What could strong credit card billings mean for the retail sector?

It might be a sign of the increasing popularity of e-commerce.

Credit card billings grew 8% YoY in the first quarter of the year. A recent sector report by RHB pointed out that this growth in credit card billings is seen despite weak retail sales.

"This suggests that some spending may be diverted from traditional store-based retailing, which may involve cash or credit card payments, to online spending which typically involves credit card payments," the report said.

Citing data from Euromonitor, RHB said non-store retailing has grown further in 2016 to 6.8% of overall retailing, from 5.6% in 2015.

"Traction for e-commerce appears to be growing stronger in Singapore, including classified sites like Carousell, which are not typically tracked like normal retail sales," RHB said.