Tmall, the business-to-consumer shopping site under Taobao, expected transaction at its home appliance marketplace to more than double this year with more consumers shifting to online vendors to buy household appliances.

A total of 17 home appliance makers yesterday signed strategic cooperation deals with Tmall to drive sales and online lift customer service.

Last year, home appliance transactions reached 18 billion yuan(US$2.89 billion) at Tmall and this year the figure is estimated to climb up to 50 billion yuan.

According to Tmall, sales of home appliances in the first eleven months last year were 2.7 times from that of a year ago, while those of electronic gadgets grew 1.6 times annually.