BeiYuan Health: Leveraging Premium Moxa Sticks to Penetrate the Rehabilitation and Wellness Market in Southwest China

Moxibustion is a traditional therapy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It is said to have originated in the Paleolithic Era and has been passed down for thousands of years since written records began, making it a popular health-preserving and therapeutic method among the Chinese people. Moxibustion involves applying heat generated by burning moxa wool to specific acupoints or affected areas of the body, thereby promoting the circulation of qi and blood to achieve therapeutic effects.

Countless enterprises in China are engaged in mugwort production, and an equally large number operate in the health and wellness sector. However, VCBeat recently discovered a hidden gem in Chongqing, the “Fog City,” thatHigh-Quality Moxa Sticks Enter the Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy IndustryofLow-Profile Cash CowEnterprise—Chongqing Beiyuan Health Management Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as“Beiyuan Kangyang”）。

Established in late 2015, the company has never secured any external financing. Relying on its robust self-sustaining revenue generation capabilities, it continued to open new facilities throughout 2021, the most challenging year of the pandemic.6 Directly Operated Stores, Joint Operation3 Community Elderly Care Service Stations，Marketing and Customer Acquisition Collaboration with 3 TCM Clinics/TCM Practices……

How has this low-profile company quietly built robust financial self-sufficiency? What operational experiences can it offer to the industry? And what lies ahead for its future development? With these questions in mind, VCBeat interviewed Liu Hongbo, founder of Beiyuan Kangyang.

Beiyuan Kangyang has established its own mugwort planting bases in Nanyang, Henan Province, and Chongqing. By refining processing techniques, the company produces moxa wool that is soft to the touch and of high purity.

This business segment focuses onChongqing Local B2B Marketmoxa stick customization services, with its “Lao Ai Weng” moxibustion-related products sold to major clients such as Chongqing Golden Impression and Yunzhong Manbu.High-End Wellness and Elderly Care Club; Dozens of moxibustion products selectedChongqing Pharmaceutical Group, Chongqing Institute of Traditional Chinese MedicineProcurement of Standard Products, Annual SalesOver 30 tons of mugwort leaves, cumulative sales3 Million Moxa Sticks。

“Our moxa wool features a high purity ratio, offering a fine texture and strong penetrative power,” said Liu Hongbo, founder of Beiyuan Kangyang. Mugwort is highly prolific and resilient, with strong tolerance to cold and drought, as well as broad adaptability to various climates and soil conditions. While large-scale cultivation is relatively straightforward, achieving greater economic benefits requires industrialization—integrating the entire value chain from planting, production, procurement, processing, and deep processing to packaging, marketing, and consumer sales.

Moxa business is just a small part of Beiyuan Kangyang’s landscape. Leveraging high-quality moxa sticks, Beiyuan Kangyang has entered the broader rehabilitation and physiotherapy industry, achieving the impressive results mentioned above. This success is inseparable from Beiyuan Kangyang’s years of experience in developing strategies for “store establishment” and “customer acquisition and repeat purchases.”

Beiyuan Kangyang currently operates six self-owned “Chujiutang” direct-sale stores. Liu Hongbo believes that the direct-sale model can minimize operational deviations to the greatest extent.

According to Liu Hongbo, opening a directly operated “Chujiutang” store requires an upfront investment of approximately RMB 150,000–200,000, covering initial rent, renovation, equipment, consumables, and labor costs. The overall annual operating cost is around RMB 350,000. Annual revenue varies by location, ranging from RMB 700,000 to RMB 2 million. Each store typically employs 4–5 staff members, with return on investment (ROI) ranging from 8% to 15%. Overall, each store can recoup its initial investment and achieve profitability within one year.

When asked about the secrets to opening a store, Liu Hongbo revealed three key principles to us.

Physical stores have a limited radius of influence, primarily serving residents within a one-kilometer vicinity. Therefore, site selection significantly impacts a company’s ability to attract customer traffic. Beiyuan Kangyang has developed a mature strategic framework for site selection—

On a macro level, Beiyuan Kangyang selects locations near older residential communities, which are densely populated with a significant elderly demographic and thus offer high potential conversion rates. For specific site selection, Beiyuan Kangyang favors sites that are easily identifiable and situated adjacent to familiar landmarks frequently passed by potential users.

“For example, there is a kindergarten and New Century Supermarket nearby. This allows ground promotion staff to clearly explain what the store does and where it is located to potential customers within just two or three steps during early-stage outreach. By anchoring the store’s location to familiar landmarks, an impression is firmly established in the minds of potential customers. As a result, even if they do not visit on opening day, simply passing by that area may remind them of the store, significantly boosting foot traffic and customer acquisition effectiveness,” introduced Liu Hongbo.

This seemingly simple choice integrates ingenious business and psychological wisdom. It has also become a crucial foundation for the profitability of every directly operated store under Beiyuan Kangyang.

Wellness and healthcare services are delivered by people. The staff’s appearance, service attitude, and professionalism largely determine the customer experience. Therefore, Beiyuan Wellness has established a rigorous selection and training system for its personnel.

“Our rehabilitation therapists are all formally trained in relevant disciplines such as rehabilitative therapy techniques, acupuncture and tuina massage, or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) orthopedics and traumatology. The physiotherapy services provided by Beiyuan Kangyang are renowned for their professionalism, focusing primarily on pain management and TCM-based conditioning. This requires our rehabilitation therapists to possess a solid theoretical foundation and strong learning capabilities,” introduced Liu Hongbo.

Regarding employee training, the company’s rehabilitation staff participate in online learning sessions every Friday afternoon, covering both modern rehabilitation and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theories. Employees return to the company for hands-on practical instruction one to two times per month. The curriculum includes TCM fundamentals, the deficiency/excess and cold/heat patterns of the Twelve Meridians, a general overview of acupoints on the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and the Four Diagnostic Methods, as well as an overview of anatomy, detailed studies of osteology and myology, Muscle Energy Techniques (MET), functional assessment of the pelvis and sacroiliac joints, and analysis of alignment and structural mechanics.

Effective products and professional training lay the foundation for high-quality service, while ongoing management improvement is equally critical.

Beiyuan Kangyang has mastered this approach. Each month, the headquarters arranges for its supervision team to visit every store. For stores with weaker performance, the supervision team conducts on-site observations. They provide end-to-end tracking and optimization solutions across all stages—from initial staff training and customer acquisition to in-store service—thereby effectively helping stores improve their performance.

Beiyuan Kangyang’s business model is straightforward, with profitability primarily driven by its product and service offerings. The company seeks profit growth through the sales of health supplements, nutritional products, tonic remedies, and moxibustion products. In terms of distribution channels, in addition to direct sales through its company-operated stores, Beiyuan Kangyang also collaborates with pharmacies and high-end wellness clubs.

The profitability of brick-and-mortar stores depends not only on location selection but, more importantly, on customer acquisition and repeat purchases during post-opening operations.

Beiyuan Kangyang approaches from the user’s perspective, integrating internal capabilities with external expansion, and has pioneered a unique strategic methodology.

In terms of customer acquisition, align marketing strategies with the lifestyle habits of the elderly population, and attract them through high-quality, effective experiences and activities to build trust.

Elderly individuals tend to have relatively fixed and more regular lifestyle routines. Based on these characteristics, Beiyuan Kangyang selects specific times and maintains a consistent frequency of promotional activities, employing “experiential marketing” to attract nearby residents to the store for complimentary moxibustion therapy sessions. Furthermore, by delivering high-quality rehabilitation and physiotherapy services within the community, the company builds trust with its users.

While strengthening its internal capabilities, Beiyuan Kangyang is also actively seeking external partnerships. ThroughWith Pharmacies, Clinics, and HospitalsCollaborate on channel projects to expand traffic acquisition channels and enhance brand exposure.

Delivering services with tangible effects that make users genuinely feel improvements is the most authentic, albeit seemingly simple, rule for boosting repurchase rates.

“All services and trust must be built on the foundation that the provided services and products deliver clear, demonstrable results. Only when users genuinely perceive positive changes in their own condition can trust be established and repeat purchases occur. When outcomes are effective, customers will recommend us to others and make regular repeat purchases, thereby achieving both customer acquisition and retention.” Throughout the interview, Liu Hongbo repeatedly emphasized that “products and services must be genuine and effective.”

Meanwhile, Beiyuan Kangyang records each user’s purchase details and conducts regular follow-ups based on this information. For instance, stores document which user purchased what product, in what quantity, and at what specific time during a given month. Relevant staff members then conduct phased follow-ups to assess users’ experiences and outcomes after they have been using the products for a certain period.

When VCBeat asked Liu Hongbo whether he was concerned that providing too much detail might lead to imitation, he smiled and responded candidly, “To be honest, there are no real secrets to opening a store; the most critical factor is execution. A company’s execution capability, the management team’s ability to secure financing, and the store’s actual operational competence are difficult for any enterprise or individual to replicate. Every enterprise and individual possesses unique strengths that are hard to imitate.”

This year, Beiyuan Kangyang plans to add 15–20 new directly operated stores. There are two strategies for achieving this goal: The first relies on the profitability of the directly operated stores themselves, adopting a “store-rolling-store” model. Specifically, the first store requires 3–5 months of normal operations to reach profitability, during which its cash flow can cover the costs of opening the second and third stores, ensuring all three operate normally. Sustained and stable expansion will continue once the second and third stores become profitable. The second strategy involves leveraging capital infusion to achieve rapid expansion, create economies of scale, and capture market share.