Gree considers 'new business model'

Gree Electric Appliances Inc said Dec 24 that the company is considering selling other companies' products in its stores.

"Gree stores will not only focus on our own products, but also might offer goods by other manufacturers," Gree President Dong Mingzhu said. "By doing so, Gree might try a new business model — that of an electric-appliance chain."

Gree was founded in Zhuhai city, in South China's Guangdong province, in 1991. Today it is one of the country's largest air-conditioner enterprises, integrating manufacturing, marketing, and research and development.

Gree has production bases in the Chinese cities of Zhuhai, Chongqing, Hefei, Zhengzhou, and Wuhan, plus Brazil, Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia. Gree has an annual production capacity of 60 million residential air conditioners and 5.5 million commercial air conditioners, according to its website.