Merck 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 — Merck, a leading science and technology company, has launched its official flagship store (merckls.1688.com) 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 Merck, as the company seeks to enhance the customer experience in China through its e-commerce capabilities.

“The launch of Merck’s 1688 flagship store marks an important step forward in advancing our Life Science business in China,” said Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. “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 Merck'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. Merck 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.”

Merck 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, Merck 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.

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About Merck

Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 52,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene- editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – Merck is everywhere. In 2018, Merck generated sales of €14.8 billion in 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck’s technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the “Merck” name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Performance Materials.