Covestro Launches Online Store on Alibaba

Covestro, one of the world’s largest polymer company, announced the launching of its flagship online store at Alibaba.

The digitalization strategy of Covestro opens up new possibilities for doing business. In order to make the world’s chemicals easily accessible to business customers, Covestro has started a cooperation with Chinese internet giant Alibaba. As of 23 April, the company offers its high-tech polymer materials in a flagship store on 1688.com, an online platform of Alibaba. The platform is the biggest online business-to-business marketplace in China.

"Digitalization rapidly changes customer needs and preferences and offers new business opportunities, especially in the fast growing Chinese economy," said Dr. Markus Steilemann, Chief Commercial Officer and future CEO of Covestro.

"For us, China plays a more and more important role not only in terms of market size but also with regard to innovation in relevant markets and technologies. With the launch of an online store on Alibaba we follow our strategy by innovating our business models in close cooperation with our customers."

The main goal is to offer customers a reliable, official channel with a simple and efficient purchasing experience. With a maximum quantity order, the flagship store is more tailored to the needs of small and medium-sized customers. As a start, Covestro will offer around 50 products on 1688.com. The second wave of products to launch is already in planning. The company announced that new forms of online commerce will contribute up to EUR 1 billion Euro in accumulated sales until end of 2019.

For more information, please visit www.covestro.com.