GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest electronics retailer, said yesterday it was planning a major expansion of its cellphone shops this year to increase sales.

Gome bought two regional cellphone chains with more than 40 stores earlier this year, and plans to open 300 to 450 new shops of its own by year-end to sell mobile phones, company spokesman He Yangqing said.

Gome, which competes with smaller Suning Appliance Co. and U.S. retailer Best Buy Co., had already opened about 20 speciality cellphone stores, which aim to draw customers by offering specialized service and a wider product selection than its full-range electronics stores.

Gome operates more than 600 electronics outlets that sell a wide range of products from television sets and air-conditioners to computers, as well as cellphones.

“The logic of setting up separate cellphone shops is to offer more professional service to customers,” He said.

China is the world’s largest mobile phone market with 547 million users as of the end of last year.

Gome expects sales growth in cellphones and digital products in China will accelerate in coming years, boosted by economic growth and rising personal incomes.

Communications devices, computers and digital products now account for a combined 25.3 percent of Gome’s total sales, and He expects that to increase to 30 percent this year.

China has a fragmented mobile phone retailing market, crowded with hundreds of local players such as Shanghai-based Xieheng Group and Beijing-based Dixingtong. Gome has less than 10 percent of that market.

Gome earlier this year bought Dalian Xundian Communications Co. in northern China and Shaanxi CellStar Telecommunications Co. in the west, part of its plans to consolidate the sector.

(SD-Agencies)