Retail sales in the Netherlands increased by 5.4% year-on-year, the highest growth rate in the past three years, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Thursday.

There was a big increase in online sales which soared by 19.2% in the same period, the statistics office CBS said. Webstores which sell only on the internet registered sales growth of 23.7% while online sales at bricks-and-mortar stores were 14.1% higher.

Increases were seen in many sectors, with non-food sales up by 6.9%. However, clothing sales were 14.4% lower, partly due to warm weather in September.

DIY stores and sales of kitchens and floors registered 8.3% growth, followed by drugstores with a 7% increase. Sales of foodstuffs were slower with an increase of only 2.4%, with supermarkets registering 2.9% growth over October 2015.