National Retail Association CEO Dominique Lamb has put the slip in December retail trade down to the extraordinary spending levels in November.
Five of six industries the ABS monitors contracted in the month, including fashion and department stores, which each recorded increases of above 20% in November.
However, compared to December 2019, retail trade was up 9.4%.
Discussing the figures, Lamb identified three trends that have contributed to the lift in spending in November and slight decline in December.
"What we know for sure is that the summer retail season, which now includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday in November, has been as strong as we have seen for many years.
"This is partly due to the sudden reopening of state economies, particularly Victoria, during November, and partly due to the fact that Australians have more discretionary income because they aren’t able to travel widely at the moment.
"But we also know there is a rapidly rising trend of people doing their bargain hunting in November and bringing forward that Christmas gift spending, but then having a round of ‘leftovers’ on Boxing Day," she said.