Shopify outage causes disruption for some merchants on Cyber Monday

Shopify faced a temporary service interruption that affected numerous retailers on Cyber Monday, one of the peak online shopping days of the year. Thousands of users reported difficulties accessing the platform, impacting their business operations.

According to Downdector, a site tracking online outages, reports of issues peaked around 11 a.m. EDT, reaching approximately 4,000 before gradually declining. Shopify's status page noted that users might encounter problems logging in or using point-of-sale systems, which support in-person transactions.

By Monday evening, Shopify confirmed that a "system degradation" had been "mitigated" and that monitoring of the system's performance would continue. The company stated, "Checkout and storefronts remained operational, but admin interface access was temporarily unavailable for some merchants." They added that the disruption briefly affected point-of-sale services but was quickly resolved.

Merchants rely on Shopify's technology to create online stores, process payments, manage inventory, coordinate shipping, and conduct other retail activities. Shopify also provides hardware for point-of-sale operations.

At 2:31 p.m. EDT, Shopify updated its status page stating that it had "identified and fixed an issue with the login authentication flow" and that signs of recovery were visible. The Canada-based company has not provided further comments.

The timing of the outage was particularly inconvenient, as Cyber Monday is expected to generate substantial online sales. Adobe Analytics forecasts that consumers will spend a record $14.2 billion, representing a 6.3% increase compared to last year.

Author: Sophia Brooks