Best Buy, the largest US electronics retailer, plans to open up to 1,000 electronics stores in China in the next three to five years. For comparison, it took the company more than 20 years to grow to its current 940 stores in the US.

This break-neck expansion is possible thanks to Best Buy's acquisition of a controlling stake in Jiangsu Five Star Appliance in May. Five Star has 126 stores in eight Chinese provinces.

The US retailer previously planned to open its own-branded stores in China -- and it still does. The first one is planned for Shanghai.

But Best Buy has now recognised that it is not going to achieve a critical mass any time soon if it has to depend purely on organic growth, hence its opportunist tie-up with Five Star.

According to Best Buy, China 's consumer electronics market will experience double-digit annual growth rates for the next ten years and top $100bn by 2010.