China's online retailer JD.com said it plans to open more than 500 county-level service centers this year to boost deliveries to lower-tier cities and inland regions as it bids to boost its market presence.

The centers will hire local staff and delivery men to expand the firm’s delivery network into regions with few third-party courier companies. The firm will also open up to 1,000 service stores targeting home appliance buyers and help vendors provide one-stop service of installation and repairing of household appliances sold to rural consumers.

It is hoped that the county-level centers and the planned hiring of promotion staff will help rural consumers become better acquainted with JD.com as well as online purchasing and after-sales service by the end of June.

Chairman and CEO Liu Qiangdong said previously that promoting e-commerce in China’s rural areas is one of the key strategies of JD.com this year.

The firm now has nearly 1,900 delivery points and 30,000 couriers in the country.

Alibaba also unveiled a similar plan last year to invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) within three years on facilities to tap total rural spending of 460 billion yuan by 2016, up from 180 billion yuan in 2014.

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