Victory Tailgate, the nation’s largest manufacturer of officially licensed tailgate games, was founded in 2008 and acquired by Escalade Sports in 2020. As part of its D2C growth strategy, Escalade Sports migrated Victory Tailgate to its Shopify Plus framework, allowing for more flexibility and providing a framework for future growth.
As one of only two licensed cornhole companies for colleges and professional sports, Victory Tailgate needed a better way to manage content on their website, educate customers on products, and showcase the brand attributes – high quality products, quick deliveries, and superior customer service. CQL experience design experts leveraged their site migration to Shopify Plus to reengage their audiences with a brand refresh capturing the excitement of game day tailgating, new educational content, and an optimized navigational structure. The site offers a new user experience featuring a navigation that improves the way users shop by team and educates customers on the variety of tailgate games offered and the differences between their top-selling cornhole boards.
By leveraging CQL’s Shopify Blueprint, Propel, Victory Tailgate quickly adopted the improved commerce capabilities, technologies, and customer experiences of the Shopify Plus platform, while implementing consistent user experiences, feature sets, and backend integrations as the other Escalade Brands. The officially licensed NFL, NHL, MLB, and NCAA tailgating & backyard BBQ game manufacturer is the 13th brand for Escalade Sports to migrate to Shopify – just in time for game day!
Shopify Plus
Affirm
Amazon Pay
Apple Pay
Avalara
Bazaarvoice
Google Analytics
Google Tag Manager
Klaviyo
PayPal
Salsify
Smile.io
Victory Tailgate® is owned and managed by Escalade Sports. The CQL and Escalade teams architected a repeatable model on Shopify Plus that supports an entire portfolio of Escalade Sports brands, including Victory Tailgate, RAVE Sports, Bear Archery, Woodplay, Fowling, STIGA, Lifeline Fitness, Onix Pickleball, Goalsetter, American Heritage Billiards, Goalrilla, US Weight, and Escalade. CQL provided a new digital identity, mobile-first redesign, and website launches for 10 brands in under 12 months, with new brands like Victory Tailgate being added each year.
From premium cornhole sets to LED boards, Victory Tailgate was challenged with improving their navigation and site content to promote their extensive range of tailgate products and educate customers on buying the right tailgate game set for their needs.
The new navigation provides a seamless shopping experience, offering fan-favorite categories for NCAA College, MLB, NHL, NFL; as well as themes like Military branches, Life is Good, and Margaritaville. By shopping by favorite teams, buyers can find all of their game-day tailgating essentials in one place – from cornhole to yard dominoes, yard dice, and hook & ring games.
With rich content including buying guides, instruction manuals, set care, sizing, and game rules, Victory Tailgate has become a one-stop shop to enhance any tailgate experience and show team pride.
“Working with CQL has given Victory Tailgate a team-first design, a robust CMS on Shopify to manage content, and a tech stack fully integrated with Escalade Sports’ back-end systems. Our optimized shopping experience on Shopify has paved a new path for growth for our tailgating games and the fans who love them.”
JULIE HOPE
Brand Manager
ESCALADE SPORTS
