China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.1 percent year on year in the January-October period, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

Total retail sales amounted to 33.48 trillion yuan (about 4.8 trillion U.S. dollars). Excluding sales of automobiles, the growth rate reached 9 percent during this period.

Retail sales in rural areas rose 9 percent, outpacing the 7.9-percent expansion in urban areas.

Online sales continued to see robust expansion with a year-on-year rise of 16.4 percent, NBS data showed.