Moving from EKM, ShopWired or Sellerdeck to Shopify

The short answer

EKM, ShopWired and Sellerdeck are UK platforms with long histories. EKM was founded in 2002 in Preston. Sellerdeck began life as Actinic in 1996. ShopWired is run from Birmingham. All three have helped small UK retailers get online, and many of those retailers are now established businesses with thousands of products, years of customers and good Google rankings.

Moving any of them to Shopify follows the same pattern: get your data out, restructure it for Shopify, redirect every old URL, build the new store and switch over on a date that suits your contract and your trading calendar. What differs is how easy each platform makes the first step, and what its URLs look like.

I’ve engineered more than 350 Shopify stores and migrated over 500,000 products in 20 years. This guide sets out what each platform lets you export, based on its own help documentation, and how I handle the parts the exports don’t cover.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for UK retailers on EKM, ShopWired, Sellerdeck Desktop or an older Actinic installation who are considering Shopify. Typically that means a business that has outgrown its first platform: more products, more staff who need access, more channels to sell through, or a need for integrations the current platform doesn’t offer.

If your shop is small, simple and working well, you may not need to move at all, and if you do, you may not need a managed migration. I cover that in when this isn’t right for you.

Why UK retailers move to Shopify

The reasons I hear most often are practical rather than dramatic:

• Room to grow. Shopify has thousands of apps and integrations, so EPOS, ERP, marketplaces, email and finance providers usually connect without custom work.
• Pricing that doesn’t step up with turnover. Some UK platforms tie plans to annual sales. ShopWired, for example, publishes turnover caps on each plan and upgrades accounts automatically when they’re exceeded. Shopify’s standard plans are priced by features, not by your turnover.
• Design freedom. A custom Shopify theme can be built to your brand and changed by your team without a developer.
• Software that runs itself. Sellerdeck Desktop is installed on a PC or local network. Shopify runs entirely in the browser, with hosting, security and updates handled for every store, and Shopify states it is certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant for card payments.
• International selling. Shopify Markets handles multiple countries, currencies and languages from one store.

There’s also the question of who controls the store. On Shopify you own your theme and your data, the store is in your name, and you can bring in any developer or agency you like, or none at all.

None of that makes the current platforms bad. They suit many shops well. It’s that an established retailer’s needs change, and Shopify tends to fit the next stage.

EKM to Shopify

EKM is a hosted UK ecommerce platform, founded in 2002 and based in Preston, Lancashire. It has been part of ClearCourse since October 2021. EKM’s own pages describe a single monthly plan with no contract and the ability to cancel at any time, which makes timing a move simpler than on platforms with fixed terms.

What you can export

EKM’s support centre includes guides to exporting products and orders to a spreadsheet, along with category and image-list exports. Customer data is the one I check case by case at the audit, because the route depends on how the store is set up. Migration tools also support EKM as a source: LitExtension lists it, and Cart2Cart moves EKM stores from a CSV export.

EKM URLs

EKM’s documentation shows product URLs built from the product name and ID, ending in -p.asp. Shopify product URLs sit under /products/ with no file extension. So every EKM product URL changes, and every one needs a permanent redirect to its new Shopify address. Category and page URLs follow their own EKM patterns and are mapped the same way.

ShopWired to Shopify

ShopWired is a UK hosted platform run by Platform 21 Limited, with its registered office in Birmingham. Its published pricing has four plans with annual turnover caps, from Essentials (up to £50,000 a year) to Enterprise (no cap), and ShopWired states there are no minimum contracts on its monthly packages. If you’ve paid upfront for a longer term, check the end date before you plan a launch.

What you can export

ShopWired’s help manual covers all three of the exports a migration needs: products to CSV with selectable fields, customers to CSV from the Customers menu, and orders to CSV, filtered by date and status. That makes ShopWired one of the cleaner UK platforms to move from. LitExtension also lists ShopWired as a supported source.

ShopWired URLs

ShopWired URLs are slugs built from the product or category name, such as /nike-airmax-trainers-in-white, sitting at the root of the site. On Shopify, that same product moves under /products/ and categories under /collections/. ShopWired’s own help notes that changing a URL doesn’t create a redirect automatically, so if the URLs have been edited over the years, older addresses may already be broken. The audit finds those too.

Sellerdeck and Actinic to Shopify

Sellerdeck was founded in 1996 as Actinic and rebranded in 2010. Its main product, Sellerdeck Desktop, is software installed on a PC or local network, which publishes the shop to the web. ClearCourse acquired Sellerdeck in December 2022. The latest Desktop release listed on Sellerdeck’s download portal is version 18.2.4, from September 2024. Sellerdeck now also builds and migrates stores on WooCommerce and Magento.

What you can export

Sellerdeck Desktop can export customer lists as CSV, and its advanced user guide covers exporting catalogue content to a file. Order export is the part I confirm for each store at the audit. LitExtension lists Actinic as a supported source; for Sellerdeck Desktop, data usually comes out through the software’s own exports and is mapped into Shopify’s import format.

Older Actinic installations

Some retailers still run versions of the software from the Actinic era. Sellerdeck’s support centre offers older Desktop versions as an archive, but I couldn’t find an official statement of which versions are still supported, so it’s worth asking Sellerdeck directly about yours. Either way, the data can usually be exported and moved.

Desktop to cloud

The biggest change for a Sellerdeck retailer isn’t the data. It’s the way of working. On Shopify there’s no software to install and no “publish” step: changes go live from any browser, and several staff can work at once with their own logins.

The three platforms side by side

What moves to Shopify

Shopify’s guidance is to import products first, then customers, then historical orders, so each order links to the right customer and product. I follow that order on every migration.

URLs, redirects and rankings

On all three platforms, the URL structure is different from Shopify’s, and Shopify’s folder names, such as /products/, /collections/ and /pages/, can’t be changed. So the redirect map is the single most important document in the project.

• Every product, category and information page is mapped from its old address to its new one.
• Discontinued products are redirected to the closest live alternative or category, not the home page.
• Old redirects already in place are collapsed, so visitors and Google go straight to the final address.
• Titles and meta descriptions move with each page.

Shopify allows up to 100,000 redirects on its standard plans, which covers almost every UK store of this kind. It only follows a redirect when the old address would otherwise show a 404, so the redirects are tested in bulk after launch. Google’s guidance on site moves recommends permanent redirects kept for at least a year and warns of ranking fluctuations while pages are recrawled, which is why I measure rankings and traffic before launch and check them daily afterwards.

Ways to make the move

If you’re comparing providers, my guide to choosing a Shopify migration agency has the questions to ask.

How the migration runs

My Shopify migration package runs over four weeks from signed brief to a live store, and you keep trading on your current platform throughout.

1. Week 1: audit and mapExports tested, every product, customer, order and URL mapped, contract end date and launch date agreed.
2. Week 2: design and buildA custom Shopify theme built to your brand, with apps chosen to replace every feature you rely on.
3. Week 3: move and connectProducts, customers and order history imported. Payments, shipping, EPOS and email connected and tested. Redirects loaded.
4. Week 4: test and launchCheckout tested on real devices, a final data sync so no orders are lost, domain switched, then 30 days of support.

Your domain stays yours. On launch day it’s pointed at Shopify, changing only the records the website needs, so your email keeps working.

Payments, EPOS and integrations

The data is only half of a store. The other half is everything it connects to, and on a UK platform those connections are often built into the platform itself rather than added separately.

• Payments. Shopify Payments is available in the UK, and many other payment and finance providers work with Shopify. If your current provider is tied to your platform, such as a platform-branded payment service, plan the switch early, because a new merchant account can take time to approve.
• EPOS and stock. If you have a shop, your tills either connect to Shopify through an existing integration or move to Shopify POS, so online and in-store stock come from one place.
• Marketplaces. Amazon, eBay and other channels connect through Shopify apps. Listings are relinked to the new products rather than recreated.
• Accounting and email. Accounting packages and email marketing tools usually have Shopify connectors; subscriber lists move with their consent records.
• Shipping. Delivery rates, couriers and label printing are set up and tested with real orders before launch.

I list every connection at the audit and name it in the quote, so nothing is discovered halfway through the project.

Before you start

A few things to gather before you talk to anyone about a move. They make the quote faster and more accurate:

• Your contract or billing terms, including any upfront payment period and notice required.
• A test export of products, customers and orders, if your platform lets you run one. It shows quickly how clean the data is.
• Admin access for whoever will scope the move, so nothing is guessed.
• Google Search Console and analytics access, so your rankings and traffic can be baselined.
• A list of everything the shop connects to: payments, EPOS, marketplaces, accounting, email, couriers and reviews.
• Your busiest weeks, so the launch avoids them.

After launch

The first month after launch is when a migration proves itself. My package includes 30 days of post-launch fixes, and in that time I check Search Console for crawl errors and broken redirects every day, compare rankings, traffic and revenue with the pre-launch baseline, confirm orders, payments and stock are flowing correctly, and make sure analytics and ad tracking report real sales. Small ranking movements are normal while Google recrawls; anything sustained is investigated the same day. After that, you own everything outright and can run the store yourselves.

Choosing a Shopify plan

Most retailers moving from EKM, ShopWired or Sellerdeck don’t need Shopify’s top plan. Shopify’s standard plans, Basic, Grow and Advanced, differ mainly in staff accounts, reporting, shipping features and transaction fees, and all of them include unlimited products. Since April 2026 they also include core B2B tools, such as company accounts, payment terms and up to three trade price catalogues, which matters if you sell to the trade as well as the public. Shopify Plus is built for very high volume, multiple storefronts and deep checkout customisation; my Shopify Plus migration guide explains when it’s worth it. I recommend a plan after the audit, based on how you actually sell, and the subscription is paid to Shopify directly.

What it costs

My Shopify migration package starts from $19,997 USD, or £14,997 + VAT for UK clients, with flexible plans depending on the deposit paid. It includes the audit, a custom theme, migration of products, images, customers, orders and content, every old address redirected, integrations connected, launch and 30 days of post-launch fixes. Your Shopify plan and apps are paid to Shopify and the app developers directly.

What moves the price is the condition of your data, the number of integrations and how much of the old store’s functionality needs rebuilding. My Shopify migration cost guide goes through each factor. For the full service, see my Shopify migration service, and for how a large catalogue move looks in practice, the Lipton’s Shopify migration case study, with more than 2,800 products migrated.

Common mistakes

When this isn’t right for you

• Your shop is small and working well. If your platform does what you need at a price you’re happy with, there’s no need to move for the sake of it.
• You have a handful of products and little traffic. A migration app and a good theme may be all you need, and I’ll tell you so.
• You rely on a feature only your current platform has. Check it can be replaced on Shopify before you commit. The audit lists every feature and how it moves.

EKM, ShopWired and Sellerdeck to Shopify: FAQ

Sources

EKM: ekm.com about, signup and cost pages; tags.ekm.com URL documentation; EKM support centre export article titles; ClearCourse acquisition announcement, 4 October 2021. ShopWired: shopwired.co.uk pricing and privacy pages; ShopWired help manual (product, customer and order exports; URLs), accessed 24 October 2026. Sellerdeck: sellerdeck.co.uk brand history and FAQ pages; Sellerdeck portal downloads (v18.2.4, 23 September 2024); ClearCourse acquisition announcement, 1 December 2022. Migration tools: litextension.com supported carts; Cart2Cart EKM to Shopify page, accessed 24 October 2026. Shopify: Help Center pages on migration order, products and variants, URL redirects, customer accounts and PCI compliance, accessed 24 October 2026. Site moves: Google Search Central, updated 20 August 2026. KA Consultancy prices and proof points as published on the Shopify migration services page.