Customer Service Plays Key Role in Competitive Life Science Market

Providing quality service and support is a key element in creating value and ensuring customer loyalty and is an important source of competitive differentiation in the life science market. According to a recent survey, Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL), Fisher Scientific (NYSE:FSH) and VWR International were cited as the top three suppliers providing the highest level of assistance related to the ordering, delivery and billing of scientific products.

ARLINGTON, VA -- August 28, 2002 -- Providing quality service and support is a key element in creating value and ensuring customer loyalty and is an important source of competitive differentiation in the life science market. According to a recent survey, Sigma-Aldrich (NASDAQ: SIAL), Fisher Scientific (NYSE:FSH) and VWR International were cited as the top three suppliers providing the highest level of assistance related to the ordering, delivery and billing of scientific products. Sigma-Aldrich, along with Invitrogen (NASDAQ: IVGN), and QIAGEN (NASDAQ: QGENF), also ranked in the top three of suppliers having the most outstanding technical support for their products.

These findings are a few of the many insights derived from a recent 29-question survey of more than 1,000 life scientists conducted by BioInformatics, LLC (Arlington, VA), a leading provider of market research to the biotechnology industry. The full results are currently published in a report titled Service and Support for Life Science Products: Creating Loyal Customers." In the report, both industrial and academic life scientists shared their expectations of customer service and technical support and how these perceptions play a role in their decision to use one suppliers products over another. By examining what these scientific customers need and want from their relationships with suppliers, the report shows how to combine people, policies and technology to increase customer satisfaction and develop more successful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives.

The value of customer service and technical support in the life science market has increasingly been recognized over the past decade. Our clients - especially those implementing CRM systems - asked for this study because the markets competitiveness, changes in technology and higher customer expectations are pushing service and support issues to the attention of top management," says Bill Kelly, President of BioInformatics, LLC.

According to the scientists surveyed, the most frequent problem that requires them to contact Customer Service is that their product did not arrive when promised. When a product fails to arrive on time or a replacement cant be delivered when needed, a scientists ability to perform his or her experiment is compromised or delayed. Scientists are deeply committed to their work and when a scientist feels that their work has been jeopardized by a suppliers performance, the sense of injustice can turn into a backlash against the supplier," says Kelly.

Scientists can also be impatient - 19% of those surveyed expect a reply within 1 to 2 hours after contacting Customer Service by email or through a Website. Additionally, 20% of respondents report that half of their calls to Technical Support are urgent" - meaning that if an answer is not received in a timely manner a critical experiment could fail. Interestingly, when a technical problem is encountered, academic scientists usually choose to first review the printed manual or protocol included with the product, while industrial scientists are more inclined to immediately contact the supplier for assistance.

More than 80% of the scientists surveyed indicated a willingness to pay a premium for guaranteed service and support above and beyond what they are now receiving. Given the great similarities among many life science products, most scientists arent deciding between products, theyre deciding who to buy from," says Kelly. Exceeding a customers expectations of service and support builds loyalty, and loyalty is what drives market share and profitability."

ABOUT BIOINFORMATICS, LLC

BioInformatics, LLC is a market research firm located in Arlington, Virginia. BioInformatics supports marketing, sales and R&D executives in the life science, medical device and pharmaceutical industries through published research reports, custom research and consulting. BioInformatics sponsors the worlds largest market research panel of scientific customers - The Science Advisory Board (http://www.scienceboard.net) - which consists of more than 12,500 scientists, physicians and other life science and medical professionals from 62 countries who participate in surveys that address emerging technologies, test customer reactions to new product concepts, measure brand awareness and assess advertising effectiveness.

For a complimentary Executive Summary of this report, please visit http://www.gene2drug.com/published or contact:

Alyssa Martin
BioInformatics, LLC
2111 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1200
Arlington, VA 22201
703.525.3872 x358 (phone)
703.522.3685 (fax)
a.martin@gene2drug.com
http://www.gene2drug.com/