(Photo: CGTN)

Online sales of home appliances in China grew quickly in the first half of the year amid the country's e-commerce boom, a report showed.

Total online sales stood at 264.1 billion yuan (about $38.6 billion) in H1, up 22 percent year-on-year, according to a report by the China Center for Information Industry Development under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Chinese consumers tend to buy products such as floor-cleaning robots and vacuum cleaners online rather than in brick-and-mortar stores, and sales made via e-commerce channels far outnumber those made offline, the report said.

Sales of high-end products were particularly strong. Online sales of air conditioners priced between 5,000 and 7,000 yuan surged by 58.8 percent in H1.

The data is in line with the country's consumption upgrade trend, with e-commerce playing an important role in boosting retail sales.

China's online retail sales reached 7.18 trillion yuan in 2017, up 32.2 percent year-on-year, a report from the Ministry of Commerce showed.