MilliporeSigma Launches First Flagship Store on Alibaba’s 1688.com to Improve the Customer Experience

• Provides easy access to high-quality products and solutions for customers in China
• Reinforces commitment to the scientific community in China

Hangzhou, China, September 19, 2019 — MilliporeSigma, a leading science and technology company, has launched its official flagship store on Alibaba’s 1688.com. The store provides convenient online sales services to Chinese customers purchasing biochemical reagents and laboratory analytical reagents. The launch marks an important step for MilliporeSigma, as the company seeks to enhance the customer experience in China through its e-commerce capabilities.

“The launch of MilliporeSigma’s 1688 flagship store marks an important step forward in advancing our Life Science business in China,” said Udit Batra, Member of the Executive Board, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, CEO MilliporeSigma. “This collaboration — the first of its kind with a life science company — will help us develop deeper customer relationships, encourage collaboration and foster innovation” in China and accelerate our digital transformation in this important market.”

The first batch of products from MilliporeSigma's 1688 official store — the only flagship store opened by a Life Science brand on 1688 — includes laboratory analytical reagents and consumables, which can be used for testing in pharmaceutical, food, environmental, research and other analytical laboratories. It also offers high-performance material reagents, which can be used in research and industry, as well as a wide range of basic experimental reagents for research, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, industry and many other applications. More products will be available in the store soon. MilliporeSigma will have access to Alibaba's leading technology in big data, cloud services and artificial intelligence.

"The B2B industry must be closer to the market and customers in the future,” said Wang Hai, vice president of Alibaba Group. “I believe that fully digitalized business covering service, sales, marketing, supply chains, product design, procurement, etc., will bring great synergy across the entire industry. We want to build the infrastructure for B2B businesses who are looking to upgrade, to empower them with our strong capabilities in data, product, technology and infrastructure.”

MilliporeSigma is committed to driving scientific research and breakthroughs by providing the broadest spectrum of high-quality product portfolios and solutions. With the launch of its new store, MilliporeSigma will further expand its businesses to more parts of China, leveraging Alibaba’s leading technology in big data, cloud services and artificial intelligence as well as its digitalized operations and offline channels capabilities.