ComScore reported that holiday online sales from November 1 through December 23 reached $25.5 billion, down 3 percent compared to the corresponding shopping days in 2007. comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said it marked the first time the company has seen negative growth rates for the holiday season since it began tracking ecommerce in 2001. "The combination of having five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas and the severe economic headwinds faced by consumers has made this a really tough season for retailers, both offline and online."

eBay remained the most visited retail site with 85.4 million visitors but saw a slight decline of 4 percent in visitors, while three of the top five most visited sites recorded gains. Amazon Sites grew 7 percent to 76.2 million visitors, followed by Wal-Mart (up 4 percent to 51.5 million visitors), Target (down 1 percent to 46.8 million visitors) and Apple Inc. (up 19 percent to 35 million visitors).

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