Coles has ended its Palantir partnership and denies the software watched customers. The real lesson is that the vendor sitting on your customer and staff data is now a brand decision the public will grade.
The Take: Coles has ended its partnership with Palantir and insists the software never watched a single customer. This is not really a story about one contract. The vendor you choose to sit on your customer and staff data is now a brand decision the public will grade, and Coles just paid to learn that in the open.
The exposure: Coles confirmed its Palantir contract will not run past 2027, closing a deal that began in early 2024, Inside Retail reported. The platform could reach more than 10 billion rows of data covering every store, every shift and each of the retailer's 120,000 employees. Coles says the tool ran operations like rostering and bakery planning, not customer surveillance. The point is that most shoppers never knew the arrangement existed until a campaign told them.
The tell: The pressure did not come from a regulator. The activist group GetUp gathered more than 85,000 signatures against the deal, tying Palantir to its work with US immigration enforcement and defence contracts, Pedestrian reported. A vendor's other customers became Coles's reputation problem, and no clause in the contract protected against that.
Rows of Coles data Palantir's platform could reach, across every store and all 120,000 staff
Who pays: The software firm keeps its other contracts. The brand wears the headline, the customer distrust and the internal morale hit. When you hand a third party your richest data, you are also handing them a say in how your brand is perceived, whether that shows up in the agreement or not. With Australia's privacy reforms tightening what businesses must disclose about data handling, the quiet middle office decision has become a front page one.
For Australian operators: List every vendor that touches customer or staff data and write down what you would say publicly if that vendor became a headline tomorrow. Treat the choice of data platform as a brand risk, not just a procurement line item. Check your exit terms before you sign, because leaving quietly is harder than joining. Assume your customers will one day ask who holds their data and what it is used for, and have an honest answer ready before they ask.