(Yicai Global) May 22 -- Chinese electronics retail giant Suning.Com will open at least 2,000 smart retail stores in the Yangtze River Delta region in the next three years to further grow there, said Zhang Jindong, its chairman.

The Nanjing, Jiangsu province-based company will also boost investment and corporate cooperation in the local smart retail and logistics sectors in the same period, Zhang said at the first high-level forum on the integrated development of the delta, which was held in Wuhu, Anhui province today

It will further set up a regional fund, which is expected to amass from CNY20 billion (USD2.9 billion) to CNY30 billion, he added, Shanghai Securities News reported.

The Lower Yangtze region is Suning.Com's most important strategic market and a core area with clustered industries. The company will enhance its positioning in and development of the area and build it into a leading zone for smart retail across the world, it said.

The company has settled all its businesses' headquarters in the delta, where it has over 3,200 intelligent retail outlets and a full-coverage logistics network. Its other businesses there -- finance, sports, culture and investment -- are also going gangbusters in the region, which comprises the city of Shanghai and adjacent Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. 

The delta area had 220 million permanent residents and a regional gross domestic product of CNY19.5 trillion (USD2.8 trillion) in 2016, making up 16 percent and 24 percent of the respective national totals of these.

Editor: Ben Armour