BEIJING, Jan. 30 -- Beijing's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, totaled some 1.23 trillion yuan (about 178.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019, up 4.4 percent year on year, according to the municipal bureau of statistics.

Online sales of wholesalers and retailers above a designated size surged by 23.6 percent annually to 336.6 billion yuan last year.

Commodity sales saw a 4.3-percent year-on-year increase to 1.11 trillion yuan last year, while sales of the catering service reached 120.5 billion yuan, up 6.1 percent from 2018, the bureau said.

Household appliances and audiovisual equipment by firms above a designated size reported a robust retail sales growth of 21.5 percent year on year, which pulled up the city's total retail sales of consumer goods by 1.1 percentage points.