Australian retail spending rose 0.1 per cent in March, official figures show.

Total retail spending was $23.150 billion in March, up from $23.123 billion in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

Over the March quarter, retail sales rose by 1.2 per cent to $67.519 billion in seasonally adjusted volume terms.

Economists had been forecasting a rise of 0.4 per cent for March and 1.6 per cent gain for the March quarter.