Success Story: How TAG Sports Gear Upgraded Magento Without Data Loss or Downtime
WHERE THEY ARE TODAY
TAG Sports Gear successfully upgraded from Magento 1 to Magento 2, extending the capabilities of their industry-leading eCommerce site. With help from Blue Stingray, TAG was able to complete a successful migration and design refresh without data loss.
Introduction: TAG Sports Gear’s Magento Migration
Based in St. Louis, Missouri, Team Athletic Goods (TAG) Sports Gear is a leading sporting goods brand dedicated to providing innovative and high quality athletic equipment, apparel, and uniforms to individuals, teams, and organizations across the world.
Since 1970, TAG has built an extensive international network of distributors. The company utilizes Magento (now Adobe Commerce) to provide its clients with fast service — but in 2019, their management realized that they needed an upgrade.
The Problem: Upgrading from Magento 1 Without Data Loss
In September 2018, Adobe announced that they would no longer support Magento 1.x, scheduling the End of Life (EOL) for June, 2020. While early versions of Magento would still be operable, they would not receive security updates.
TAG had already considered upgrading. While Magento 1 was an industry standard, it was also an aging platform. The TAG website was not truly responsive — the mobile version of the site was virtually a completely different theme — and distributors needed more powerful and efficient tools for placing orders.
The company made the decision to upgrade to Magento 2 while also refreshing the website’s design. The goal was to get out in front of Magento 1’s EOL and build a cleaner, faster website with expanded functionality.
The Solution: Working With Magento Experts For A Seamless Migration
Blue Stingray is an Adobe Commerce (Magento) Partner based in St. Louis. Our experts worked closely with TAG to establish the goals of the migration. Key objectives included:
- Complete transfer of all fields from Magento 1.x datasets.
- No data loss during the site relaunch.
- A modern, clean design for the new website.
- Extended product search capabilities for dealers.
- More backend tools for managing dealer accounts.
When possible, Blue Stingray’s team used third-party extensions (for example, to extend the search features). Our experts also built a custom Store Locator extension, which enables customers to quickly find dealers near them.
Data migration posed challenges, as every field needed to be mapped perfectly to remove errors and to make sure the new site operated predictably from day one. As a leader in their space, TAG had years of customer sales orders, and while Magento has built-in tools for migration, data sets still require modification and oversight.
Blue Stingray rigorously tested the data prior to the actual migration. Through multiple test migrations, our team was able to resolve issues before they impacted customers and dealers.
The Long Term: Building A Modern eCommerce Website With Magento (Adobe Commerce)
Within about six months, Blue Stingray had prepared the new Magento 2 store for launch. Our design team 
worked with TAG to build the new theme, and our developers located (or built) the features that TAG needed to get more from their Magento implementation.
Dealers can now search for products by name or SKU, and customers can enter their zip codes to immediately see a list of nearby dealers. Administrators can easily add, remove, or modify dealers on the backend. The website is responsive and robust, with improved navigation for mobile users.
TAG Sports Gear needed to ensure continuity while also taking full advantage of Magento 2’s features. They’re now in an excellent position to use Adobe Commerce to its full potential — and to serve their customers and dealers as efficiently as possible.
To learn how Blue Stingray can help you build your eCommerce presence, send us a message.
