How TrackFly Delivers Retail Insights for the Outdoor Products Industry

The Customer

Founded by two lifelong fly fishermen, TrackFly was born from a shared belief that small, independent outdoor retailers should have the same access to insights as national chains. Based in Utah, the company aggregates point-of-sale and retail data from thousands of local shops to reveal industry trends, product performance, and sales insights for retailers, brands, and manufacturers alike. “Our founders realized small retailers were sitting on data as valuable as a prize trout — they just didn’t have the tools to surface it,” says Hannah Lundrigan, Senior Software Engineer at TrackFly.

With a tight-knit team of ten and a passion for clean data (and clean rivers), TrackFly set out to bring clarity and efficiency to an industry that thrives on precision.

The Challenge: Casting Blind into Choppy Data Waters

Before Astronomer, TrackFly’s engineering team lacked a true orchestration tool. Pipelines were manually scheduled and monitored, and each deployment felt like testing a new fly pattern in stormy weather — unpredictable and time-consuming.

With an aggressive deadline to launch their first live analytics dashboard for an outdoor trade show, building a self-hosted Airflow environment felt like tying knots with frozen hands — risky, tedious, and slow.

“We had an aggressive timeline. Setting up our own Airflow environment wasn’t realistic. Astronomer was the obvious choice — it let us start building right away.” Hannah Lundrigan, Senior Software Engineer

The Solution: A Steady Current for Data Streams

TrackFly moved straight from manual workflows to Astronomer’s managed Apache Airflow, spinning up production-ready pipelines in under a week. With Astronomer handling orchestration, the team could focus on reliability, scalability, and insights instead of infrastructure.

Using Airbyte to extract data from point-of-sale systems and Postgres and Redshift for storage, Astronomer became the steady current that carried data downstream — powering dashboards, driving machine learning models, and surfacing analytics for outdoor brands and retailers.

“Thanks to Astro, we were already developing on day one. Within weeks, we had dozens of DAGs moving data where it needed to go, all without worrying about DevOps.” Hannah Lundrigan, Senior Software Engineer

Astronomer also made it simple to scale dynamic DAGs across multiple data sources and workflows. These pipelines now run hundreds of ML jobs that automatically categorize and label products, improving data quality and enabling forecasting and trend analysis for brands and retailers.

The Results: Smooth Waters and Reliable Catches

After adopting Astronomer, TrackFly found itself navigating calm, predictable waters. The team could trust that every workflow would run smoothly and deliver consistent results. The payoff: measurable improvements in speed, scalability, and reliability.

• Cast once, catch many: Engineers no longer spend hours managing infrastructure. Astronomer handles the heavy lift, freeing the team to build. “Before Astronomer, we were spending hours making sure servers stayed afloat,” says Hannah. “Now, it just works.”
• From hand-tied scripts to dynamic DAGs: Pipelines now flow automatically, providing reliable insights to customers every day. “It’s such a relief to know our data is flowing on its own — no manual casts required,” Hannah explains.
• Machine learning nets the big ones: Automated ML tasks classify millions of products, giving brands and retailers visibility into what’s biting across regions. “Our ML pipelines help us see what’s trending across the outdoor market almost instantly,” says Hannah.
• Casting into new waters: TrackFly’s orchestration framework now supports expansion into cycling, snow sports, and surf — each new vertical another cast into richer waters. “With Astronomer, scaling into new verticals feels natural — like casting into a bigger stream,” Hannah adds.

“With Astronomer, we’re not fighting the current anymore. We’re following it — and it’s leading us to bigger and better catches.” Hannah Lundrigan, Senior Software Engineer

What’s Next: Exploring New Streams

As TrackFly broadens its reach into new outdoor markets, the team continues to refine its dynamic DAG generation and observability practices to ensure pipelines stay as reliable as a well-tied knot.

Just as a seasoned angler reads the water, TrackFly now reads the data — anticipating shifts, adapting fast, and reeling in insights that keep its customers ahead of the current.

“We’re excited to keep expanding into new industries and scaling our pipelines with Astronomer. The more data we bring in, the clearer the picture becomes for every retailer we serve” Hannah Lundrigan, Senior Software Engineer