This week, the APAC Podcast welcomes Ram Radhakrishnan, the Head of Analytics, Loyalty, and Customer Data at Woolworths. He starts the show with a brief history of Woolworths’ online presence, including how WooliesX was introduced to leverage modern technologies and facilitate a smooth online grocery shopping experience. As the company evolved, leadership had to grow and adapt. The startup culture of WooliesX enables an innovative, future-thinking environment that gives employees autonomy in learning things like AI to solve problems. Understanding customers is vital to improving the online shopping experience, so data collected from rewards programs are essential metrics. Ram describes how this data is collected, analyzed, and used to meet high customer expectations. For example, in the app, personalized lists make it easy for customers to select their everyday items quickly. Google Cloud’s myriad capabilities have fostered the digital growth of WooliesX. Ram details the Cloud Platform tools used by the company and how Google’s commitment to innovation means new, valuable features are continually released. We hear about the structure of WooliesX and how the practices and tribes in the company are supported to foster continued learning and growth. Ram closes the show with a look into the future of WooliesX and retail in general. He talks about the challenges and exciting advancements in analytics he anticipates in areas like robotics and AI.