China Nepstar Signs 16 Cooperative Agreements With Multinational, Domestic Partners

SHANGHAI - China Nepstar Chain Drugstore signed strategic cooperative agreements with 16 pharmaceutical and health products suppliers as part of its store network expansion plan for 2008, the drugstore chain announced Dec. 14.

China Nepstar completed an initial public offering Nov. 30, and announced its plan to expand its stores by more than 1,000 in 2008, as well as upgrade its itechnology infastructure (PharmAsia News, Dec. 17, 2007)

The 16 domestic and multinational partners include Tianjin Smith Kline & French Laboratories, Bayer Healthcare, Eli Lilly and Company, Boehringer Ingelheim Shanghai Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth.

“We will get preferential availability and favorable trading conditions from the suppliers,” Nepstar Spokeswoman Lucia Qian told PharmAsia News.

China's largest retail drugstore chain, China Nepstar  had 1,791 stores in 62 cities and 11 regional distributional centers in China as of Sept. 30.

Qian said that some suppliers will also provide special packaging for certain products that will be sold only through Nepstar’s drugstore network.

Suppliers will also help Nepstar in promoting health education in the community by providing lectures and consultations, according to Qian.

“There is still a lot of space for Nepstar’s expansion,” said Qian. “Currently, Nepstar’s market share is less than 5 percent in each of the cities that we cover.”

“In 2008, we will continue expanding and developing our business in the 62 cities that we cover,” added Qian.

However, Nepstar will not expand its network to new cities, she said. Instead, the company will focus on increasing gross profits and adjusting its product line,” she said.

– Ying Huang (pharmasia@elsevier.com)

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