Mr. Surprise LIVE

Where it started

Mr. Surprise sells blind boxes and collectibles, and live unboxing is at the heart of the business. In 2025 they were growing an audience on TikTok LIVE, but TikTok Shop wasn’t available in Canada. Viewers could see the products on stream but had no way to buy them. The store had to be designed, built and live in about three weeks.

What I built

A Shopify store that worked alongside the weekly stream. Each week’s new arrivals went up on the site, so viewers could buy while they watched.

• Open Live or Keep It Sealed. Buyers choose whether the host opens their blind box on stream or ships it sealed. It’s a simple product option in Shopify, with no extra app.

• Navigation built for collectors. The Shop menu has four ways in: livestream theme, product type, brand and character.

• One listing, single box or full case. A case-size field fills in a note on every product page, so buyers know how many boxes make a sealed case.

• Hold Order shipping. A free shipping option holds small orders until they add up to $50, then ships everything together.

• Accurate stock. The site has its own location in Thrive, the store’s inventory system, so stock never mixes with other channels.

When the platform changed

In April 2026 the livestreams moved to Whatnot, which has its own shop. So I changed the site’s job: products sell on the stream first, Whatnot sales go into Shopify as draft orders to keep stock right, and whatever’s left goes on the site for people who missed the stream. I also removed the Open Live option, which made the product page shorter and simpler.

What changed

The store launched in time for the weekly streams and gave Canadian viewers a way to buy. After the move to Whatnot, weekly orders grew 30%. I still run the site and pack and ship every order myself, which keeps showing me what to improve next.