SHANGHAI - Art Code, a French tile brand, plans to expand its national network in China in a bid to push forward sales of its newly-developed products.

"We aim to increase our speciality shops from current 20 to 50 next year in the country,'' said Xu Baozhu, deputy chief of the Advertisement and Publicity Section of Art Code China.

New shops will be set up in Zhejiang's Shaoxing and Sichuan's Chengdu, he added.

“This is part of Art Code's strategy to promote its brand for more sales in the Chinese market,'' he said.

The effort to build a national sales network in China has to do with the sales of its newly-developed products such as classic-style tiles which were developed by famous designer Roberto Palomba. He applies the art pattern used to decorate Eiffel Tower to tiles, making them have a sense of classic art, he said.

The classic art style following the new decoration art, which originated from France last century, is now “en vogue” in Europe and the United States.

“The tiles produced by Art Code with advanced production technique and the French art style are able to provide an elegant living environment for top-class residents,'' he said.

The newly-designed tiles target the high-end market in China and Art Code will launch an activity in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province, Changzhou of Jiangsu province and Chengdu of Sichuan, respectively, to give consumers an art experience of its products, Xu said.

Insiders said China is a market that grows fast and calls for more new styles of tiles for so many high-end residences.

Xu said sales are expected to reach 180 million yuan this year by selling new products, which will be surely increased with more specialty shops to be set up next year.