OnePass - Revolutionising Retail Through AI-Powered Customer Experience

Alex Barakat served as Business Architect and Digital Strategist for Wesfarmers' groundbreaking OnePass initiative—Australia's first integrated retail subscription ecosystem. Leading the inception team at WesDigital, Alex architected an AI-augmented platform that unified Kmart, Target, Bunnings, and Catch into a cohesive digital ecosystem whilst establishing strategic partnerships with Disney+. This pioneering engagement delivered a subscription-based business model that created substantial new revenue streams and positioned Wesfarmers at the forefront of retail digital transformation.

The Challenge

Wesfarmers faced critical challenges in Australia's evolving retail landscape:

  • Fragmented Customer Experience: Independent brand operations created disconnected loyalty programmes, redundant communications, and missed cross-selling opportunities

  • Data Silos: Valuable customer insights remained trapped across separate brand systems, preventing effective personalisation and analytics

  • Digital Disruption: International subscription giants were reshaping customer expectations whilst Wesfarmers' federated structure struggled to compete

The board recognised that without radical transformation, Wesfarmers risked losing relevance with digitally-savvy consumers. 

Alex's Solution

AI-Powered Customer Ecosystem

Alex developed a revolutionary architecture centred on three core innovations:

Intelligent Customer Data Platform: Unified customer profiles synthesising transaction histories, behavioural patterns, and preferences across all Wesfarmers brands through advanced machine learning.

Personalisation Engine: AI capabilities delivering:

  • Predictive modelling for customer needs anticipation

  • Dynamic micro-segmentation based on real-time context

  • Hyper-personalised communications through natural language generation

  • Deep learning for non-obvious product recommendations

Subscription Commerce Model: Australia's first multi-brand subscription platform featuring unified benefits, tiered membership, strategic partnerships, and gamification elements.

Technical Architecture

Alex designed a scalable, cloud-native platform with:

  • Microservices architecture enabling rapid feature deployment

  • Real-time event processing for immediate customer response

  • API-first integration across digital and physical channels

  • Comprehensive data security and privacy frameworks

Implementation Journey

  • Phase 1: Foundation Building. Established cross-functional teams, technology stack, and governance frameworks.

  • Phase 2: Data Transformation. Created unified data lake, implemented identity resolution, and developed initial AI models.

  • Phase 3: Platform Development. Built core capabilities including real-time processing, predictive analytics, and omnichannel integration.

  • Phase 4: Pilot Programme. Launched controlled trials with select customer segments, continuously optimising based on feedback.

  • Phase 5: National Scale. Rolled out nationally with comprehensive change management and ongoing platform enhancement.

Results & Impact

Business Transformation

  • Revenue Growth: Created substantial new subscription revenue streams and dramatically increased customer lifetime value

  • Customer Engagement: Achieved significant improvements in shopping frequency, basket size, and cross-brand loyalty

  • Operational Excellence: AI automation substantially reduced marketing costs whilst improving campaign effectiveness

  • Market Leadership: Established Wesfarmers as Australia's digital retail innovation leader

Customer Experience Revolution

  • Seamless shopping journey across all brands and channels

  • Genuinely personalised recommendations and communications

  • Exceptional value through exclusive benefits and partner offerings

  • Transformed transactional relationships into emotional brand connections

Organisational Evolution

  • Shifted from product-centric to customer-centric culture

  • Embedded data-driven decision making across leadership

  • Developed significant internal digital capabilities

  • Created confidence for accelerated innovation initiatives

Key Success Factors

  • Executive Championship: Direct board and CEO engagement ensuring alignment and investment

  • Customer-Centric Design: Every decision prioritised genuine customer value creation

  • Pragmatic Innovation: Balanced ambitious transformation with operational stability

  • Cross-Brand Collaboration: United historically independent brands through shared objectives

  • Technical Excellence: Cloud-native architecture enabling rapid innovation with enterprise reliability

  • Continuous Evolution: Established as evolving platform rather than finite project

Why This Matters for Your Organisation

The AI Transformation Imperative: OnePass demonstrates that successful transformation requires fundamental re-imagination of customer relationships and business models. In today's marketplace, incremental change is insufficient—organisations need the transformational leaps that Alex delivered.