

1. Click Shop2Woo in the left sidebar (not the Settings submenu yet).
2. You’ll see:
   • A field labeled Shopify Products JSON URL.
   • A Start Fetch button.
   • An empty list area where products will appear later.
   • At the bottom, a stats section and a progress log.

Think of this page as “Mission Control” for your migration.

3. Pasting the Shopify URL and starting fetch #

In the Shopify Products JSON URL field, paste your Shopify URL, for example:

https://yourstore.myshopify.com/products.json?limit=50&page=1

1. Click Start Fetch. 

A small popup will appear asking:

Do you want to import all images per product?

Here’s what it means:

• Yes → Import all available images for each product (cover + galleries). 
  • Pros: complete data, good for final migration.
  • Cons: more time and more bandwidth.
• No → Only import the first image per product. 
  • Pros: faster, lighter, great for testing.
  • Cons: less visual content until you do a more complete run.

For your first test, we recommend selecting No.

4. Watching the fetch process #

After you choose Yes/No, Shop2woo will:

• Send a request to your Shopify URL.
• Decode the JSON.
• Extract product fields like title, description, images, variants, and more.

On the page, you’ll see:

• The progress log (a text area) starting to fill with messages like:
  • “Starting fetch…”
  • “Product fetched successfully: Awesome T‑Shirt”
• The stats section (fetched/pending/errors) will update.

If something goes wrong (for example, the URL is invalid or unreachable), the log will show an error message instead of success messages.

Common problems:

• “No products found” – maybe limit is 0 or the page number is too high.
• “Failed to fetch Shopify JSON: …” – check for typos, network issues, or copy the full message into support/logs for help.

If everything works, you’ll soon see a list of products with basic info and buttons.

5. Understanding the fetched product list #

Once fetch is complete, you’ll see each product represented as a row:

• Thumbnail image (if available).
• Product title.
• Basic info like number of attributes, number of images, and whether it’s in stock.
• Import and Remove buttons.

This list doesn’t touch your WooCommerce database yet—it’s like a staging area. That means:

• You can selectively import only some products.
• You can remove ones you don’t want without affecting Shopify or WooCommerce.

6. Doing a safe test import #

Before importing hundreds or thousands of products, we strongly recommend:

1. Pick one simple product in the list.
2. Click the Import button for that one item.

In the log, you should see a message like:

Successfully imported: Awesome T‑Shirt (ID: 123)

Now open a new tab:

1. Go to Products → All Products in WooCommerce.
2. Look for that product name.
3. Click to view/edit it.

Check:

• Title matches Shopify.
• Description copied across.
• Price is correct (with or without markup, depending on your settings).
• Image(s) look right.
• Variants and attributes exist if it was a variable product.

If anything looks off, you can adjust settings (default product type, markup rules, etc.) before doing a larger import.

 

7. Bulk import: Import All #

Once you’re confident:

1. Go back to the Shop2woo Import screen.
2. Click Import All.

Now the fun part begins:

• The plugin starts importing products one by one.
• The log will show each result (success or failure) as it goes.
• The stats area and progress bar will update:
  • Imported: X
  • In Queue: Y
  • Errors: Z
  • Progress bar percentage and text like “37% imported”.
  • Estimated time remaining that counts down as imports complete.

You don’t need to stare at the screen, but you should keep the browser tab open. Closing it early can interrupt the process.

If you have a very large catalog:

• Consider doing it in batches (e.g., page 1 today, page 2 tomorrow).
• Watch your server performance (if the site becomes very slow, pause and resume later).

8. After the import: what to inspect #

When import finishes, take some time to inspect your WooCommerce catalog:

• Are product titles, descriptions, and images correct?
• Did the default category assignment make sense?
• Are product types what you expect (Simple vs External vs Variable)?
• If you use dropshipping markup, do the prices look correct?
• Does the “Last Updated” date appear as you want on product pages (if enabled)?

You can always rerun an import for specific products later, especially if you change settings.

9. Summary #

Your first import doesn’t have to be perfect. Treat it as a rehearsal:

• Use a lower limit,
• Import into Draft status,
• Confirm everything looks right,
• Then run a full import when you’re ready.

With Shop2woo, once you trust the data is coming through correctly, you’ll feel much more confident switching fully from Shopify to WooCommerce.