Grocery retailer Coles is set to unveil a three-year collaboration with Palantir Technologies. The partnership will involve the implementation of Palantir’s Foundry analytics platform and AI platform AIP.

Palantir has a long history of helping some of the world’s most important organisations solve their most complex problems and is working with several leading retailers across the globe.

Its cutting-edge platforms will revolutionise operational excellence for Coles, enhancing the formulation, execution, and ongoing improvement of its comprehensive workforce strategy and integrated supply chain functions.

Coles will harness Palantir platforms, notably the Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), within its store operations to gain deeper insights into and manage workforce-related expenditures.

By consolidating data into a unified system, Coles will link its executive leadership directly to store operations across its expansive network of over 840 supermarkets.

Coles aims to empower decision-makers in optimising workforce planning, shift efficiency, and gaining nuanced insights into expenditures to enhance shopper experiences.

Crucially, Store and Department Managers will have the ability to make real-time decisions, driving cost efficiencies and enhancing both customer and team member satisfaction.

Chief operating and sustainability officer Matt Swindells says there is a “detailed roadmap of work to deliver” over the three years.

Swindells, with over 20 years’ experience, has an extensive knowledge of the retail sector and has held various senior management positions across supply chain and merchandise, including General Manager Supply Chain and General Manager Meat, Deli and Seafood

He said the initial development work on Palantir “has demonstrated how we can enhance our ability to ensure all departments are optimally resourced – to provide not only the best return on workforce spend, but to drive better customer outcomes in-store.”

He also tied the partnership to Coles’ ‘simplify and save to invest program’, which was announced last year and aims to save the retailer over $1 billion over the next four years. 

“In line with a broader data strategy, we have partnered with Palantir to explore opportunities to operationalise our Advanced Analytics ‘Smarter Forecast’ and redefine how we think about our workforce,” said Swindells

“We are excited by the capability the Foundry platform brings to rapidly leverage beyond dashboards, and provide a suite of tools utilising AI to our front-line teams,”

“This will allow them to respond more dynamically to ever-changing trading conditions and customer needs,” said Matt Swindells, Chief Operating & Sustainability Office,”

“Our development work with Palantir has demonstrated how we can enhance our ability to ensure all departments are optimally resourced – to provide not only the best return on workforce spend, but to drive better customer outcomes in-store,”

“The most exciting part is that we are only just beginning – with a detailed roadmap of work to deliver over the coming years in line with our Simplify & Save to Invest program.” he said.

Implemented within Palantir, the workforce tool suite is designed to pinpoint opportunities within a vast expanse of data, encompassing over 10 billion rows. The data includes details on every store, team member, shift, and allocation throughout each day, consistently.

Foundry facilitates these functionalities by amalgamating legacy data systems with machine learning, providing a comprehensive, unified perspective of Coles’ retail ecosystem. This includes Bakery Production Planning tools for in-store bakeries and Ocado Fulfilment Centres.

According to Head of Commercial for Australia at Palantir Ashwin Rajan the partnership with Coles – an iconic Australian retailer – demonstrates the strength of our Australian commercial business and continues it’s growth in the retail industry globally.

Collaboration Showcases Palantir Can Be Integral To Coles Core Operations

“In a challenging retail environment, we are intending to enable Matt and the Operations teams to drive their digital transformation agenda at scale, empowering front-line teams to leverage the latest in AI and data to deliver enhanced customer and P&L outcomes every day.” said Rajan

In addition to underpinning real-time decision-making, the platforms are expected to have an impact on “workforce planning, shift efficiency, and a more granular understanding of spend.

With a staggering volume of over 20 million customer transactions processed weekly Coles operates a network of over 1,800 retail outlets across the nation.