Sigma-Aldrich's PipeLine E-commerce Website Recognized as the Leading Solution Serving the Chemical and Life Science Research Communities

<%=company1%> today released findings of a recent Chemical & Engineering News, an American Chemical Society Publication, Market Position Study naming the Sigma-Aldrich PipeLine e-commerce system as the preferred solution for buying chemicals over the Internet. The study, conducted by Centcom, Ltd., of Wayne Pennsylvania, randomly sampled 1000 Chemical & Engineering News subscribers asking them to evaluate five on-line chemical providers on Quality, On-Time Delivery, Follow-up Service and Technology Leadership. Other e-commerce sites included in the survey were Chemdex, Fisher Scientific, SciQuest and VWR. Sigma-Aldrich's e-commerce web site out-performed all other sites in all four individual performance categories and in overall mentions.

"Chemical & Engineering News is one of the most respected publications in our industry," says John Custer, Electronic Marketing Product Manager for Sigma-Aldrich. "The acceptance of our e-commerce system by its readers validates our site as a valued resource tool in the markets we serve." As the leading manufacturer and distributor of Life Science Products, Laboratory Products, Fine Chemicals and Diagnostic Reagents, Sigma-Aldrich is able to make available millions of pages of technical information about the 200,000 products they offer. "This is what differentiates us from our virtual competitors", says Blake Hibray, Vice President of Sales for Sigma-Aldrich. "Our customers can make an informed buying decision based on accurate technical information and complete the transaction through a highly intuitive user interface."

The Sigma-Aldrich PipeLine e-commerce system offers simple, on-line access to more than 200,000 products from the Sigma, Aldrich, Fluka, Supelco and Riedel-de Haen brands. PipeLineâ allows customers to shop, obtain up-to-the-minute pricing and product availability information, and receive order confirmation, status and shipping information, all in real-time. It is the only e-commerce solution that provides robust search capabilities and access to thousands of product data sheets, two million certificates of analysis and 90,000 Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).

About Sigma-Aldrich
Sigma-Aldrich develops, manufactures and distributes the broadest range of high quality biochemicals, organic chemicals, chromatography products and diagnostic reagents available in the world. The company's products are used in high-tech research and development in universities and industry, in the diagnosis of disease, and as specialty chemicals for pharmaceutical and other manufacturing purposes in more than 160 countries. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to the success of its customers through science, technology and service.