China's retail sales grew 14.8 percent year-on-year to 4.9319 trillion yuan ($783.03 billion) in the first quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

After adjusting for inflation, the real growth rate came in at 10.9 percent, the NBS said.

Urban retail sales of consumer goods topped 4.27 trillion yuan in the first three months, up 14.9 percent year-on-year, while retail sales in rural areas rose 14.6 percent to 663.1 billion yuan from a year earlier, the NBS said.

Customers buy food products at a supermarket in Qionghai, Hainan province, April 13, 2012. [Photo / Asianewsphoto]