The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.4 percent month-on-month for a 2.8 percent year-on-year gain.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.2 percent monthly increase and a 2.3 percent annual rise.

Eurostat said sales of clothes and shoes rebounded from a 0.6 percent slump in January to a 1.9 percent month-on-month rise in February and were 2.0 percent higher than a year earlier.

In year-on-year terms, sales over the internet showed the strongest gain, up 8.8 percent in February and accelerating from a 6.8 percent increase in January.