Coop Alleanza 3.0, a model of emission and cost reduction thanks to Google Cloud
About Coop Alleanza 3.0
Coop Alleanza 3.0 is a consumer cooperative, the first Italian Coop by number of points of sale (388 stores, of which 62 hypermarkets), members and turnover, and the largest European cooperative by number of members.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact usCoop Alleanza 3.0 has chosen Google Cloud to digitize its entire infrastructure for suppliers and customers. A choice also dictated by the attention to ESG issues and the possibility of leasing data to Google Cloud's Italian data centers.
Google Cloud results
- From 42 to 32 tons of CO2 emitted every year
- +1,787% increase in redemption among inactive customers
- +269% ROI on inactive customers
- -17% saving already achieved on the total cost
- Compliance with European regulations about Google's regional data centers
The transition to Google Cloud has reduced CO2 emissions by 24%
Having numerous suppliers is a hallmark for large retail companies. However, for Coop Alleanza 3.0 this presented a larger issue back in 2016: a plethora of cloud services for each vendor. The company found itself in the midst of a "Cloud Confusion," as CTO Francesco Campioni perfectly explains.
"We had so many different services and suppliers on different clouds. We had to move from a "cloud confusion" to a single data lake system, on which to perform analyses, study new services and new relationships with customers, partners and suppliers."
—Francesco Campioni - Coop Alleanza 3.0 CTOThe choice of Google Cloud, not only products but a way toward a new architecture
To overcome this situation, Coop Alleanza 3.0 decided to establish its own Data Lake, a modern and manageable space to funnel all internal information. The company chose to leverage Google Cloud services. "Can I be honest? - Campioni asks - At the onset of the selection process, Google Cloud wasn't our top choice. However, as we delved deeper, we discovered its extensive potential and ongoing developments. Equally important was the customer support aspect: a dedicated team of engineers poised to assist us in shaping the entire infrastructure, not just providing the most compelling systems. So we recognized how our know-how could improve thanks to the Google Cloud team. We can say that we were right and now we are pleased with the choice, which has also enriched our expertise."
"It is like a gardener preparing the ground for planting. Thank to Google we have established a solid foundation of cloud infrastructure, and we are sowing seeds to have the fruits, that is services.'"
—Francesco Campioni - Coop Alleanza 3.0 CTOThe many on-premises applications have been migrated to Iaas - Compute Engine among them - and another step towards, the Platform as a Service, is in sight. "The infrastructure must create a relationship with members and customers," considering that Coop is a consumer cooperative, where members are also customers. "It is like a gardener who prepares the ground for sowing. Today we have established a solid foundation of cloud infrastructure, and we are sowing seeds to have the fruits, that are the services."
Engagement increased 17 times for marketing campaigns among inactive customers
The end user in a consumer cooperative is more than just a customer,: it is the beneficiary of all these innovations. All users have access to their data both in the app and on the website, and can do many activities that previously were not possible. Communication is also enhanced, as is marketing. The adoption of the Data Lake, fueled by the BigQuery and Dataproc capabilities, made it possible to activate a micro-segmentation, which was followed by a marketing automation activity thanks to the deep real-time profiling with all the data from SAP and CRM.
It also can create the base for a recommendation system to be implemented with the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as Vertex AI.
One major outcome of adopting Google Cloud has been a significant increase in marketing campaign performance. Coop Alleanza managed to increase the number of campaigns targeting inactive customers by over 450%. Even more positive, redemption within these clusters surged by +1,783%, resulting in a total of 309,000 engaged users. The ROI escalated from 0% during pre-cloud campaigns to 269%.
This is not the only great result of the new strategy. Thanks to Google Cloud, the company also enhanced its campaigns targeting loyal customers, doubling their number and witnessing a redemption rate increase of +61%. Furthermore, the number of engaged customers within this group increased by +174%.
Generally, the implementation of Google Cloud significantly reduced the time required for segmentation and campaign activation—almost -90% of time—greatly accelerating Coop Alleanza's overall marketing process.
ESG, FinOps, and automation; the many potentialities of Google Cloud
"Considering the total amount of our spending for IT services, the current potential annual saving reaches 23.3% thanks to Google Cloud," comments Paolo Fioravanti, Enterprise Systems Manager. "Through the activation of Cost Utilization Discounts (CUD), tuning resources based on usage, and turning off services when not necessary to keep them running, we have already achieved a tangible and real result of a 17% saving on the total. We are currently working on the remaining 6.3%, and we expect to approach a total saving of 20% by the early months of 2024."
"Through the activation of Cost Utilization Discounts (CUD), tuning resources based on usage, and turning off services when not necessary to keep them running, we have already achieved a tangible and real result of a 17% saving on the total and we expect to approach a total saving of 20% by the early months of 2024."
—Paolo Fioravanti - Coop Alleanza 3.0 Enterprise Systems ManagerThere is another element that has emerged, on which Coop Alleanza 3.0 is working: the implementation of an additional, highly vertical FinOps report on BigQuery. This way the company can monitor the cost of each individual query and intervene promptly in the face of significant and sudden cost discrepancies compared to the consumption average.
FinOps therefore goes hand in hand with the environmental issue. It's not just business in the strict sense to think about, because technological innovation also has positive consequences on ESG issues: "A proprietary system, with its own servers, cannot compete with a hyperscaler in terms of energy optimization - Campioni confirms - and the fact that Google had sustainability among its drivers convinced us, since we have always been attentive to the issue, too. By making a comparison using sector indicators, a conservative estimate suggests -24% of CO2 emission per year, migrating from on premises to Google Cloud Iaas and we've been able to measure this impact thanks to the Google Cloud solution, Carbon Footprint. In absolute terms, this means decreasing from 42 to 32 tons every year at least. We consider it as an underestimation, as there are other services that are not calculated."
Regional data centers to protect users
Finally, there is the priority issue about data security, guaranteed by the new regionalization of data centers, in compliance with all current regulations. "A data center in Country is reassuring for us: we are in Italy and we know the data remains here. This data localization also allows us to give greater guarantees to our customers. Being able to assure our clients that their information is collected and processed in Google Cloud structures located in the Turin region is no longer an added benefit; it has become a fundamental element," Fioravanti says.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Coop Alleanza 3.0
Coop Alleanza 3.0 is a consumer cooperative, the first Italian Coop by number of points of sale (388 stores, of which 62 hypermarkets), members and turnover, and the largest European cooperative by number of members.