Retail sales in Australia advanced a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on month in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday - coming in at A$25.616 billion.
That beat expectations for a 0.3 percent increase following the 0.6 percent gain in September.
By category, there were rises in food retailing (0.6 percent), household goods retailing (0.7 percent), other retailing (0.8 percent) and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (0.4 percent).
There were falls in clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (-0.4 percent) and department stores (-0.4 percent) in October 2016.
By region, there were rises in Queensland (0.8 percent), Victoria (0.5 percent), New South Wales (0.3 percent), Western Australia (0.4 percent), the Australian Capital Territory (0.9 percent), Tasmania (0.6 percent) and the Northern Territory (0.3 percent).
South Australia fell 0.1 percent.
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