Why does my EKM store show more products than I actually sell?

EKM treats every variant as a separate product with its own URL. So a rubber strip available in 10 thicknesses and 5 widths becomes 50 products in EKM, when it's really one product with 50 variant combinations.

Will my product count change when I migrate to Shopify?

Usually yes - and that's a good thing. Shopify's variant structure consolidates products properly. I've seen migrations go from 3,000 EKM products to 100 Shopify products because the variants are handled correctly.

Does having fewer products affect my SEO?

Properly structured products with variants can actually improve SEO. Instead of 50 thin pages competing with each other, you have one authoritative product page with all the information customers need.

How do Shopify product variants work differently to EKM?

Shopify product variants let you create one parent product with multiple options (size, colour, material). Each combination has its own SKU and price, but they all live under one product page. EKM treats each combination as a separate product entirely.

Can I import my EKM products directly into Shopify?

Not directly. EKM's CSV export treats variants as separate products, so you need to restructure the data before using Shopify's product import. This is where the consolidation work happens - grouping variants back under their parent products.

Why Your EKM Store Has 3,000 Products (But Your Shopify Store Will Have 100)

3,000 → 100

EKM products consolidated into Shopify

When I migrated an industrial supplies business from EKM to Shopify, the export file said 3,000 products. The finished Shopify store had 100.

That’s not a typo. That’s what happens when you understand what you’re actually looking at.

What I Found When I Opened the Export

EKM treats every variant as a separate product with its own URL. Every thickness, every width, every material combination gets its own listing. So a simple neoprene rubber strip that’s available in ten thicknesses and five widths isn’t one product in EKM - it’s fifty.

I multiplied that across a catalogue of industrial rubber and sponge materials, and I hit 3,000 very quickly.

The thing is, this business doesn’t sell 3,000 products. They sell rubber strips, sponge strips, and foam sheets in various specifications. That’s maybe 100 actual products. The rest is just combinations.

Why This Matters For Your Migration

If you’re sitting on an EKM store thinking “I’ve got thousands of products, migration will be a nightmare” - take a breath. Your product count is an architectural artefact, not a business reality.

EKM’s structure made sense in 2010. Every product page was a landing page. More URLs meant more chances to rank. But it also meant customers had to scroll through endless listings looking for “neoprene strip 3mm thick 50mm wide” instead of just… selecting the options they need from a dropdown.

What The Migration Actually Looked Like

Translation, Not Copy-Paste

I consolidated those 3,000 EKM products into 100 properly structured Shopify product variants. Thickness becomes a dropdown. Width becomes a dropdown. The customer picks what they need, and the system handles the rest.

The result? A store that matches how people actually shop. “I need neoprene strip” - I select my specs - done. Not “let me search through 3,000 listings hoping I find the right combination.”

The Messy CSV Import Problem

Here’s where it gets technical, but I think it’s worth understanding. When you export from EKM, you get a CSV file with 3,000 rows - one for each “product” (which is really each variant). Shopify’s CSV import expects a completely different structure: one row per variant, grouped under parent products.

You can’t just import EKM products into Shopify and expect it to work. I had to restructure the data first - I was identifying which rows were actually variants of the same product, then I was reformatting them to match Shopify’s import template.

This is the real work of migration. I wasn’t moving files around. I was understanding what the product catalogue actually contained and I was translating it into a structure that made sense.

The Takeaway

Your EKM product count doesn’t define your migration complexity. Understanding what you actually sell does.

I find that sometimes migration doesn’t just move your business - it forces you to see it clearly for the first time.

Considering an EKM to Shopify migration? Read my complete migration guide or get in touch to discuss your store.

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