Black Friday in 3D: Welcome to the Shopify mothership

Step into the 3D cockpit of the Shopify mothership and engage the controls as you fully immerse yourself in the Black Friday Cyber Monday action—all from your browser.

In 2018, Shopify’s Live Globe captivated audiences with its dynamic view of global commerce. It’s been a Black Friday weekend staple ever since, providing real-time stats of sales and trends happening around the world. 

This year, expect something extraordinary. Our team of engineers and data scientists brought the Live Globe into another dimension. It’s the perfect way to see the impact of millions of Shopify merchants smashing sales goals and delighting customers worldwide.

Live Globe: New features for 2024

We’ve gone all out this year with an otherworldly version of our popular Live Globe. Here’s what to expect:

• Interactivity everywhere you turn: This is a fun experience, designed to delight. Everything in the cockpit is interactive, from the Globe itself to the Shoppy mascot bobblehead. 
• Synthesizer: Sound on! Turn on the built-in synth, grab the target, and move it to a location on the Globe where you want to listen. You can not only see sales happen in real time—you can hear them too. 
• Virtual reality: Pop on a VR headset and truly immerse yourself in the Live Globe experience. Live Globe supports Apple Vision Pro and Quest 3/3S.
• Gravity toggle: Engage hyperdrive and hold on to your hats! With this feature, you can turn off gravity in the Live Globe environment and watch the built-in physics system take over.
• Even more data: Millions of merchants sell on Shopify. That means a lot of data! Like last year, see completely real-time, completely live sales metrics such as orders per minute and trending products. This year, there’s even more of it to nerd out on including infrastructure stats. Think webhooks per minute and CDN requests per minute.
• Built on Shopify: The Live Globe is built on Shopify’s infrastructure and the entire experience is happening within a browser. This same infrastructure is the backbone of Shopify’s platform, powering millions of stores globally. Learn more about how our Live Globe was built.
• Easter eggs: The more you play around in the cockpit, the more you’ll discover. No spoilers!

For the best experience, access our Live Globe on desktop or through a VR headset.

Shopify X Sphere

But wait, there’s more. This year, Shopify and Sphere made history with the first real-time data visualization on the Exosphere. 

Live viewers in Las Vegas experienced the power of global commerce live on the world's largest and most dynamic digital canvas: visualized sales numbers, point-to-point order arcs, and fireworks every time a merchant makes their first sale ever.

BFCM Live on the @SphereVegas

And I mean truly live! It turns out that the Sphere can be powered by the Unreal Engine, so of course we had to go there. Place an order from your phone, see it arc in front of you! pic.twitter.com/ecsNIQhVic

— tobi lutke (@tobi) November 29, 2024

We’re excited to celebrate another holiday shopping season with the millions of merchants in the Shopify community. Watch the world shop live and catch the action on our Live Globe.