Magento Case Study: ACG Brands

Magento Case Study: ACG Brands

Feb 7, 2024

Magento Case Study

ACG Brands

Magento Upgrade

Alliance Consumer Group (ACG Brands)

History and Summary of ACG Brands

Alliance Consumer Group (ACG Brands) is a multinational consumer products company based in Fort Worth, TX with support offices in the United Kingdom and China. Throughout their 45-year history, ACG has been crafting products across 6 core brands with the purpose of enhancing their customers’ lives. They’ve sold products in more than 50 countries and can be found in over 50,000 retail stores across the globe.

Check out their newly optimized company website! 

Our Services

  • Custom Adobe Commerce (Magento) Website Development 
  • Adobe Commerce (Magento) Code Analysis
  • Custom Extension Upgrades
  • Adobe Commerce (Magento) Maintenance & Support
  • User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Optimization

The Challenge

ACG was referred to InteractOne by a satisfied client to help with updating their Magento websites for each brand and to provide ongoing maintenance and support. Their Magento ecosystem was burdened with a faulty architecture and over 18 extensions with poorly built customizations, making necessary upgrades very difficult.

Our Solution

InteractOne’s initial step was conducting a code analysis to pinpoint each architectural challenge. These insights provided a shared understanding of the project objectives between ACG Brands and the Adobe Commerce (Magento) experts at InteractOne. ACG Brands endorsed InteractOne’s “do it the right way” approach to fix the issues. This led to the meticulous upgrade from Magento 2.4.3-p3 to Magento 2.4.5-p1 and the optimization of each website’s architecture to streamline future patches and updates. 

Due to the success of the initial upgrade, ACG contracted InteractOne as their on-going development resource, where InteractOne made several UI/UX changes. The UI/UX improvements included a revamped checkout UI/UX for all websites, the implementation of a blog with fully customized UI, a rebrand to two websites with a new brand identity and color theory, and the removal of eCommerce functionality UI/UX for another brand website.

     

    The Results

    • Major Adobe Commerce (Magento) version upgrade
    • Reduced Technical Debt
    • Improved Code Base Quality
    • Restructured Brand Websites
    • Improved Website Speed
    • Upgraded Architecture for 18 Custom Extensions
    • Enhanced Security

     

      Get expert help today!

      An InteractOne Senior Team Member will get back to you within a day.

      Drop Us a Line At:

      Our Contact Form

      Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned phone call:
      Phone (USA): (513) 469-3362

      Proudly headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio

      Magento Case Study: Aladdin Temp-Rite

      Magento Case Study: Aladdin Temp-Rite

      Sep 18, 2023

      Magento Case Study

      Aladdin Temp-Rite

      Magento Upgrade, B2B Customizations 

      Aladdin Temp-Rite

      History and Summary of Aladdin Temp-Rite

      The Aladdin name has been used on products for more than 100 years, starting with a superior kerosene lamp that gave off white light instead of a bunch of smoke. That ancestral company grew and popularized consumer-oriented lines of lunchboxes, stoves, and innovative vacuum thermoses and containers. The current company took shape officially in 1968, adding the Temp-Rite name in 1988, with increasing emphasis on the business to business (B2B) market through the success of its insulated tray and an array of meal service equipment lines.

      The company was an early adopter of online B2B, working with InteractOne to build and launch their Magento 1 site in 2012.

       

      Our Services

      • Custom Magento (Adobe Commerce) Design & Development
      • Custom Integrations
      • Custom Shipping Logic
      • Checkout Optimization
      • Personalized Location Information & Mapping

      The Challenge

      In business and in life, things are always moving and changing.  While Magento 1 had been a great platform for Aladdin Temp-Rite to launch online B2B selling, Magento 1 had come to the end of its useful life since Magento had ended support for version 1 and recommended merchants migrate to version 2. As well, the old site was not mobile friendly and the design (UX/UI) was outdated. 

      After 10 years and a completely changed eCommerce and business landscape, a rebuild was needed. 

      The particular challenge with this project was ensuring a smooth data migration.  Since this site supports mostly B2B selling, all of the customer data, purchase records and catalog permissions needed to be seamlessly orchestrated to migrate to the new site when it was launched. This required a high level of attention to detail to ensure we had a confidence-inspiring plan and a tested process prior to the go-live data migration process.

      Our Solution

      Having worked with the Aladdin Temp-Rite team for many years, InteractOne was very familiar with the tailored needs of the company’s operations. Fortunately, updating them to Adobe Commerce 2.4.5 provided a strong base for the many custom B2B features we needed to build, including:

      • Customer application – Users must apply to become customers by way of a multi-stage application process Aladdin manages through the Adobe Commerce admin tools.
      • Catalog price permissions – Only specific customers are able to view pricing. The feature had to  include custom pricing, dependent on a group variable specific to the customer’s company.
      • Catalog buying permissions – Users are shown only approved items for purchase, based on their company group. 
      • Quote Request – Customers can request a quote on every product. The module assigns and alerts the correct salesperson, based on the customer’s location. These area definitions change occasionally, so we built them to be admin-selectable (not hard coded!)
      • Consultant Resource Center – This area is only available to users that belong to a specific customer group and contains many useful documents and information specifically for Aladdin consultants.

       

      We employed extensions from Aheadworks, Xtento, Magefan, Mageplaza, Mageme and Firebear to help construct many of the custom modules.

      Interactone built a custom, mobile-friendly theme based on the default Magento front-end code base. Because we avoided altering any core functionality when executing the design, the Aladdin Temp-Rite team can manage their front-end – building and modifying pages, adding elements and widgets, changing existing layouts – via the Adobe Commerce admin and the Page Builder tool.

      After launch, Interactone provided training to the Aladdin Temp-Rite team on how to manage the catalog, custom module functions, quote requests, customers, orders, blogs and content pages all from the Adobe Commerce admin.

      Aladdin tells us that customers have commented on how much they enjoy using the new and improved site. This has led to better engagement from customers – regardless of which device they are using.

      Analytics results improved dramatically. 

      Customer engagement and time on site has skyrocketed.

      Year over year revenue is up by 16%

      The new site loads much faster than the old site.

      Click here to visit aladdintemprite.com

        Get expert help today!

        An InteractOne Senior Team Member will get back to you within a day.

        Drop Us a Line At:

        Our Contact Form

        Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned phone call:
        Phone (USA): (513) 469-3362

        Proudly headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio

        Magento Case Study: Hydraulic Supply Co

        Magento Case Study: Hydraulic Supply Co

        Jul 10, 2023

        Magento Case Study

        Hydraulic Supply Co

        Epicor Integration, Magento Rebuild, Core Restoration

        Hydraulic Supply Company

        History and Summary of HSC

        Since its 1947 founding as Aero Hardware and Supply Inc. HSC has been an innovative leader in bringing fluid power product lines to the market. Initially focused on supplying hardware and tools to the burgeoning airline industry, the company helped popularize such recognizable brand names as Aeroquip and Proto tools. Hydraulic Supply Company now carries more than 100 brands, and employs more than 200 team members in its central office and distribution center, repair and service center and 24 retail locations. They are recognized as a premier distributor in the fluid power industry.

         

        Our Services

        • Custom Magento (Adobe Commerce) Design & Development
        • Custom Integrations
        • Custom Shipping Logic
        • Checkout Optimization
        • Personalized Location Information & Mapping

        The Challenge

        To understand the state of HSC’s Magento (Adobe Commerce) site, prior to their contacting InteractOne, we could use an analogy: Let’s say you leased a car. You told your mechanic you needed to be able to drive in the snow and that you frequently take long trips. But, when your car was returned to you, you were surprised to find the front wheels had been replaced with a set of skis and that a massive gas tank now occupied the space where the back seat had been. The car’s inherent flexibility and usability had been compromised by permanent modifications. Further, because of the mods, you will not be able to turn the car in and get an updated vehicle when your lease is up. Similarly, in an attempt to meet HSC’s complex pricing requirements, their Magento (Adobe Commerce) site and integrations had been changed in ways that crippled important functions of the softwares, the integration with Epicor P21 and would not allow for routine updates or upgrades. Customers had difficulty finding products on the site when using particular browsers or device formats. Pages took more than 7 seconds to load, on average. In other words, users had to adapt to the clunky conditions they found on the site, instead of the site being adaptive to all users. This is the specter that is raised when you hear InteractOne talk about “core hacks” or “technical debt”!

        Our Solution

        Understanding HSC’s business, the Epicor Commerce Cloud and the Epicor P21 integration was key to untangling the knots of modified code. InteractOne worked with the client to define the intended functionality of each required feature – where the data originated and how it needed to be used – both by the customer and by HSC. In this way, the customizations could be rebuilt while preserving the full functionality of each moving part (eCommerce, Epicor P21, API and PIM).
        In this case, the process had to begin with a clean instance of Magento (Adobe Commerce) on the Epicor Commerce Cloud. Complex, real-time pricing required InteractOne to build the means for Magento (Adobe Commerce) to talk to the API in real time as the page loads, using pricing rules pulled dynamically from HSC’s Epicor P21 instance. The net result for the user is a searchable, nearly instant display of grouped product grids – drawing from HSC’s massive 60k-SKU catalog! Integration of the Akeneo PIM was required to enrich the data coming into Magento (Adobe Commerce). InteractOne refactored and extensively reworked the integration code before launching the site. All of this effort goes beyond technical correctness, of course. The improvements in the code translated to vastly improved page-load speed, increased user engagement, cart value and ultimately revenue.  Click here to see the completed site.

          Get expert help today!

          An InteractOne Senior Team Member will get back to you within a day.

          Drop Us a Line At:

          Our Contact Form

          Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned phone call:
          Phone (USA): (513) 469-3362

          Proudly headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio

          Magento Case Study: Sam Villa

          Magento Case Study: Sam Villa

          Oct 23, 2020

          Magento Case Study

          Sam Villa

          M 1 to Magneto 2 Migration & Porting Original Content

          Sam Villa

          Magento 1 to Magento 2 Migration 

          Sam Villa is the hair stylist’s choice for online hair education and quality professional ergonomic tools. Discover tools made by a hairdresser, for hairdressers. Sam Villa also features and extensive online training video courses designed to build their community and connect with stylists worldwide.

          Check out the new site for yourself!

          The Challenge

          Sam Villa also had years worth of vital and original content that needed to be ported over to their new site as well, including Customer Reviews, Blogs & Training videos. In this Case Study video we’ll be taking a look at the work needed to migrate Sam Villa’s assets to a new site while also creating a better, more engaging customer experience.

          The Results

          Other noteworthy work we performed included managing the migration of Orders, Customers, Catalog and Gift Cards data. In addition, advanced search capabilities were implemented to allow customers to search both the catalog and blog articles from the main search area. Notably, we also assisted Tiger Fitness in their integration with Stone Edge warehouse management system and added optimization to ensure fast loading pages. Finally, we provided training to the team so they are able to manage day-to-day activities via the controls found in the Magento admin.

            Get expert help today!

            An InteractOne Senior Team Member will get back to you within a day.

            Drop Us a Line At:

            Our Contact Form

            Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned phone call:
            Phone (USA): (513) 469-3362

            Proudly headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio

            Magento Case Study: Sporty’s Pilot Shop

            Magento Case Study: Sporty’s Pilot Shop

            Jul 26, 2017

            Magento Case Study

            Sporty’s Pilot Shop

            Sporty’s chose InteractOne for maintenance and support

            Sporty’s Pilot Shop

             

            Performance Optimization

            Sporty’s is the world’s largest pilot shop offering high quality aviation products and supplies for more than 50 years. Many of their products are designed in-house by pilots and tested in their flight school. Sporty’s experience as pilots, educators, airport managers, and aviation advocates allows them a unique qualification to provide only the best products and services at the best value to customers via their Magento shop.

            Our Services

             

            • Custom Magento Design & Development
            • Custom Integrations
            • Custom Shipping Logic
            • Checkout Optimization
            • Personalized Location Information & Mapping

            The Challenge

            Sporty’s came to InteractOne with a Magento website that had not been properly migrated from ASP.NET. A previous developer had difficulties performing the migration which ultimately left Sporty’s in a bind. Notably, the team at Sporty’s was able to finish the migration in house but required assistance with optimizing the new site.

            Sporty’s chose InteractOne for maintenance and support services to resolve indexing performance issues as well as implementing features to enhance the newly updated site

            Our Solution

            Due to the issues Sporty’s had with their previous developer, it was critical to InteractOne that we understood our client’s needs and that the new site was optimized properly without error. Sportys.com is a high volume site; therefore, all development was well tested and scrutinized for performance hindrances since any downtime, bugs or issues could be very costly.

            InteractOne successfully resolved indexing performance issues with nightly catalog indexers. In addition, we integrated Sporty’s floor mat products to the Weathertech API to help reduce time needed to manually manage the floor mat products and to provide real time updates to make/model info for those items. We also integrated FedEx with Sporty’s custom shipping logic which provides customers with lowest cost shipping methods based on merchandise selected, location, and available shipping discounts. Finally, we provided consulting on scalability and Digital Marketing, including Google Tag Manager implementation, to further aid in the success of sporty’s.com. 

              Get expert help today!

              An InteractOne Senior Team Member will get back to you within a day.

              Drop Us a Line At:

              Our Contact Form

              Or, if you prefer an old-fashioned phone call:
              Phone (USA): (513) 469-3362

              Proudly headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio