Migrate from headless to native Shopify Plus

By Tom Carew and Tom Mucklow-Norell · Published 18 October 2026

We move US brands from Next.js and Hydrogen builds to native Shopify, so your marketing team can run the storefront without waiting on developers. We did it for Allbirds, moving its Canada and South Korea stores onto a native Shopify Plus theme.

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The short answer

A native Shopify theme suits most direct-to-consumer and B2B brands. It costs less to run, your team can edit it, and most Shopify apps work with it.
Keep headless if you serve several front ends from one catalog, or have a large in-house engineering team.
You do not leave Shopify. Products, customers and orders stay where they are. Only the front end changes.

Headless and native Shopify compared

	Headless	Native theme
Front end	A separate framework such as Hydrogen or Next.js, hosted on Oxygen or elsewhere	A Shopify theme, hosted by Shopify
Editing content	Often a separate CMS, with developers for layout changes	Shopify's theme editor, sections and metaobjects
Apps	Apps that use theme app extensions need custom work	Most apps install and work
Running costs	Developer time, and often a CMS license and hosting	Your Shopify plan, plus theme upkeep
Best for	Several front ends, large engineering teams	Most D2C and B2B brands

Signs it is time to move

Your marketing team waits on developers for routine page and campaign changes.
Adding an app means a development project.
You pay for a separate CMS and hosting as well as Shopify.
The front end costs more each year, but conversion has not risen with it.

What the move involves

Audit. We list every feature, integration, app, content type and URL on the headless site. Each is rebuilt natively, replaced by an app or Shopify feature, or dropped.
Theme build. An Online Store 2.0 theme with sections your team can edit, using metafields and metaobjects for structured content.
Content migration. We move content from your headless CMS into Shopify pages, blogs and metaobjects. For Cannaray we rebuilt its content hub on native Shopify.
SEO. We map every old URL with 301 redirects, keep titles and structured data, and track rankings after launch.
Launch and handover. We test, launch and train your team. Allbirds' Canada and South Korea teams now run their sites themselves.

Allbirds: two stores moved off headless

Allbirds wanted to serve Canada and South Korea through local distributors. Both stores ran on a headless set-up that the local teams couldn’t edit themselves.

We made localized design changes for each country, then built a native Shopify Plus theme that both teams manage in the theme editor. We moved both stores off headless onto Online Store 2.0, with metafields and metaobjects in place of custom code, and set up Shopify POS for their retail stores.

Read the Allbirds case study

2 territories: Allbirds' Canada and South Korea sites moved to a native Shopify Plus theme, with Shopify POS

‘Their work ethic was incredible, and we felt like Superco was our team.’

Jeewoo Park, Director, Commercial, Allbirds South Korea

Red flags

The agency recommends headless before asking who will maintain it.
Every feature is rebuilt as custom code, when a Shopify feature or app would do.
No plan for moving content out of the headless CMS.
No URL mapping, although headless and Shopify URL patterns usually differ.

FAQs

What is the difference between headless and native Shopify?

A native Shopify store uses a Shopify theme for its front end, hosted and served by Shopify. A headless store uses Shopify for products, checkout and orders, but serves the front end from a separate framework, often with a separate CMS.

Will we lose features we built for headless?

Rarely. Most custom features can be rebuilt with theme sections, metafields, metaobjects, apps or Shopify Functions. We agree what happens to each one before the build starts.

What happens to content in our headless CMS?

We move it into Shopify pages, blog posts and metaobjects, so your team can edit it in the Shopify admin. You can then stop paying for the separate CMS.

Will our search rankings drop?

A planned move protects them. We map every URL with 301 redirects, keep titles, descriptions and structured data, check canonicals, and track rankings after launch. We don’t promise zero movement, but we plan for none.

Can native Shopify handle a large catalog and B2B pricing?

Yes, on Shopify Plus, which includes B2B catalogs and company pricing and connects to ERPs. We check your catalog and variant counts against Shopify’s current limits during the audit.

How long does it take?

It depends on how much custom functionality the headless site has. We give you a timeline after the audit, once we know what gets rebuilt, replaced or dropped.