Replenium Inc. based in Seattle, WA, entered into an agreement with Albertsons Corporation in 2020 to provide software to allow automatic assembly and renewal of orders for customers. The agreement was characterized and promoted by Albertsons as “industry revolutionizing and unique”.  The program of automatic replenishment was announced in a press release during December 2021 with an intended national rollout in 2022.

 The program was never put into effect and the contract was terminated in 2023.  Replenium maintains that Albertsons used provided proprietary information to attempt to construct its own system to offer auto-replenishment to the disadvantage of Replenium.  Despite the alleged misappropriation of technology, Albertsons has yet to offer a similar service to customers. Accordingly it is assumed that the contract was based on nonviability or that Albertsons failed to reproduce the software offered by Replenium.

In terms of the broader issue of the proposed merger between Albertsons and Kroger, any unethical or borderline legal action by either of the two merger partners could place in question the integrity of the intended partners. The publicized commitments to workers, suppliers and the FTC regarding protections offered and the promises of ultimate benefits to consumers would be subject to question.