Fashion giant David Jones has had its computer system hacked and the private details of customers stolen.

The Australian retailer claims no credit card information or passwords were stolen, but names, email addresses and residential addresses were.

The company has not revealed the scale of the attack.

David Jones says a third party exploited a vulnerability in its website, but it discovered the issue and moved quickly to prevent any further attacks.

Given that hackers now have significant information on an unknown set of David Jones customers, the company has warned that shoppers should not provide financial information or credit card details over the phone or via email.

Australia's Privacy Commissioner has reportedly been informed as well.

It came just a day after fellow retail giant Kmart suffered a privacy breach, during which customer data was stolen.

The Privacy Commissioner says there has been a significant jump in data breach notifications in the 2014-15 financial year.

It is still unclear whether the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will launch an investigation into David Jones.