Suning Appliance Co, China's second largest electrical appliances retailer by sales, is planning to expand into the rural market at an aggressive pace in a bid to gain an upper hand over archrival Gome. This will be done through leveraging the government's rebate program for household electric appliances, Suning's president Sun Weimin told China Daily.

"Suning will open at least 1,000 stores in the third- and fourth-tier cities within five years," Sun said.

"A small number of these stores will be directly owned by Suning, and the rest will see investments by others interested in running our brand of stores."