In late April, Alibaba Group's B2C e-commerce site TMall organized over 800 meetings with electronics manufacturers, including Chinese manufacturers Lenovo (0992.HK) and Skyworth Digital Holdings (0751.HK) as well as overseas manufacturers such as LG Electronics and Philips, to announce the company's plans to open up a large-scale promotional "price war" over the course of the next four months.

Several electronics manufacturers have confirmed the news, adding that over the next several months TMall will invest RMB 100 mln in its "Hot Summer" sales season, launching a series of promotional events from May through June for a range of different product categories. The month of May will be devoted to air conditioners, June to TV promotions, and July and August to kitchen and other home appliances, with TMall's total sales target for the four-month period exceeding RMB 10 bln. As a condition for participation, TMall requires that manufacturers use Taobao's e-commerce search engine ETao as a reference for price comparison when competing to offer the best discounts.