Chinese e-commerce platform JD and its partners will invest 6.5 billion yuan ($900 million) this year to encourage consumers to upgrade their refrigerators, televisions, other consumer durables and home furnishings through trade-in deals, as part of the country's broader efforts to bolster domestic consumption.
JD said it is confident the favorable policies will encourage more than 20 million consumers on its platform to participate in the trade-in deals this year, thus potentially leading to recycling of more than 30 million items. Last year, some 10 million consumers participated in trade-in deals.
Small appliances covering 55 categories can be exchanged for new, better ones on JD. Consumers can opt for trade-in deals across different categories of products — an electric fan, for example, can be exchanged for a rice cooker, the company said.
The local government of Tianjin said it would support home appliance enterprises to establish a dedicated area for exchanging old products for new ones both online and offline, and promote sales through direct discounts or trade-in deals. 全国消费品以旧换新行动—天津站启动
