An advertising board for Suning Appliance Co Ltd, China's No 2 electrical appliance retailer, on a street in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (newsphoto)

    BEIJING, August 1 -- China's No 2 electrical appliance retailer Suning Appliance Co Ltd plans to move its headquarters from Nanjing to Shanghai and expand its regional base in a bid to compete with its rivals.

    The firm has been under mounting pressure from competitors since the country's largest electrical appliance retailer GOME Electrical Appliances Holding merged with No 3 retailer China Paradise Electronics Retail Ltd (Yolo) last week.

    As well as shifting its headquarters, Suning will establish seven new regional bases in major cities including Beijing, Nanjing and Chendu in the coming three to five years, according to a company official.

    Sun Weimin, president of Suning, said in an interview yesterday that part of the company's four core departments now based in Nanjing including management, sales and marketing would be transferred to Shanghai soon.

    "Many top marketing and sales staff will move to Shanghai, which will take the place of Nanjing to monitor Suning's nationwide business," said Sun.

    Along with the relocation, Suning plans to build 100 new chain stores in the country by the end of this year.

    It has raised 1.2 billion yuan (US$150 million) on the stock market and obtained 800 million yuan (US$100 million) in loans from the China Development Bank.

    The changes come on the back of Suning's recent sluggish stock market performance under pressure from rival GOME's successful acquisition of Yolo on July 25.

    Investors are concerned Suning may lose its market share as it is dwarfed by GOME, which has 670 China stores more than double Suning's number. Shares in Suning dropped to 47.05 yuan (US$5.8) yesterday from 50.05 yuan (US$6.2) on July 26, down by 7 per cent.

    Its shares closed at 47.05 yuan yesterday, down by 1.98 per cent.