Scaling Retail Transformation & Velocity with an AI-Native GCC for North America’s Largest Arts & Crafts Retailer
Our Clients
Engagement Overview
Our client is North America’s largest arts and crafts retailer. After investing $30M into a digital transformation, the program spiraled into a $120M overrun with two years of delays and very little value in production. An offshore delivery center in China was burning $2.2M per month, relying on in-person releases and undocumented systems, just as product complexity and omnichannel expectations were exploding.
TechBlocks stepped in to reset the program and put it on an AI-native footing. We launched a Global Capability Center (GCC) in 90 days, executed a right-shoring strategy, modernized the architecture, embedded DevSecOps and AI-powered SRE, and accelerated omnichannel and AI-led product innovation. The result was a leaner cost base, faster release cycles, and a modern retail stack ready for scale.
Key Challenges
The retailer’s digital transformation had lost control. Costs were escalating, delivery was slow, and critical systems were fragile and opaque.
At the same time, a 185% year-over-year surge in product listings and rising omnichannel expectations demanded faster iteration, stronger resilience, and better customer experiences. Without a structural reset, the retailer risked losing competitiveness and customer trust.
Runaway Transformation &
Budget Overrun
A $30M digital transformation program had grown into a $120M overrun with two years of delays and limited tangible progress. Large investments were tied up in initiatives that were not reaching production at pace, undermining confidence in the overall transformation strategy and stretching capital that should have been funding innovation.
Inefficient Offshore Delivery & Undocumented Systems
The offshore delivery center in China had become a liability. It burned $2.2M per month, depended on in-person releases, and operated on systems that were poorly understood and largely documented only in Chinese. This created knowledge risk, slowed incident response, and made it difficult for leadership to assess the true health and resilience of critical platforms.
Fragmented Tech Stacks &
Ticket-Driven Delivery
U.S. and Canadian tech stacks were fragmented across legacy systems that lacked transparency and observability. The primary vendor delivery model ran on ticket-driven execution rather than outcome-based product delivery. Every release was slowed by manual coordination, opaque dependencies, and brittle integrations, which amplified risk and constrained the ability to move at retail speed.
Rising Product Complexity & Omnichannel Expectations
The retailer was managing a 185% year-over-year surge in product listings while customers expected seamless omnichannel experiences across web, mobile, and stores. Without faster iteration, better system resilience, and a stronger digital backbone, the retailer struggled to keep up with catalog growth, support new experiences, and protect customer satisfaction across channels.
Approach & Solutions
1. AI-Native GCC Launch & Right-Shoring
We designed and launched a Global Capability Center that became the new engine for delivery, while executing a right-shoring strategy to bring costs and control back in line.
- Launched an AI-Native Global Capability Center in 90 days as the central hub for data, AI, platform, and cloud delivery.
- Executed a right-shoring strategy that reduced monthly burn from $2.2M to $1M within six months, cutting annual costs by 54%.
- Scaled the GCC to more than 260 specialists across Canada, the U.S., and India, creating a balanced, resilient global delivery footprint.
- Organized 19 cross-functional PODs aligned to value streams such as Checkout, Catalog, Marketplace, and Store Operations, each with clear ownership and accountability.
2. Architecture Modernization & DevSecOps Delivery
We moved the delivery model from monolithic, ticket-driven releases to modern, modular platforms supported by DevSecOps practices.
- Reverse-engineered key applications and rebuilt documentation in English to remove knowledge bottlenecks and reduce risk.
- Established a scalable reference architecture with embedded DevOps practices to standardize how services were designed, built, and released.
- Split critical monoliths into microservices where appropriate to reduce coupling, improve scalability, and enable independent deployments.
- Deployed CI/CD pipelines with DevSecOps integrated, enabling faster, safer releases with automated testing and security checks baked into the flow.
3. AI-Powered Reliability, Observability, & Delivery Telemetry
We introduced AI-powered SRE capabilities and an observability layer that gave executives and teams real-time insight into delivery and platform health.
- Implemented AI-powered SRE agents to provide 24×7 monitoring, automated incident detection, and faster incident response to reduce downtime.
- Integrated observability into core systems with metrics and dashboards that tracked uptime, performance, and error patterns.
- Surfaced delivery telemetry into tools such as Power BI, JIRA, and Grafana, giving executives real-time visibility into sprint status, release health, and risk.
- Used telemetry insights to drive continuous improvement across PODs, targeting bottlenecks and reliability issues with data rather than guesswork.
4. Digital Ecosystem Expansion & Omnichannel Innovation
With the foundations in place, we focused on expanding the digital ecosystem, unlocking new revenue channels, and improving omnichannel experience with AI and modern commerce capabilities.
- Extended the retailer’s digital ecosystem with a B2B2C commerce exchange platform to support more complex partner and customer journeys.
- Delivered new experiences such as custom framing and an in-store party booking system with online supply ordering and delivery.
- Implemented AI-powered Retail Search, Recommendation AI, and Vision AI to improve product discovery and merchandising.
- Optimized Google Cloud infrastructure as code (IAC) and FinOps practices to reduce cloud waste and align spend with value.
- Replatformed more than 12 digital platforms in Canada to a modern, scalable foundation without disrupting ongoing operations.
- Enhanced omnichannel journeys with BOPIS, curbside pickup, last-mile delivery, and automated self-checkout to improve convenience and reduce in-store friction.
Impact & Results
The retailer moved from an over-budget, stalled transformation to an AI-native GCC-led model with modern architecture, faster delivery, and a stronger omnichannel experience.
Costs dropped, release cycles accelerated, and the business gained a platform capable of supporting sustained digital growth.
Cost reduction
Over five years, the transformation delivered $70M in savings, supported by 54% cost optimization and a reduction in monthly burn from $2.2M to $1M. Engineering costs dropped by 45% through streamlined POD-based execution and more efficient platform operations.
Faster release cycles
Release cycles became four times faster, shifting from slow, high-risk deployments to modern, predictable delivery velocity. Teams shipped changes more frequently and safely, supporting faster iteration on customer experiences and operational improvements.
Disruption Canadian replatforming
The Canadian replatform transition was completed in 26 weeks with zero disruption to customers or store operations. More than a dozen digital platforms were moved to a modern foundation while maintaining service continuity.
Increase in online conversions
Omnichannel enhancements and customer-first innovation contributed to a 24% increase in online conversion. In-store operations improvements, including self-checkout and POS transformation, delivered $10M in annual savings while improving the overall shopping experience.
Enterprise-critical features delivered
The new GCC model sustained delivery of 65+ enterprise-critical “Big Rock” features year over year. This consistent throughput allowed the retailer to keep evolving its digital and store experiences in line with changing customer expectations and market demands.
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