Jianke Launches China's First 'Future Pharmacy' in Chongqing Featuring Facial Recognition Payment and AI Pharmacist 'Xiao Qiao'
VCBeat has learned that on December 7, Chongqing’s largest “Future Pharmacy” officially opened in Jiulongpo District, Chongqing. Jointly developed by the domestic online healthcare platform Jianke and Alipay, with technical support provided by Yunuo, this facility marks Jianke’s first smart pharmacy nationwide. Integrating advanced technology, a comprehensive product range, and affordable pricing, this consumer-friendly pharmacy offers traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Western medicines, premium and fine TCM herbs, medical devices, health supplements, and food products, covering an area of 300 square meters. As Chongqing’s largest “Future Pharmacy” to date, what sets it apart from conventional pharmacies?
At the Jianke Chongqing Future Pharmacy, visitors and customers have been streaming in. Reporters observed that the pharmacy has established a self-service medication area stocked with emergency supplies such as fever-reducing patches and antidiarrheal drugs, as well as family planning products, providing residents with 24-hour access to medications. Adjacent to this area is a self-checkout zone. Customers without cash or mobile phones can simply scan product barcodes at the self-service kiosk and complete payment via facial recognition or QR code scanning. The entire process takes only about ten seconds, eliminating the need for interaction with sales staff and avoiding potential embarrassment. Furthermore, through the Future Pharmacy platform, customers who have forgotten their ID cards can verify their identity via Alipay to purchase ephedrine-containing medications, and they can also rent medical devices deposit-free using Zhima Credit.
24-Hour Self-Service Medication Vending Machines and Intelligent Robots
Most customers purchasing medications have limited understanding of their conditions, often failing to seek timely treatment or take medication appropriately, which leads to delayed care. Future Pharmacy has introduced the “Xiao Qiao” intelligent robotic pharmacist, which can assess diseases based on customers’ self-reported symptoms and provide medication recommendations. Additionally, Future Pharmacy features remote consultation rooms, enabling patients to connect online with remote physicians for medical consultations, medication advice, and electronic prescription issuance—covering all services typically provided by doctors in physical hospitals.
As a new retail pharmacy integrating online and offline channels, Future Pharmacy not only provides pharmaceutical retail services but also offers access to 680,000 SKUs of medications through its online platform. Customers can pick up in-stock items directly at physical stores, while out-of-stock items are delivered to their homes via the online platform, thereby addressing patients’ medication procurement needs.
As a key strategic hub in southwest China, Chongqing has always been the focal point of Jianke’s smart health initiatives. Medical institutions in Jiulongpo District are heavily concentrated in the eastern part, while medical resources in the western part are relatively scarce. To address the imbalance in the distribution of healthcare resources, Chongqing has actively developed internet-based healthcare in recent years and continuously explored collaborations with third-party providers in this field.
It is reported that Jianke plans to add 30 online pharmacies in Chongqing and open more than 100 new online pharmacies across China, exploring a new retail model for the pharmaceutical industry. The future pharmacy initiative, jointly developed by Jianke and Alipay, aims to create an accessible and comfortable O2O health community. In-store health knowledge stations will be established to provide customers with various healthcare books and electronic information. Additionally, doctors will be regularly invited to give lectures at the stores. With a focus on health education supplemented by treatment, this initiative seeks to transform the business model from “selling treatments” to “delivering health.”
Currently, Jianke has established multiple physical hospitals in cities such as Wuhan, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou. In the future, it plans to deepen its collaboration with physical hospitals in cities like Chongqing. By leveraging these partnerships as the foundation for its internet healthcare services, Jianke aims to connect patients with medical resources from doctors in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, enabling them to receive medical services for common and chronic diseases—excluding initial consultations—without leaving their homes.
Furthermore, leveraging its internet healthcare system, Jianke will launch the Jianke Doctor APP for future pharmacies to establish effective connections with patients and facilitate doctor-patient interactions. Additionally, Jianke has officially released the “Da Jian Hao” content platform to provide patients with valuable online medical service experiences.
Recently, Jianke Doctor has completed a brand upgrade to further enhance the efficiency and quality of its online consultation services, as well as chronic disease management and user management. The key aspects of Jianke Doctor’s upgrade include: leveraging an AI medical assistant to improve the efficiency and quality of online consultations; implementing single-disease-specific segmented management to optimize chronic disease and user management; upgrading patient education and health literacy initiatives through the “Da Jian Hao” content platform; and expanding its internet hospital footprint to strengthen its physician resources.
In the future, Jianke will manage chronic diseases from the perspective of tiered diagnosis and treatment. Currently, Jianke has more than 800 pharmaceutical professionals, with specialized departments in over ten areas including hepatology and asthma. By integrating with physical community-level primary care hospitals, it achieves integrated online-offline development. A representative from Ant Financial stated that future efforts will aim to improve public health and enhance the medication purchasing experience. Ant Financial will engage in deeper and more extensive collaboration with Jianke, thereby bringing greater and more tangible convenience to the general public.
Guangdong Jianke Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was established in 2006 and obtained the “Internet Drug Transaction Service Qualification Certificate” issued by the State Food and Drug Administration in 2009. It is the first legally operating B2C internet drug enterprise in Guangdong Province and one of the few companies in the industry to hold all three licenses (A, B, and C). In early 2016, Jianke secured USD 100 million in Series A financing and was ranked as the most valuable unicorn enterprise in the pharmaceutical e-commerce industry by iResearch. In 2017, it raised USD 50 million in Series A+ financing, with participation from Asia-Pac eCommerce, PGA Fund, Volcanic Stone Capital, and other investors. In 2018, Jianke secured USD 130 million in Series B financing. In the same year, Internet Weekly, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with eNet Research Institute, released the “2018 E-Commerce Classification Ranking,” in which Jianke topped the list for pharmaceutical e-commerce.