Microsoft China has announced plans to reduce the retail prices of its Windows and Office software prices in China by up to 60%.

In response to recent media reports that the Chinese appliances retail giant Gome will enter the TV direct sales market, He Yangqing, a spokesperson for Gome, said the company currently had no plan to enter this business.

According to Chinese online shopping platform Taobao.com, the company is currently deploying offline retail kiosks and payment points across China to complement the over 4,000 locations it has already opened in Beijing in such supermarkets and convenience stores as Vanguard, Lianhua and Hi-24.

According to reports in local media, the Chinese home appliances retail giant Gome plans to invest CNY1 billion to enter China's TV direct sales sector and the business is expected to start at the beginning of 2009.

Daoyao.com, the online drugstore branch of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, has announced that the company has reached an agreement with the third party payment platform 99bill.com to jointly develop the online drugstore sector.

Chain convenience store group 7-Eleven has jointly announced with China UnionPay the launch of a financial service plan, providing China UnionPay's standard card users in Guangdong with a series of convenient payment services.