Challenges for omnichannel applications at ALDI: Data distribution and offline capabilities

A price change for strawberries must reach thousands of devices reliably. Learn how ALDI guarantees data delivery, even when networks fail.

#1about 4 minutes

The challenge of omnichannel data synchronization in retail

New customer channels like click-and-collect require reliable data synchronization for things like price updates across many different applications and devices.

#2about 3 minutes

Implementing the transactional outbox pattern for reliable updates

A simple push model for data updates is unreliable, so the transactional outbox pattern ensures events are persisted and processed reliably by a background worker.

#3about 6 minutes

Optimizing data distribution with deterministic hashing

To avoid sending large, unnecessary updates, deterministic hash values are calculated for data subsets to notify only the consumers affected by a change.

#4about 5 minutes

Challenges of building an offline-first picking app

A picking app for fulfilling online orders must function reliably despite limited in-store internet, concurrency issues, and large, dynamic product catalogs.

#5about 6 minutes

Using Progressive Web Apps for offline capabilities

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) provide offline functionality through the Service Worker API, which acts as a network proxy to manage caching and data access.

#6about 4 minutes

Leveraging PWA APIs for a robust offline experience

The Cache API stores assets, IndexedDB holds persistent product data, and the Background Sync API defers updates until connectivity is restored.

#7about 4 minutes

Q&A on implementation details and technology choices

The speakers answer audience questions about the specific technologies used, such as GreenRobot and Cosmos DB, and the rationale behind their architectural decisions.