Why UAE merchants leave Magento
Magento is powerful and expensive to keep healthy. The case for moving is usually the running cost of staying, not a missing feature.
- Magento 1 reached end of life on 30 June 2020. There are no more security patches, and the store owner carries the responsibility for its security and PCI DSS compliance.
- Magento 2 and Adobe Commerce releases get three years of standard support from general availability, so staying secure means a planned upgrade every few years, plus hosting, extension compatibility and a developer on call.
| Release | End of standard support | End of extended support | Security-only until |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4.4 | 12 April 2025 | 14 April 2026 | 31 May 2027 |
| 2.4.5 | 12 August 2025 | 11 August 2026 | 31 May 2027 |
| 2.4.6 | 11 August 2026 | 31 August 2027 | 31 May 2028 |
| 2.4.7 | 31 May 2027 | 31 May 2028 | — |
On Shopify, hosting, security patches and checkout are Shopify's job. Magento still fits some businesses: deeply custom pricing logic, heavy in-house development, or a team that wants full code control. We'll tell you if that's you.
Last checked: October 2026. Sources: Adobe Commerce lifecycle policy, Help Net Security, quoting Adobe on Magento 1.
Mapping Magento to Shopify
| Magento | Shopify | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Configurable products | One product with variants | Up to three options and 2,048 variants per product. A fourth attribute means splitting the product or moving that attribute to a metafield |
| Custom options, bundles | Variants, line-item properties or a bundles app | Priced options need an app or custom work |
| Attributes and attribute sets | Metafields and metaobjects; filters from Shopify's Search & Discovery app | Only attributes that drive filters or specs are worth bringing |
| Category tree | Collections and navigation menus | Rule-based collections replace anchor categories |
| Store views and websites | Shopify Markets, or expansion stores on Plus | See below |
| Customer groups, tier prices | Shopify B2B: companies, catalogs, volume pricing, payment terms | Catalog limits on non-Plus plans |
| Customers and orders | Matrixify, scripts or the Shopify API | Orders imported after products and customers; passwords can't move |
Matrixify reads Magento 1 and Magento 2 CSV exports and creates redirects from Magento product URLs during the product import. Order data needs a connection to the Magento database. Shopify's own Store Migration app doesn't list Magento as a source.
Last checked: October 2026. Sources: variant limits, Matrixify Magento guide, Shopify Store Migration listing, Shopify migration guide.
Multi-store views to Shopify Markets or expansion stores
A typical UAE Magento setup has one website with English and Arabic store views, sometimes a second website for Saudi Arabia or the GCC in its own currency. On Shopify, that is usually one store: Markets for the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the GCC, with Arabic through Translate & Adapt. Local-currency prices need Shopify Payments, which UAE stores get on Advanced and Plus.
A separate store makes sense when the entity, stock, gateways or catalogue differ. Shopify Plus includes nine expansion stores for that. How we plan a Plus move is on Shopify Plus agency in Dubai.
Last checked: October 2026. Sources: Shopify Plus plan, Shopify Help Center (multi-currency).
Customer groups and B2B
Since 2 April 2026, Basic, Grow and Advanced include native B2B: company profiles, payment terms, volume pricing and up to three active catalogs. Plus adds unlimited catalogs, catalogs assigned directly to companies and locations, deposits and partial payments. A wholesale customer group with tier prices maps to a company and catalog with volume pricing; a dozen groups with their own price lists points to Plus. More on Shopify B2B and wholesale in the UAE.
Last checked: October 2026. Sources: Shopify changelog (B2B on non-Plus plans), Shopify Plus plan.
Layered-navigation URLs and redirects
Magento produces .html product and category URLs, plus filter URLs such as ?color=black&size=52. Shopify uses /products/ and /collections/, with its own filter parameters, and its Help Center warns that URLs with query strings might not work as expected with redirects.
- Product and category URLs: redirected one to one.
- Filter URLs that earn traffic or links: redirected to the nearest collection, or rebuilt as their own collection where the combination is a real search ("black abayas").
- Everything else: checked in Search Console, usually not indexed or already canonicalised to the category, and left alone.
Last checked: October 2026. Source: URL redirects.
ERP connectors
Many UAE Magento stores sync with an ERP through an extension or middleware, and that connector doesn't come with you. We map what syncs (stock, prices, orders, customers), in which direction and how often, then rebuild it on Shopify with an existing connector, middleware or a custom app. We work with Odoo, Zoho, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, SAP Business One, NetSuite and QuickBooks or Xero. We built the ERP/POS integration behind Dubai Optical's Opti-Vision store, which syncs stock, prices and orders with the branches' back office. Details on Shopify ERP integration.
How we work
- Scoping call and audit. Extensions, store views, customer groups, integrations, a crawl of every URL and Search Console data. Every project is scoped and quoted individually from this, in writing.
- Mapping. Attributes, products, categories, markets, B2B, customers, orders and redirects.
- Build. Theme, Markets, payments, couriers, tax, B2B and the ERP connection.
- Test import into the new store, checked against Magento.
- Cutover. Final import of new orders and customers, redirects live, DNS switched, test orders on live payments.
- Support. Thirty days of monitoring, then ongoing support if you want it.
Magento projects with several store views, B2B or an ERP usually run eight weeks or more.
Is this right for you
It fits a UAE retailer or wholesaler on Magento that wants to stop paying for upgrades and hosting, keep its rankings and B2B customers, and own a store built properly. We'll need admin, hosting and database access, your extension list, ERP documentation, and Search Console, GA4 and DNS access. On WordPress or Salla instead? See WooCommerce to Shopify, Salla or Zid to Shopify and the Shopify migration overview.