China Jo-Jo Drugstores,says its total revenue increased 29.5 per cent in the quarter to June 30 – and its online sales soared 131.9 per cent.

The US-listed retailer says online sales in the first quarter reached a record US$6 million, accounting for about 28 per cent of the company’s sales.

Its bricks and mortar stores rose 14.9 per cent, or by $1.6 million. Gross profit increased to $4.4 million, up from $2.5 million in the same quarter last year

The online success is the result of expanding cooperation with business-to-consumer online vendors, including Alibaba Group’s Taobao affiliate, JD.com and Amazon.

In addition to launching an online payment service with Alipay China Jo-Jo launched stores on Tencent’s WeChat platform, China’s dominant mobile messaging app and social network with over 500 million active users.

Said Lei Liu, chairman and CEO: “We are excited to see a steady growth on our online and retail sales from last year. Revenue of our online pharmacy, www.dada360.com, is about five times the revenue of the same period last year thanks to our strategic partnership with China’s leading Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) provider and insurance companies.

“We are dedicated to further expand our efforts on our online pharmacy, which proves to be a popular business area supported by National Internet Plus Strategy in China. We will continue to devote resources to grow our online pharmacy business with the goal of becoming a national leader in pharmaceutical e-commerce business. Our retail pharmacies have also maintained robust growth both in sales and profitability. The management will strive to capitalise on the growth of health insurance and online sales in China.”