Coles to end data analytics work with Palantir

Coles Group is set to conclude its data and analytics partnership with Palantir Technologies, ending three years of work around rostering, store operations and supply chain planning across more than 840 stores nationally.

The retailer signed the contract with Palantir in February 2024, deploying the company’s Foundry and AI platform tools to bring staffing, bakery production and trading performance data into a single system.

The Sydney Morning Herald first reported the cessation of the Palantir partnership.

“Coles and Palantir have agreed to conclude their partnership after three years of collaboration,” a Coles spokesperson told iTnews.

“Palantir’s technology has delivered value across Coles’ operations, particularly in rostering, store operations and supply chain planning.

“The technology has helped Coles drive operational efficiencies that ultimately mean we have the products available when customers need them and team members in the right place at the right time to serve our customers.”

Coles is understood to still be working through a transition plan, with the exact timing yet to be settled, though the arrangement is not expected to run beyond calendar 2027.

Advocacy group GetUp! claimed the cessation as a win for a year-long campaign against the deal, which gathered 86,000 petition signatures and was pushing for a shareholder vote on the partnership at Coles’ annual general meeting.

GetUp! campaigned against the tool use on several grounds, including ethics and potential surveillance applications.

Coles has disputed characterisations of the software as a surveillance tool.

“Coles use this software as a data integration and analytics software platform, which helps our team members make practical, informed decisions across our business,” a Coles spokesperson said.

“The software is used for bakery production planning, trading performance analysis and rostering. It’s an operational platform focused on helping stores run more effectively.

“The software is deployed within Coles’ own environment and is operated and isolated under Coles controls.”

“Palantir does not control the data, nor can it independently repurpose it,” the spokesperson said.

In 2025, Coles said it had around 300 data and intelligence staff, supported by vendors including Microsoft, Snowflake, Databricks, Palantir and SAP.

Palantir had added Australian customers over the past years such as miner Rio Tinto which uses the US company’s Foundry on Amazon Web Services to collect all its rail, SAP and other related data.

Australia’s Department of Defence uses Palantir’s Maven smart system to inform targeting solutions.

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AndyC

Andy Curtis is an award-winning security consultant, researcher and public speaker. He has been working in the computer security industry since the early 1990s, having been employed by state and federal government, leading healthcare and banking providers across three continents. He has given talks about computer security for some of the world’s largest companies, worked with law enforcement agencies on investigations into hacking groups, and is a regular voice on TV and radio explaining IT security threats.

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