China's retail sales rise 10.8 percent in November

Talks of a luxury slowdown in China were met with staggering figures of a 10.8 percent rise in retail sales in the month of November.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) China's retail sales of consumer goods grew surpassed the growth of its 10 percent rise posted for October, data showed.

Total retail sales of consumer goods hit 3.1 trillion yuan (449.9 billion dollars) last month. Second and third tier cities as well as rural areas showed high consumption, with retail sales expanding 11 percent, outpacing the 10.8-percent rate in urban areas.

In the first 11 months of the year, China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 10.4 percent year on year to 30 trillion yuan.

Online spending also did well. From January to November, online sales surged 26.2 percent year on year to 4.6 trillion yuan.

On Singles' Day, Nov 11, Chinese splurged more than 120 billion yuan on leading online market place Alibaba.

Retail sales have contributed significantly to China's economic growth as the country shifts from an export-driven economy to a consumer society.

Consumption contributed 73.4 percent of China's economic expansion in the first half of 2016, official data showed.