Contact Us
Menu
What we do
Back What we do
Back What we do
Industries
Back What we do
Capabilities

Case Study · Retail × Linkroad

Real-time inventory visibility.

Linkroad partnered with a leading retail group in Portugal to replace an inefficient batch-oriented inventory system with a new real-time data platform, providing a unified view of inventory across all physical stores, warehouses and the entire e-commerce ecosystem.

Leveraging Azure’s advanced Data & AI stack, microservices and real-time data streaming, the platform delivers critical inventory insights to customers, offers a single access point via effective APIs, and is scalable for future data sources.

1

unified view of inventory

3

channels: stores, warehouses, e-commerce

0

batch windows between event and insight

API

single access point for every consumer

Gallery
Platform architecture
Unified inventory view
Inventory dashboard

Challenge

Stores, warehouses, e-commerce. Inventory known only in batches.

Inventory was managed by an inefficient batch-oriented system. Stock positions across physical stores, warehouses and the e-commerce ecosystem were reconciled on a schedule, so what the business saw was always a picture of the recent past.

Each consumer of that data reached it its own way, with no single access point and no room to add new data sources without rebuilding the integrations underneath.

Inventory that is accurate once a night is not accurate when a customer is buying.

The case

Real-time data streaming flow

The objective was never the pipeline. It was one inventory truth, live.

Design and implement a real-time data platform providing a unified, comprehensive view of inventory across all stores, warehouses and the e-commerce ecosystem.

Streaming instead of scheduling

The platform was built on Microsoft Azure, leveraging the Azure Data & AI Stack with a microservices architecture on AKS. Azure Synapse, CosmosDB, Data Lake Gen2 and Event Hubs handle real-time data ingestion and processing, so inventory movements are reflected as they happen.

One access point, many consumers

A unified inventory visibility solution exposes a single access point through effective APIs, enabling customer insights and external inventory visibility from the same governed source.

A single API turns a fragmented estate into one product the whole business can build on.

Full deployment followed DevOps practices with Azure DevOps, giving a scalable and flexible solution that can take on future data sources without a redesign.

Retail sector imagery

About the client

A leading retail group in Portugal

3

channels — physical stores, warehouses and e-commerce — on one real-time inventory view.

A retail operator running a national store network alongside a full e-commerce ecosystem. Client name withheld under confidentiality.

Impact

What the platform delivered

01

Unified real-time vision

Inventory across all stores, warehouses and e-commerce is visible in one place, eliminating the inefficiencies of the previous batch system.

02

Improved data reliability

Real-time inventory insights reach customers directly, significantly enhancing the ecommerce customer experience.

03

Enhanced operational efficiency

Streamlined inventory management provides a critical foundation for future data operations across the retail network.

04

Ready for what comes next

A scalable, resilient design takes on new data sources through the same APIs, without reworking the platform beneath them.

Built to extend, not to replace.

Solution · Real-time data platform on Azure

One platform, streaming, integrated and deployed.

Four workstreams took inventory from a batch process to a live data product: the platform itself, the data stack behind it, the integration layer in front of it, and the delivery practices that keep it moving.

Platform, data stack, integration, delivery.

01

Platform

Real-time data platform built on Microsoft Azure, leveraging the Azure Data & AI Stack with microservices architecture (AKS).

02

Data stack

Azure Synapse, CosmosDB, Data Lake Gen2 and Event Hubs for real-time data ingestion and processing.

03

Integration

Unified inventory visibility solution with a single access point via effective APIs, enabling customer insights and external inventory visibility.

04

Delivery

Full deployment following DevOps practices with Azure DevOps, ensuring a scalable and flexible solution.

Technology and approach

Platform: Microsoft Azure, Azure Data & AI Stack, AKS.

Language / Stack: Azure Functions, Azure Synapse, CosmosDB, Data Lake Gen2, Event Hubs, Azure DevOps.

Scope: physical stores, warehouses and e-commerce ecosystem; real-time data streaming and API integration.

Other: microservices architecture, DevOps practices, scalable and resilient design.

Still reconciling stock overnight? Start with the data platform.

We can walk through how real-time streaming, a unified inventory view and a single API access point would work across your own stores, warehouses and online channels.