Kmart Leverages Event Streaming for Enhanced Real-Time Insights

Australian retailer Kmart is revolutionizing its transition from physical stores to online retail by implementing an event-driven data platform. This platform, revealed during Confluent’s Data in Motion tour in Melbourne, is designed for real-time operations, leveraging modern integration methods and event streaming.

Duane Gomes, Kmart's enterprise technology principal architect, emphasized the need for real-time capabilities and an event-driven architecture to support various applications. The platform integrates data pipelines that gather and process information from multiple sources, feeding into Kmart's data lake, analytics, and AI platforms for comprehensive business intelligence.

Kmart's engineering platforms team, led by Sachin Walia, provides cloud and datacenter hosting, developer technology, and integration services. The strategy involves decoupling data producers and consumers through APIs, file transfer, and event streaming.

Utilizing Confluent Cloud alongside other SaaS products from companies like Palo Alto Networks and Microsoft Azure, Kmart’s architecture aims to ensure seamless data integration. The Kmart Group Cloud ties all these components together effectively.

Since 2018, Kmart has been on a Confluent journey, developing the Sophia data platform and Chanakya data science platform, which were migrated to Confluent Cloud by 2021. The current Hamilton event streaming platform, implemented in 2022, supports applications using Sophia and Chanakya.

Recent advancements include adopting Flink for stateful computations over data streams, stream sharing capabilities, and visual data lineage representation. By 2025, Kmart aims to make data the core of its operations, using Flink and stream sharing to manage data with partners like Flybuys.

Hamilton now handles over 200 million events daily, simplifying complex integrations and enhancing real-time operations across Kmart's supply chain and stores in Australia and New Zealand. This platform supports real-time inventory tracking, sales figures, and customer interactions, providing a significant boost to Kmart’s operational efficiency and customer experience.

According to Confluent's 2024 Data Streaming report, a significant majority of Australian IT leaders have seen substantial ROI from data streaming, highlighting its critical role in achieving data-related goals. As AI and machine learning become integral to operations, the importance of a robust data and governance strategy grows.