China Jo-Jo Drugstore expansion drove revenue up 15.8 per cent in the year to March 31.

Online sales soared 77.8 per cent year-on-year to US$26.5 million and now accounts for 29.7 per cent of the group’s sales.

New stores helped offline retail sales rise 4.9 per cent with total group revenue reaching $89 million. Same-store sales rose 6.4 per cent.

But net profit was down from $856,000 to $447,000, largely due to continuing expansion costs.

US-listed China Jo-Jo Drugstores now has 58 retail pharmacies in China’s Zhejiang Province and the business also distributes drug and other healthcare products to other drugstores and vendors.

Chairman and CEO Liu Lei described the results as “solid”.

“We consolidated the operations of our retail drugstores and implemented key initiatives such as increasing product adaptability, providing access to mobile payments, and launching in-pharmacy virtual doctor clinics to drive sales and provide value-added services to our customers. We maintained profitability while migrating our product mix to higher margin pharmaceutical and health and wellness products.

“At the same time, our expansion in the fast-growing online pharmacy markets in China continues to outpace the industry. Our online pharmacy sales continued to grow rapidly through both third-party eCommerce platforms and our own online pharmacy website.”

He said moving forward, the company will focus on opening or acquiring more stores, creating deeper relationships with its customers, holding regional dominant market share in retail pharmacy, while taking a data-driven approach in identifying popular products and enhancing its abilities to promote online sales.

“We believe we have the right strategy for succeeding as a leading online and physical retail chain pharmacy stores in China.”