According to Fan Zhijun, executive president for Suning's management headquarters in North China, the company plans to open five new electronics stores in Beijing in the fourth quarter of 2008 while completing the upgrade of its existing seven stores to reach its goal of opening 100 stores in the city by 2010.

In the first three quarters of 2008, Suning totally opened 13 new stores and finished the upgrading of four stores in Beijing. Fan says the company's expansion in the prior period was affected by the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, but it will quicken the expansion speed and open more stores in the fourth quarter of 2008.

At the same time, the upgrading of its existing stores is not aimed at avoiding the potential risks in the current economic situation. The price war can only promote the increase of sales in the short term and in the long run, but upgrading and restructuring will help to retain the competitive strength of the company.

At present, China's appliances retail chain industry has entered a rapid expansion period and the major tasks for Suning are to win core business customers and market share. In the future, Suning will stick to a development speed of about 200 news stores each year around China, and in the Beijing market the company plans to increase the number of its stores to 100 with market share of over 50% by 2010, said Fan.

Among the five new stores, three will be located in Langfang, Sanhe, and Yanqing, respectively.