In the period from January to March, China’s online retail sales went up 29.9 percent year-on-year to 2.81 trillion yuan ($434.5 billion), according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Commerce.

Average first-quarter growth of online retail sales for the past two years stood at 13.5 percent, the data showed.

Last month, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released data showing China’s economy surged 18.3 percent in the first quarter of 2021, versus a year ago. Retail sales grew by 34.2 percent in March, year-on-year, representing a slight improvement from the 33.8 percent increase for January and February.