Loblaw revolutionizes real-time inventory updates with Redis Cloud

25,000 per shard

Supporting high-volume, concurrent read and write operations

5900% improvement

Reduced inventory update delays from 30 minutes to just 30 seconds

75% reduction

in reservation latency by eliminating third-party logistics dependency

The challenge

Loblaw needed a next-generation, real-time inventory management system to support its multi-billion dollar digital operations. The goal was to find a multi-tenant, database-as-a-service solution that could deliver high performance, scalability, and the availability needed for the Helios platform architecture.

Solution

Now, Loblaw’s inventory management runs on Redis Cloud, handling back-end stock updates and supporting high-volume transactions on the front end. Its advanced clustering technology keeps operations running smoothly and makes sure the shopper experience is uninterrupted.

Benefits

In Loblaw’s competitive market, Redis Cloud makes sure products are always available for their customers.. This improved inventory management has led to customers purchasing more at once and fewer abandoned carts, significantly reducing reservation latency by 75%.

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“Redis Cloud has been indispensable for data-access performance, system resilience, and high-availability requirements for critical services like Helios Inventory Service.”

Charu Pujari

Vice President of Engineering and Data Science

Understanding the challenges

As Canada’s leading grocery and e-commerce retailer, Loblaw views data as a key asset for innovation and efficiency. The company’s technology arm, Loblaw Digital, tackled these challenges with a Data as a Service (DaaS) initiative, using Redis Cloud and Google Cloud Platform to revolutionize its inventory management

Improving early prototypes

Before adopting Redis Cloud, Loblaw Digital experimented with GCP Memorystore, which only offered 99.9% availability. Redis Cloud did one better with a 99.99% availability guarantee, adding crucial functionalities like JSON and search to improve stock management and order processing.

Achieving high performance with low latency

Redis Cloud makes managing nightly bulk data loads and continuous stock updates easy, maintaining sub-five-millisecond response times for inventory queries—despite high traffic— improving reliability and speed during critical shopping periods.

Supporting a microservices architecture

By moving from a monolithic to a microservices architecture, Loblaw Digital improved appl scalability and maintenance. Redis Cloud supports this architecture by handling intense database activities seamlessly, which increases transaction volumes and reduces the number of shoppers abandoning their cart.

Collaboration with the Redis team

“Our partnership with Redis has been a huge part of advancing our e-commerce platform,” notes Charu Pujari. “Redis Cloud’s robust performance and reliability are essential for our real-time inventory management and for the digital changes we’re continuing to make.”

Redis Cloud’s impact on Loblaw underscores its capability to drive significant improvements in retail operations, setting new standards for inventory management in the digital age.