Premier Inc. Launches stockd.™, an E-Commerce Marketplace for Healthcare and Business Supplies

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Premier Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) has launched stockd.^™, an e-Commerce marketplace for healthcare and business supplies, to meet the procurement demands of providers in the non-acute care space. The stockd. marketplace unites national and entrepreneurial sellers, bringing reliable, innovative manufacturers into the alternate-site supply chain on a single online purchasing platform.

While open to purchasers outside of healthcare as well as those within a group purchasing organization (GPO), stockd. is designed to meet the needs of small- to medium-sized healthcare businesses. Through stockd., alternate-site healthcare providers easily access better pricing for everyday items, such as office, personal and medical supplies, including gloves, apparel, linens and cleaning products.

“We’ve heard from our members that they want more price transparency, better product selection and convenience,” said Michael J. Alkire, President of Premier. “With three decades of healthcare purchasing expertise through our GPO, Premier is harnessing its supply chain insights, partnerships and technology to disrupt today’s market in ways few others can. Stockd. is a completely new way to buy high-quality products. It delivers a simplified marketplace for non-acute care providers and connects them with the suppliers and brands that share our values.”

Small businesses, including physician and medical offices, senior living facilities, and physical therapy and homecare providers, often do not leverage the buying network or purchasing power that GPO members rely on for competitive pricing and product access. Premier’s investment in stockd. is a natural extension of its ongoing efforts to make markets healthier and enhance the supply chain by increasing competition. Building on Premier’s supply chain expertise, stockd. delivers products from reputable manufacturers and distributors, with transparent pricing listed directly on the site.

In addition to national suppliers, stockd. has partnered with small business entrepreneurs and socially responsible sellers, enabling them to easily connect to their target markets. These sellers have created innovative, specialized products and promote equal opportunity, including:

• Slick Chicks, an adaptive, easy-to-wear underwear made for people with disabilities and physical constraints. The creator designed the underwear with side fasteners after her sister’s recovery from an emergency Cesarean section left her unable to slide on her own undergarments for weeks.
• LifeThreads, the first scrubs made from antimicrobial textiles, which helps reduce hospital-acquired infections. Its fabric wicks moisture and repels liquids, working to reduce soft-surface contamination.
• Bosma Enterprises’ Good Works, a professional-strength ice melter. More than half of Bosma’s workforce is blind or visually impaired, and the sale of Good Works products creates jobs and funds rehabilitation and employment programs for individuals with vision loss.

Premier further plans to leverage the stockd. marketplace for philanthropic causes. In October, to dovetail with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, stockd. has partnered with Medgluv to donate 5 percent of Medgluv’s Pink Glove sales made on its platform to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

“Purchasing patterns in non-acute care are mimicking the business-to-consumer experience more than the traditional healthcare purchasing journey,” said John Sganga, Senior Vice President of Alternate Site Programs at Premier. “That means that buyers are bringing their values – including supporting causes that promote the greater good – into their business transactions. We are in tune with how buyers are purchasing products, both within healthcare and beyond, so our offerings continue to holistically meet their needs.”

According to recent Premier member surveys, 75 percent of alternate-site providers supplement their purchasing through an online retailer or e-Commerce site. Nearly 40 percent of alternate-site purchasers buy their business products from more than six websites each month, and some purchase from more than 20 sites. With its single purchasing platform, stockd. offers significant time savings and the ability to leverage Premier’s expertise and the stockd. community to help inform purchasing decisions.

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Premier to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. In addition to statements that explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements in the conditional or future tenses or that include terms such as “believes,” “belief,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “anticipates” or “plans” to be uncertain and forward-looking. Forward-looking statements may include comments as to Premier’s beliefs and expectations as to future events and trends affecting its business and are necessarily subject to uncertainties, many of which are outside Premier’s control. More information on potential factors that could affect Premier’s financial results is included from time to time in the “Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Premier’s periodic and current filings with the SEC and available on Premier’s website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date.