ChinaHealthcare and life sciences2026 – ongoing111, Inc.
AI agents in back-office support and pharmacy operations at an online pharmacy
111, Inc. said AI agents let it cut back-office staffing as operating expenses fell 16.1%
Problem
111, Inc. runs an online pharmacy in China and carries back-office support and fulfillment costs. Revenue fell 28.3% in the quarter, mainly because the company sold underperforming subsidiaries, so costs needed to fall with it.
Approach
The company adopted AI agents in back-office support roles and began building agent-based tools for pharmacies and healthcare-service settings. It also named demand forecasting, inventory optimization and fulfillment routing as AI uses it was working on.
Results
Takeaway
The company tied its lower operating expenses to staffing changes made possible by AI agents, but the quarter also included divestments, so the AI share of the saving is not separable. It did not link the fall in fulfillment expenses to AI.
Categories
- Industry
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- AI agents
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Goal
- Cost savings
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Reports 111, Inc.'s second-quarter 2026 results. The company said AI agent adoption enabled workforce streamlining in back-office support, and operating expenses fell 16.1% to RMB155.5 million. Fulfillment expenses fell 29.5% to RMB63.6 million, but the article does not attribute that fall to AI.
Full details are in the original sources.
