Enring provides Invigor with digital marketing edge

Invigor Group Ltd (ASX:IVO) continues to aggressively scale up its WeChat Pay-powered e-commerce operations in Asia with the signing of a Binding Heads of Agreement (HOA) with experienced China-focused digital marketing and mobile application provider Enring Australia Pty Ltd (Enring), part of the New Zealand-based Enring Group.

In another development flagged by management today, the company is on the verge of announcing its first major contract into Asia through Sun Asia Group, a development that could be a significant share price catalyst.

Management also confirmed that Sun Asia Group’s Geoff Shannon and associates will invest a further $550,000 in Invigor at $0.004 per share with the option to invest $550,000 more through the exercise of 110,000,000 options at $0.005 within six months of their issue date.

From an operational perspective, NZ Enring Group is an experienced and well-established digital marketing and mobile application business that promotes and sells products to Chinese consumers through the WeChat platform, and using WeChat Pay as the preferred transaction currency.

Enring has an established ‘Mini-Mall’ which is an online community to promote, sell and provide consumer feedback on products for sale in China.

Invigor gaining momentum

This news comes hot on the heels of last week’s important development regarding the negotiation of a deal that will significantly grow Invigor’s revenues and strengthen its Asian focused e-commerce operations.

The deal in question involved a Heads of Agreement (HOA) which will see Invigor acquire Australian produce company Sun Asia Group, a company backed by experienced agribusiness and financial services executive Geoff Shannon.

The transaction brings together the technology platform of Invigor in Pricing Insights, Loyalty and e-payments, together with a large WeChat Pay-powered retail distribution footprint in China established by Invigor’s partner Winning Group, with an entrenched supply chain built by Sun Asia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Geoff Shannon will enter into a contract with Invigor to grow and develop Sun Asia and broaden the retail distribution channels in China and Asia together with Winning Group.

Shannon’s involvement in the venture is extremely important given his industry experience on the agricultural front and his network knowledge across a broad range of markets including China.

Highlighting Shannon’s expertise and industry knowledge, he is often sought after by the leadership teams of many of Australia’s banks and international banks operating in the agribusiness sector.

His experience helped him establish Sun Asia Group which has established contracts and relationships across dozens of farms in Australia.

Enring to strengthen Asian presence

The agreement announced today takes Shannon’s total investment in Invigor to potentially $2.1 million, subject to shareholder approval.

Under the terms of the HOA between Invigor and Enring, the parties will form a Joint Venture company (JV) combining their respective technologies and Intellectual Property (IP) to create an end-to-end solution for Australian farmers and producers so they can easily market, sell and supply their products to Chinese consumers.

The parties will combine their IP and WeChat Pay entrenched relationships to create a seamless supply chain between Australia and China.

Invigor’s Pricing Insights and Loyalty technology will be integrated into Enring’s WeChat Pay licensed platforms.

Sun Asia contracts a key share price driver

An immediate focus for the JV will be the sales and marketing of produce sourced from the Sun Asia Group farm and producer network.

Separate from this JV, Invigor anticipates shortly announcing its first major contract into Asia through Sun Asia Group, and with potentially more contracts in the pipeline, the company is emerging as a news-driven stock with significant upside.

Invigor’s chief executive, Gary Cohen underlined the significance of these developments in saying, “The JV with Enring is another step in Invigor building out and scaling up its e-commerce operations in Asia, all powered by WeChat Pay and using our unique Pricing and Loyalty technology.

By forming partnerships with companies such as Enring that have established infrastructure and networks, we can build our revenue base much more rapidly.

“We can quickly bring the Sun Asia Group’s network of farms and produce providers to Enring which significantly broadens their product offering to Chinese consumers.”