# Using Shopify + Segment as an alternative to Fivetran ELT

For brands wanting to get Shopify customer data into a data warehouse, Segment + Littledata can be a good alternative to an Extract, Load and Transform (ELT) tool like Fivetran.

### How does Segment sync with a data warehouse?

As order events stream into Segment from Littledata's Shopify source, the customer and orders tables in your warehouse will be kept in sync with Shopify.

On a Business plan, Segment offers [hourly warehouse sync.](https://segment.com/docs/connections/storage/warehouses/)

### Which tables can be extracted?

Littledata can import all the historic orders from Shopify into Segment. This also updates the customer records in Segment.

In your warehouse you will have two tables - customers and orders - and from there you can infer exactly which products were brought and when.

The customer table will[ have traits](/integrations/shopify-to-segment/how-it-works.md#identify-calls) as the columns and orders will have order [event properties](/integrations/shopify-to-segment/how-it-works.md#event-properties) as the columns.

### How does Littledata extract orders from Shopify?

For brands on an [annual Plus plan](https://www.littledata.io/plus), Littledata can set up an order import from Shopify to Segment, typically taking a few days to transfer.

Once the historic orders are in sync, our server connection with Shopify will stream them in realtime into Segment.

### How is this better than Fivetran?

Fivetran [will extract the raw order and customer tables](https://fivetran.com/docs/connectors/applications/shopify) from Shopify but with native values from Shopify’s API.

Littledata transforms into [Segment Ecommerce schema](https://segment.com/docs/connections/spec/ecommerce/v2/) which is more usable, including unnesting fields.

Here's a quick comparison:

| Feature              | Fivetran                               | Littledata + Segment                                 |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Sync frequency       | Daily (or less frequent)               | Real-time and hourly sync (with Segment Business)    |
| Data schema          | Native Shopify API fields              | Segment Ecommerce schema (unnested, analytics-ready) |
| Historic data import | Yes, but raw format                    | Yes, with enrichment and mapping to Segment schema   |
| Event enrichment     | No                                     | Yes, with ecommerce context and calculated traits    |
| Attribution tracking | No                                     | Built-in multi-touch attribution via Segment         |
| Identity resolution  | No                                     | Yes, via Segment Personas                            |
| Maintenance          | User responsible for connector updates | Managed, auto-updates for ecommerce changes          |

### Learn more

* See [how the Shopify to Segment connection works](/integrations/shopify-to-segment/how-it-works.md)
* View our Segment [tracking plan & event schema](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1aljowRhMU9_7uGXmcipbP1Y14S4cOSdXGQA2Vx7BHko)
* [Get started with the connection](/integrations/shopify-to-segment/installation.md) on your store
* Read [Segment's source documentation](https://segment.com/docs/connections/sources/catalog/cloud-apps/shopify-littledata)


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