Key points
- Coles Group is ending its three-year data and analytics partnership with Palantir Technologies, which covered rostering, store operations and supply chain planning across more than 840 stores.
- Advocacy group GetUp! claimed the cessation as a win for a year-long campaign, which gathered 86,000 petition signatures over ethics and surveillance concerns.
- Coles disputed characterisations of the software as a surveillance tool, saying it is deployed within Coles’ own environment and operated under Coles controls.
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.”
In a statement announcing the partnership in 2024, Palantir said that, in addition to workforce planning, Coles would use the technology to get “a more granular understanding of spend as it relates to enhancing the experience for shoppers.”
Coles is understood to still be working through plans to transition away from Palantir. The exact timing is yet to be settled, but 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.
It also addressed assertions that the contract gave Palantir access to its customers’ data.
“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,” Coles’ 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.
The Australian Greens Party has also asserted that Palantir is used by the Australian Signals Directorate, AUSTRAC and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
The Greens are currently campaigning vigorously for all federal government contracts with Palantir to be cancelled. It said that its campaign was driven by concerns that its technology was being used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation operations, and by military in conflicts that the party opposes.
