China Jo-Jo Drugstores Added Eight Retail Pharmacies to Bring the Total Store Count to Over 60
HANGZHOU, China, Jan. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc. (NASDAQ CM: CJJD) (the "Company" or "China Jo-Jo"), a leading China-based retail and wholesale distributor of pharmaceutical and health care products through its own online and retail pharmacies, announced today that it opened eight new retail pharmacies in Hangzhou on January 10, 2015, a company record for same-day store openings. The Company now owns and operates a total of 61 retail drugstores in China.
The eight added drugstores are among the eleven pharmacies which the Company acquired from Hangzhou Sanhao Grand Pharmacy Chain Co., Ltd. on October 9, 2014. These pharmacies had been remodeled with significant improvement and relocated to better locations, more in line with the Company's business model of carrying thousands of pharmaceutical and healthcare products in each store, and offering better in-store experience to our customers. The new stores have been re-located to be much closer to several major residential areas, thus greatly enhancing the Company's store penetration in Hangzhou. China Jo-Jo's existing network of 61 pharmacies will also serve as potential delivery platforms when the Company unveils its Online-to-Offline (O2O) strategy in 2015.
Four of the new pharmacies are currently qualified to take Social Health Insurance ("SHI"), China's national health insurance plan aimed to provide universal health insurance coverage to Chinese citizens. The other four pharmacies have passed all SHI tests and are expected to be qualified within two or three months.Traditionally, SHI participants, who tend to be our long term customers, account for more than 50% of the Company's retail pharmacy sales.
Mr. Lei Liu, Chairman and CEO of the Company stated, "We are delighted to see the strong launch of our new pharmacies to kick off the New Year. In anticipation of Chinese government's approval for online prescription drug sales in 2015, we are making various strategic moves by focusing on product offerings, and easy accessibility of our online and offline stores."
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 September 30, 2014, the Company had 51 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," "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.
SOURCE China Jo-Jo Drugstores, Inc.
Share this article