Online sales of home appliances rise in H1

BEIJING - Online sales of home appliances in China registered fast growth in the first half of the year amid the country's e-commerce boom, a report showed.

Total online sales stood at 264.1 billion yuan ($38.6 billion) in H1, up 22 percent year on year, according to a report by the China Center for Information Industry Development under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Chinese consumers tend to buy products such as floor-cleaning robots and vacuum cleaners online rather than in brick-and-mortar stores, with sales made via e-commerce channels far outnumbering those made offline, the report said.

Sales of high-end products were particularly strong. Online sales of air conditioners priced from 5,000 to 6,999 yuan surged by 58.8 percent in H1.

The data was in line with the trend of consumption upgrades in the country, with e-commerce playing an important role in boosting retail sales.

China's online retail sales reached 7.18 trillion yuan in 2017, up 32.2 percent year on year, a report from the Ministry of Commerce showed.