HANGZHOU, China, April 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc. (NASDAQ CM: CJJD) (the "Company" or "China Jo-Jo"), a leading China-based retail and wholesale distributor that offers pharmaceutical and health care products through its online and retail pharmacies, today announced that, based on its preliminary internal estimate, the online sales from its official online pharmacy site, www.dada360.com, increased more than 200% during the latest quarter ending March 31, 2015 as compared to the same period last year. The total quarterly revenue generated from the Company’s own official online pharmacy site has exceeded RMB10,000,000 (approximately USD1.6 million).
The main growth engine was the online purchase from customers of certain commercial health insurance providers, such as Shanghai Jianbao Technology Co., Ltd. ("Shanghai Jianbao"), who issued and distributed Yikatong (the "E-Pharmacy-Card"), a popular pharmacy and health insurance benefit card with over 180,000 current users. As previously announced, the Company established a strategic partnership with Shanghai Jianbao early this year, and the two parties have since carried out close cooperation, including the integration and upgrades of their sales systems, and the development of a mobile App (such as WeChat). The goal of these devices is to direct the majority of Shanghai Jianbao’s online E-Pharmacy-Card transactions to the Company’s official website for pharmacy sales. The management expects that its online sales to reach a monthly revenue of RMB 10 million (approximately USD1.6 million) by end of 2015.
Furthermore, China Jo-Jo has recently enforced major changes to its e-commerce site, such as modifying and optimizing product offerings based on its historical sales data, offering competitive prices and providing more technical features and sales supports to the fast growing mobile users. The Company will also launch a new direct sales campaign to all E-Pharmacy-Card holders, by utilizing emails, WeChat, and reward points program.
Mr. Lei Liu, Chairman of the Company, stated, "While we are thrilled to see the recent surge in the sales of our own online pharmacy, mainly driven by E-Pharmacy-Card business, we believe this is just the beginning of a long term trend. Due to the aging Chinese population and the rapidly growing healthcare cost, Chinese government strongly encourages private enterprises and individuals to participate in various commercial insurances and pharmacy benefit plans, in addition to the government sponsored Social Health Insurance (SHI) program. Our E-Pharmacy-Card business is one of the examples of our strategic decision to collaborate with commercial health insurance providers to leverage our online and offline pharmacy network. We hope to report more exciting news and financial performance to our shareholders in the coming months. "
About China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc.
China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc., through its own retail drugstores, wholesale distributor and online pharmacy, is a leading retailer and wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical and healthcare products in China. As of December 31, 2014, the Company had 60 retail pharmacies in Hangzhou. The Company’s wholesale subsidiary not only supplies its retail stores, but also distributes drug and other healthcare products to other drugstores and drug vendors. The Company routinely posts important information on its corporate websites at www.jiuzhou-drugstore.com (Chinese) and www.chinajojodrugstores.com (English).
Forward Looking Statement
Statements in this press release regarding the Company that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. Any such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, financial guidance, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "expect," "estimate," "may," "will," "should," "project," "plan," "seek," "intend," "anticipate," the negatives thereof, or comparable terminology. Such statements typically involve risks and uncertainties and may include financial projections or information regarding the progress of new product development. It is routine for the Company’s internal projections and expectations to change as the quarter and year progresses, and therefore it should be clearly understood that the internal projections and beliefs upon which the Company bases its expectations may change. Although these expectations may change, the Company is under no obligation to inform you if they do. Actual results could differ materially from the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, including the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions in the People’s Republic of China, variations in cash flow, reliance on collaborative retail partners and on new product development, variations in new product development, risks associated with rapid technological change, and the potential of introduced or undetected flaws and defects in products. Readers are referred to the reports and documents filed from time to time by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of these and other important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in forward-looking statements.
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