Shangyi Renjia Accelerates Brand Integration to Inject New Momentum into the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry

Sep 25, 2020 16:14 CST Updated 16:14

The 2020 pandemic brought nearly all physical healthcare services to a standstill, yet a TCM platform mobilized over 10,000 TCM practitioners on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year to provide free epidemic prevention consultations and charitable clinics, addressing patients’ difficulties in accessing medical care. This platform is Shangyi Renjia, a multi-dimensional TCM brand that integrates offline chain clinics, an online internet healthcare platform, and a supply chain for Chinese herbal medicines.

In September 2020, Shangyi Renjia held a press conference to announce its brand integration and upgrade, declaring that its 15 affiliated clinics would be uniformly renamed “Shangyi Renjia TCM Clinics.” The company also launched the “Shangyi 100+” Initiative, aiming to facilitate comprehensive upgrades and empower 100 TCM clinics within the year. By 2022, it plans to establish a Shangyi Medical Alliance comprising over 1,000 members, leveraging large-scale integrated complexes to drive industry-wide upgrading.

图片1.png

[Shangyi Renjia Brand Integration and Upgrade Launch Event]

I. The Path to Breakthrough for Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Era of Internal Circulation

Shangyi Renjia has followed an “unconventional path” since its inception, continuously breaking industry records with rapid growth—all grounded in the founding team’s reflections on traditional Chinese medicine:

1. Reverse the declining trend of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). A significant number of patients lack understanding of TCM, resulting in an insufficient reserve of new users. Its application has long been confined to traditional medical settings, leading to a diminution of its value.

2. The high barrier to entry in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), characterized by the dilemma of “internal players struggling to scale and external entrants facing significant hurdles,” has become a constraint on its development. In the face of the future broader health market, it is essential to integrate the upstream and downstream sectors, and industry peers must join forces to seize opportunities.

To address the three major pain points—extending value in medical scenarios, improving the professional value of TCM practitioners, and overcoming barriers to industry collaboration—Shangyi Renjia has proposed the “Three Proprietary” model, namely “proprietary herbal medicine supply chain + proprietary offline clinics + proprietary online platform,” enabling doctors, medical institutions, and herbal medicine suppliers to find their respective spaces for value realization on the platform.

Ms. Cao Xueli, CEO of Shangyi Renjia, stated that the “Three Self-Owned” model represents a profound reflection on how the industry can break through its current impasse in the future, and it has withstood the test of the pandemic.

II. Enhancing the Traditional Chinese Medicine Experience to Ensure Access to Quality TCM for All

Although it has broken away from traditional models, Shangyi Renjia remains true to the original aspiration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners: to pass down the health legacy bequeathed by our ancestors and ensure that everyone has access to high-quality TCM services.

In June 2016, Shangyi Renjia opened its first clinic, launching a comprehensive TCM treatment service encompassing “Herbal Medicine, Diet, Exercise, Mindfulness, Wellness, and Education,” which significantly improved the patient experience.

In May 2017, an online follow-up consultation platform was launched, enabling patients to have follow-up visits and adjust prescriptions with specialists via WeChat.

As of September 2020, there were over 40,000 registered online TCM physicians, with more than 90% from Grade A tertiary hospitals and 70% holding associate chief physician titles or higher. This not only increased the supply of high-quality medical resources but also reduced healthcare costs.

In the future, Shangyi Renjia will establish a network of TCM clinics spaced every five kilometers, facilitating the dynamic delivery of high-quality traditional Chinese medicine services and striving to make TCM accessible for the health and well-being of the entire population.

图片2.png

[Exclusive Interview with Ms. Cao Xueli, CEO of Shangyi Renjia]

III. Serving as Physicians’ Assistants and Supporting the Industry

At the press conference, Shangyi Renjia elaborated on the significance of its “Three Proprietary” model for TCM practitioners and the industry as a whole.

1. For competent TCM practitioners, Shangyi Renjia provides low-cost, low-risk entrepreneurial support through its “Cloud Clinic” model, which requires only one doctor and a consultation room to conduct diagnoses.

2. For TCM specialists with subspecialty expertise, implement vertical subspecialty development, leveraging the platform to enable AI-driven electronic medical record processing and medical team management, thereby helping physicians establish their own branded clinical departments.

3. For TCM practitioners with inherited lineages, we will organize the development of health products to extend their value into everyday life.

4. Establish a nationwide team of physician agents to support initiatives such as building physicians’ personal brands and managing private-domain traffic, thereby enabling bidirectional patient-physician engagement where physicians refer patients and patients seek out physicians.

5. Open access to an appointment database of 500+ renowned physicians from Grade A tertiary hospitals in Beijing, and 1,000+ specialists from provincial capital cities; provide listing opportunities for inheritance studios of famous TCM practitioners and consultation slots with renowned doctors, helping new and small clinics rapidly enhance their visibility.

IV. Taking the Inheritance of Traditional Chinese Medicine as Our Duty to Truly Give Back to TCM

Amidst rapid development, Shangyi Renjia has always taken it as its responsibility to inherit and improve the industry ecosystem.

In June 2016, the TCM Physician Group was established to build inheritance teams for National Medical Masters and nationally renowned senior TCM practitioners. In October 2019, it entered into exclusive partnerships with the “China Dermatology Physicians Association” and the “China Gynecology Alliance.” In December 2019, it reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the Shanxi Primary Healthcare Association, contributing to the overall improvement of primary healthcare service standards in Shanxi Province. It supports multiple TCM inheritance initiatives, including the “TCM Talent Development Program.”

Next, Shangyi Renjia will explore and demonstrate the TCM big health industry.

1. Expand the application scenarios of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and deepen the implementation of the full-course treatment model;

2. Develop Internet+ Traditional Chinese Medicine products with longer life cycles.

3. Launch advisory services in areas such as disease prevention and control, as well as health science popularization, to increase the frequency of user interactions.

4. Launch more targeted healthy lifestyle products with greater potential for scenario-based innovation.

In the future, Shangyi Renjia will take heritage as its responsibility and plans to lead 1,000 TCM clinics in jointly establishing a nationwide Shangyi Medical Consortium. By leveraging scale to drive industry development, support the proliferation of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and improve the industry ecosystem, it aims to fulfill its deep commitment to TCM through pragmatic business construction.