The government announced Thursday it would expand the number of cities included in its home appliance incentive program, as well as extend the program's duration in order to stimulate domestic consumption.

Retailers believe the move will further contribute to their financial performance and say they are hoping the program will be expanded to cover more types of purchases.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) posted a notification Thursday on its website that the old-for-new policy has been extended to December 31, 2011, after being approved by the State Council. The incentive program was expanded to a total of 28 provinces and municipalities as of the start of the month, with 19 new covered areas, including third- and fourth-tier markets such as Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning and Anhui provinces.

Gome has stores in all provinces and municipalities except Tibet, so the expansion of the program will surely add sales to Gome, said An Mi, a public relations manager with the company.

The original nine provinces and municipalities are all located in developed regions, while the new ones are in less developed inland areas with a higher percentage of outdated appliances, said Min Juanqing, marketing manager of Suning.

Considering the numerous new cities and higher local percentage of outdated appliances, sales made under the program will double the figure from last year, Min estimated.

"We hope that the incentive program can increase the categories of home appliances included, rather than remain limited to the five types of products," An of Gome said.

"Other products such as mobile phones, digital cameras, water heaters, and cookware could also be added to the program," she said. She added that Gome had tried in some of its stores to subsidize mobile phone buyers and the sales promotion had been successful.

Since June 1 of last year, China has partially subsidized new purchases if consumers return old appliances including TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and computers in nine provinces and municipalities including Guangdong Province, Beijing and Shanghai.

As of May 31, a total of 14.09 million units of the listed home appliances were sold for 53.98 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) under the program.