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    Data Study · Website Migration

    When Stores Replatform: 30.4% of 2025 Ecommerce Migrations Launched in Q3

    In 2025, the only complete calendar year in the data, 30.4% of 1,075 ecommerce platform switches among top 1M sites launched in Q3, ahead of Q2 (26.9%), Q4 (21.9%) and Q1 (20.8%).

    • 1,075 ecommerce platform switches
    • HTTP Archive, Sept 2026

    Matt Suffoletto

    Founder, PageSpeed MattersPublished 6 min read

    30.4%
    Ecommerce platform switches by launch month, 2025
    Jan6.1%
    Feb6.5%
    Mar8.2%
    Apr7.7%
    May9.4%
    Jun9.8%
    Jul11.2%
    Aug6%
    Sep13.2%
    Oct7.6%
    Nov7.3%
    Dec7%

    Source: PageSpeed Matters. 1,075 ecommerce platform switches among top 1M sites, HTTP Archive, calendar year 2025.

    The crawl is monthly, so launch months are approximate.

    In this study

    Ecommerce platform switches by launch quarter, calendar year 2025

    DestinationQ1Q2Q3Q4Switches
    Shopify20.4%27.8%30.5%21.2%758
    Next.js21.7%22.4%30.8%25.2%143
    Other ecommerce platforms21.8%26.4%29.9%21.8%174
    All 2025 switches20.8%26.9%30.4%21.9%1,075

    Source: PageSpeed Matters, Sept 2026. Next.js covers moves from WooCommerce, Magento or Shopify only.

    Summary

    Replatforming an online store takes months, and the launch date decides how much risk lands on the busiest selling weeks of the year. We wanted to know when stores actually go live on a new ecommerce platform.

    In 2025, the only complete calendar year in our data, 30.4% of 1,075 ecommerce platform switches among the top 1M sites launched in Q3. Q2 followed with 26.9%, then Q4 with 21.9% and Q1 with 20.8%. Launches happened all year, but the third quarter was the busiest.

    What we measured

    We used HTTP Archive's monthly crawls of the top 1M sites from September 2024 to September 2026 and looked for platform switches: a site detected on one platform for three or more months, then on a different one for three or more months. Ecommerce switches are moves between WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, PrestaShop and Salesforce Commerce Cloud, plus moves from WooCommerce, Magento or Shopify to Next.js.

    The launch month is the first month a site appeared on the new platform, minus one. The crawl runs monthly, so every launch date is approximate to the month.

    The crawl window covers some calendar months twice and others only once, so we report calendar year 2025 alone, which gives 1,075 switches. With only one full year, these results describe 2025. They do not show a seasonal pattern that repeats from year to year.

    Q3 was the busiest launch quarter of 2025

    Of the 1,075 ecommerce switches that launched in 2025, 30.4% went live in Q3. Q2 had 26.9%, Q4 21.9% and Q1 20.8%. Every quarter carried at least a fifth of the year's launches, so there is no true off-season, but the third quarter clearly led.

    A Q3 launch fits a common planning logic. Teams that start a rebuild early in the year usually aim to go live before the fourth quarter, so the new store has time to settle before holiday traffic arrives. Our data shows when launches happened, not why, so treat that as a likely reason rather than a finding.

    30.4%

    Share of 2025's 1,075 ecommerce platform switches among top 1M sites that launched in Q3.

    September was busiest, January and August quietest

    By month, September 2025 was the busiest, with 13.2% of the year's switches. July came next at 11.2%, then June at 9.8% and May at 9.4%.

    January (6.1%) and August (6.0%) were the quietest months. August stands out because it sits between July and September, the two busiest months of the year. Summer holidays likely make a launch harder to staff, and some of those projects then land in September.

    Because launch dates can be a month off, small gaps between neighboring months should be read with care. The bigger picture holds: launches built up through spring and summer, dipped in August, peaked in September and eased off in the last quarter.

    Many stores still launch close to peak season

    Not every team avoids the holidays. 14.2% of 2025 ecommerce switches went live in November or December, with 7.3% in November and 7.0% in December. October had 7.6%.

    Those are smaller shares than the summer months, but they are far from zero. Roughly one in seven switches in 2025 landed in the two months of peak holiday shopping. Some launches are likely tied to a contract end date or a platform deadline, and some teams pick a quiet week between sales events.

    Shopify moves matched the total, Next.js moves ran later

    Moves to Shopify, the largest group with 758 switches, followed the same pattern as the total: 30.5% launched in Q3, 27.8% in Q2, 21.2% in Q4 and 20.4% in Q1. Moves to other ecommerce platforms looked similar, with 29.9% of 174 switches in Q3.

    Moves from WooCommerce, Magento or Shopify to Next.js leaned later in the year. Of 143 such switches, 30.8% launched in Q3 and 25.2% in Q4, and 18.2% went live in November or December. Only 22.4% launched in Q2.

    A headless build on Next.js is usually a custom development project rather than a theme and data migration, which may make its launch date harder to hold. The Next.js group is also small, so a handful of launches can move its shares.

    What this means for your store

    • Pick the launch window first and plan backwards. A Q3 launch leaves time to find and fix problems before peak season. Work back from that date to set deadlines for design, data migration and testing.
    • Plan for the date to slip. A September target that slips one month lands in October, close to peak season. Build buffer into the plan rather than into the holiday calendar.
    • Avoid launching in November or December if you can. If a deadline forces it, freeze other changes, launch early in the week and have developers on hand for the days that follow.
    • Budget extra time for a headless build. Custom builds have more moving parts than a theme migration, and those launches ran later in the year in our data.
    • Protect search traffic whatever the date. Build a redirect map from your old URLs and backlinks, recrawl the old URL list after launch and watch Search Console for 404s in the weeks that follow.

    Sources

    • HTTP Archive monthly crawls, top 1M sites, September 2024 to September 2026
    • Google Search Central, site moves with URL changes: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/site-move-with-url-changes

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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-migration-timing">When Stores Replatform: 30.4% of 2025 Ecommerce Migrations Launched in Q3 - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>

    Frequently asked questions

    When do most ecommerce stores replatform?

    In 2025, 30.4% of 1,075 ecommerce platform switches among top 1M sites launched in Q3, ahead of Q2 (26.9%), Q4 (21.9%) and Q1 (20.8%). September was the busiest single month, with 13.2% of the year's switches.

    What are the quietest months for ecommerce migrations?

    January and August. In 2025, 6.1% of ecommerce platform switches launched in January and 6.0% in August, against 13.2% in September.

    Do stores migrate during the holiday season?

    Some do. 14.2% of 2025 ecommerce platform switches went live in November or December, and moves to Next.js leaned later still, with 18.2% launching in those two months.

    A launch date planned around your selling calendar, with a tested redirect map, keeps a replatform from landing on your busiest weeks. Need help with this? See our ecommerce migration services.

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    How we measured

    Methodology & Source

    Data source
    HTTP Archive monthly crawls of the top 1M sites
    Collection date
    September 2026
    Sample
    1,075 ecommerce platform switches
    Release
    HTTP Archive, Sept 2026

    Crawls from Sept 2024 to Sept 2026. A platform switch is three or more months on one platform followed by three or more months on another; ecommerce switches are moves between the main store platforms plus moves to Next.js. The launch month is the first month on the new platform minus one. The crawl is monthly, so launch dates are approximate to the month. Results cover calendar year 2025 only, the one complete year in the data, so they do not show a pattern that repeats across years.

    Using this data?

    Cite this study

    Link back to the study when you cite it.

    APA

    Matt Suffoletto. (2026). When Stores Replatform: 30.4% of 2025 Ecommerce Migrations Launched in Q3. PageSpeed Matters. https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-migration-timing

    Plain link

    When Stores Replatform: 30.4% of 2025 Ecommerce Migrations Launched in Q3 - PageSpeed Matters - https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/ecommerce-migration-timing

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