Sharing Lessons while Building for India's Largest Omni-Retailer: Achieving a Single-Digit TCO while Future-Proofing for 100x Scale

In today's rapidly evolving retail landscape, agility, efficiency, and resilience are essential for any technology-driven organization. For India’s largest omni-retailer—a business with a revenue of $36 billion and EBITDA of $2.8 billion, spanning consumer electronics, grocery, fashion, lifestyle, beauty, and connectivity—these weren’t just strategic goals but core necessities. With over 1 billion visits, this retailer’s omni-channel presence is unparalleled in the market. As part of the fashion, lifestyle, and beauty arm, I had the privilege to lead a transformation as Chief Product & Technology Officer that delivered both immediate value and a sustainable path forward, achieving a leaner, single-digit Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while serving millions of users daily.

Here’s how we made it happen.

Embracing Composable Architecture: A Building Block for Agility and Scalability

Composable architecture lies at the heart of a scalable and future-proof tech stack. By adopting a composable approach, we were able to modularize our technology components, making it easier to build, deploy, and iterate on individual features.

Each component—from promotions, product cataloging, search to customer support and supply chain—could evolve independently. This approach gave us the agility to respond to user needs quickly and scale without escalating costs. More importantly, we could future-proof the architecture by integrating or swapping components as better solutions emerged, rather than overhauling the entire system.

Lean Operations with Single-Digit TCO

Achieving a leaner, single-digit TCO required discipline across every layer of technology and operations. It was essential to drive a culture that prioritized efficiency without compromising quality. By focusing on automation, intelligent cloud usage, and advanced monitoring, we achieved cost control without losing the ability to deliver at the highest momentum.

For instance, we automated numerous backend processes and implemented performance monitoring that helped us minimize waste and identify bottlenecks. These changes reduced operational costs and increased the overall efficiency of the tech stack.

Business Agility with a Productization and Experimentation Mindset

Throughout this transformation, we didn’t compromise on supporting business agility. We prioritized productization, velocity, and momentum, fostering a mindset rooted in experimentation. Our approach was driven by hypotheses and a “build-for-experimentation” mindset, backed by thought leadership, clear ownership, and a bias for action across our teams. This required a critical org structure that empowered decision-making at every level.

This mindset allowed us to deliver a best-of-breed feature set with unmatched speed and flexibility. To illustrate, my teams brought to life a Shein-like fast fashion platform, taking products from design to shelf to customer in just 90 days. This rapid timeline exemplifies the high level of responsiveness and agility we cultivated, enabling us to meet ever-evolving consumer needs faster than any other e-commerce player.

Resilience Built for Scale: Meeting the Needs of Millions of Daily Users

To handle the scale and speed of India’s largest omni-retailer, we needed an architecture capable of delivering a seamless experience to millions of users across platforms every day. Our resilient infrastructure was designed with redundancy, load balancing, and real-time scaling capabilities to handle traffic spikes without sacrificing performance.

A composable architecture also helped here by allowing us to isolate and address issues within individual components. This modular approach minimized the risk of downtime, ensuring high availability even during peak traffic periods.

Future-Proofing with Cloud-Native and API-First Design

In building a future-ready stack, we adopted cloud-native principles and API-first design, which allowed us to leverage the best of cloud technology while remaining adaptable. Our cloud-native approach meant faster deployments, lower operational overhead, and inherent scalability.

The API-first strategy enabled easy integrations, which was invaluable as we expanded our ecosystem to include various third-party applications and services. This strategy gave us the flexibility to deliver new customer experiences and services rapidly, staying ahead of changing market demands.

The Outcomes: Agility, Efficiency, and Exceptional User Experience

This transformation wasn't just about cutting costs—it was about achieving a tech stack that could operate at full momentum. With this robust, composable architecture, we delivered personalized, high-quality products, meeting the needs of our diverse user base, from urban shoppers to remote-area customers.

Through this approach, we positioned the platform as a resilient and adaptable entity capable of scaling and innovating well into the future. And as a byproduct, we unlocked significant cost savings that allowed for sustainable growth, achieving a TCO model that supports ongoing, innovation-driven scaling.

When Transformation Doesn’t Work: The Role of Ownership and Organizational Structure

In any large-scale product and technology transformation, there are times when progress may stall or outcomes fall short. In my two decades of experience, one of the key reasons for these challenges is a lack of clear ownership and a misaligned organizational structure. Without well-defined ownership, accountability becomes blurred, making it difficult to drive initiatives with the necessary speed and precision. Likewise, an effective organizational structure is crucial to facilitate collaboration and remove silos that often stifle innovation.

A successful transformation demands an organization that is designed to support cross-functional synergy, where product, engineering, and business teams can align around shared goals. Leaders must foster a culture that encourages taking ownership and making decisive moves, empowering teams to act with clarity and purpose. By ensuring these fundamentals are in place, the transformation process not only accelerates but also creates a sustainable foundation for long-term growth and resilience.

Lessons for Technology Leaders

Building for the future doesn’t mean sacrificing current efficiency. By embracing composable architecture and a cloud-native approach, you can create a resilient, scalable, and cost-efficient stack that meets today's needs and tomorrow’s ambitions.

For those leading similar transformations, a mindset that views technology as an enabler of lean, agile, and future-ready operations is of utmost importance. Achieving a leaner, single-digit TCO isn't just a metric; it's a testament to the power of the right strategy, architecture, and vision.

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