China Jo-Jo Drugstores reaches deal to boost online pharmacy sales

China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc., said Tuesday that it has reached a joint venture agreement requiring Shanghai Jianbou Technology Co., Ltd., to direct its e-pharmacy card transactions to Jo-Jo's online pharmacy site.

The joint venture with Shanghai Jianbao, China’s leading pharmacy benefit management provider which owns and operates e-pharmacy card Yikatong, was reached through China Jo-Jo subsidiary Hangzhou Jiuzhou Grand Pharmacy Chain Co., Ltd.

“This shall greatly enhance customer loyalty as well as our profit margin. It's also a sustainable and recurring business model that is hard for our competitors to imitate,” China Jo-Jo Chairman Lei Liu said.

The agreement is expected to significantly improve China Jo-Jo’s online pharmacy revenue in and profit margin this year.

Under the agreement, Shanghai Jianbao will be in charge of directing the online sales of Yikatong to China Jo-Jo’s site and has committed to a minimum monthly sales volume of approximately $1.6 million.

“To ensure our goal of online pharmacy sales surpass sales of our retail stores within the next three years, we have to grow China Jo-Jo from a regional drugstore chain into a national online drugstore and fundamentally change our sales and distribution model,” Liu said. “We aim to become one of the first drugstore chains by leveraging (pharmacy benefit management) model to effectively control the rising health care cost in China."