JD.com is announcing plans to open 10 thousand brick-and-mortar home appliances franchises by the end of 2016. [Photo: qq.com]

JD.com has announced plans to extend its offline sales of home appliances into China's rural areas.

JD.com says it hopes to build 10-thousand brick-and-mortar franchises by the end of this year.

The home appliances stores would cover 200-thousand villages nationwide.

Industry observers suggest this could be a sign of a re-shuffle of the country's home appliance industry, which had been shifting away from brick-and-mortar operations amid the upswing in online sales.

JD.com reported a 57 percent revenue surge in the 4th quarter of last year, beating market expectations.

However, its net losses came in at 7.6 billion yuan, up from a 500 million yuan loss in the same period a year ago.