Total sales at major retailers in Shanghai during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday ending Sunday jumped more than 13 percent from a year earlier despite unfavorable weather, according to the Shanghai Commission of Commerce.

The commission attributed the surge in sales to heavy holiday discounts by retailers while the on-going Euro 2012 soccer tournament and the just-closed Shanghai Film Festival also helped increase the sales of audiovisual equipment.

The New World Department Store on Nanjing Road W. boosted sales by nearly five times to 75 million yuan (US$11.9 million) during the three-day holiday after offering discounts of up to 60 percent.

Total sales at selected department stores and shopping malls also climbed 18.8 percent year-on-year. Major shopping malls in the city's prime retail areas, including Nanjing Road E., Huaihai Road M. and Xujiahui, registered annual growth of more than 15 percent while outlying areas such as Qingpu and Fengxian saw sales soar by an average of 50 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Sales of zongzi, or rice dumplings, a traditional festival food, rose to around 3 million yuan at Shanghai First Food Store in the 10 days to yesterday, a 7.3 percent increase on 2011.

Spending at major restaurants across the city climbed 16 percent, while sales at Yongle, one of the largest home appliances chains in the city, gained 11.7 percent year-on-year to 120 million yuan during the holiday.