Online grocery shopping experiences in Saudi Arabia is set to transform following a new collaboration between Google Cloud and startup Nana Direct.
Under the partnership, Google Cloud and Nana Direct will connect households with local grocery stores and supermarkets, and ensure the delivery of handpicked and packaged fresh fruits, vegetables and groceries right to their doorstep within a 15 minute window.
Powered by Google Cloud, Nana’s online grocery shopping services are available through the app or on the website.
According to Nana, its entire IT backend runs on Google Cloud, allowing them to grow and scale their business as they continue to expand in the Kingdom. It also provides the capabilities necessary to deploy features quickly, all while running on Google Cloud’s highly safe, secure and reliable global infrastructure.
Sami Al Helwah, Founder and CEO of Nana Direct, said, “From day one at Nana Direct, a strategic decision was made to build our entire back-end from the ground up on Google Cloud. This is due to the innovative technological capabilities that Google Cloud provides, combined with the unique expertise in the digital natives and retail space which was shared with us from the onset. The level of support we received and continue to receive everyday from the team is unprecedented, and having this type of support has enabled us to develop a clear digital roadmap for the business, with growth and development at the heart of it.”
Nana also leveraged Google Cloud’s AI and data warehousing solutions like BigQuery to implement AI modules that helped enhance business forecasting, understand consumer behaviour at a much deeper level and increase efficiency levels to 69 percent in 2021.
The team also relied on Google Cloud’s Fleet Routing tool as the solution to help enhance fleet utilisation. The solution also helped in dispatching trucks for deliveries using Google Maps to identify the most efficient routes in the Kingdom, which ended up optimising fleet utilisation with better on-time delivery by 40 percent.
“Working hand in hand with Nana Direct on their set up from day one, has most definitely helped establish them for success as they became a household name across the country,” said Ziad Jammal, Digital Natives Lead, MENA at Google Cloud.
“We are delighted that our work with Nana Direct continues to support in elevating the consumer’s experience for seamless grocery shopping and delivery, as the market continues to demonstrate the rise in demand for such services even as Coronavirus restrictions are being lifted in Saudi Arabia.”
