In a tale as old as time—or at least as old as Taylor Swift’s illustrious career—the megastar’s latest merchandise launch on November 13, 2023, at 12PM PST, reportedly caused a seismic shakeup in the e-commerce world. Sources say the store.taylorswift.com website was so overwhelmed with Swifties trying to get their hands on the latest ‘Midnights’ memorabilia that it brought down Shopify, the platform hosting her store.
This “Love Story” between Swift and her fans turned into a “Blank Space” for Shopify, which reportedly experienced a rare outage. During the tumultuous 40 minutes, the e-commerce giant, riding high on an estimated $56.2 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) in Q3 2023, found itself in a “State of Grace.” However, the impact was more “Fearless” for the other merchants on the platform, who potentially missed out on over $20 million in sales during the downtime. Some took to Reddit to express their frustrations, calling out another infamous Shopify outage when YouTuber Jeffree Starr similarly crashed the platform.
One brand insider remarked, “It was like ‘All Too Well’—we remembered the sales we could have had!” While some merchants may be feeling “22” shades of blue, others are applauding Swift’s power to “Shake It Off” and crash one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms.
The outage, just more evidence of “The Swift Effect,” highlights the singer’s unparalleled influence. “We are never ever getting back together,” joked a Shopify executive, referencing the period of downtime. “But in all seriousness, we’re working ‘Wildest Dreams’ overtime to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”*
As the dust settles, Swifties worldwide are happily donning their new gear, while Shopify merchants hope for a “Clean” slate. The day will be remembered as the time Taylor Swift’s merch launch “Spoke Now” and the world of e-commerce listened… maybe a little too closely.
*Said Shopify executive doesn’t exist, and is merely an invention of our imagination.
