Dow yesterday announced the opening of a flagship store on 1688.com, the online purchasing and wholesale platform of the Alibaba Group, to provide customers in China with a new and convenient online channel for purchasing its products. This partnership is a milestone aligned to Dow’s digitalization strategy, as well as an important move to further enhance the customer experience and explore new business opportunities.

“China is a world leader in e-commerce platforms and the Internet of Things technologies enabling them. This, combined with Chinese customers’ preference for smooth and safe online shopping, creates an ideal environment for Dow to expand our online presence and diversify our sales and service channels,” said Yoke Loon Lim, president of Dow Greater China. “The launch of our 1688 flagship store today is in addition to our presence on the 1688 purchasing platform launched in August this year. It marks the digitalization of our two key touchpoints with our value chains in China: purchasing and sales.”

The initial batch of products available on the flagship store (dowchina.1688.com) include 14 of Dow’s most popular products, covering various markets such as polyurethanes industrial solutions, food, personal care, coatings, automotive, building and home decoration, agrichemicals, textile and leather. Professional online support is also provided.

“Multiple global chemical companies have joined the 1688 platform in the past year – proof of the aggressive pursuit of excellence by traditional manufacturing companies in the China market on the one hand, and an illustration of the market’s great potential on the other hand,” said Wang Hai, vice president of Alibaba Group. “Dow is a renowned global materials company and the launch of the Dow 1688 flagship store is the latest demonstration of our ability to serve large-scale manufacturing companies.”

Founded in 1999, 1688.com is China’s leading online wholesale platform, providing purchasing and sales channels for various online and offline marketers. Leveraging Alibaba’s expertise in high-tech fields, including big data, cloud computing, and Artificial Intelligence, the 1688 platform has attracted more than 10 million business stores and boasts 150 million daily clicks, accounting for 40 percent of China’s domestic B2B trading. On August 8 this year, during Alibaba’s New Purchasing Summit 2018, Dow announced that it had joined the 1688 purchasing platform to optimize purchasing costs and enhance employee experience. The launch of the Dow 1688 flagship store marks an all-around collaboration on both sales and purchasing between Dow and 1688, which aligns to Dow’s digital transformation strategy.