What are historical orders?

Historical orders are orders that were placed in the past, usually before a business migrated to a new ecommerce platform.

During a Shopify migration, historical orders may be imported so merchants can:

• Maintain complete customer order histories.
• Access previous orders for customer support and record keeping.
• Preserve sales and business records.
• Analyze past purchasing activity.
• Maintain continuity after moving from the old platform.

For example, if a store moves to Shopify in 2026, orders placed on its previous platform in 2024 and 2025 may be considered historical orders.