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Web visits to the Nielsen/NetRatings Holiday eShopping Index grew 43 percent between the last week in October and the week ended December 3 - an increase of four percentage points over the same period last year. Moreover, Cyber Monday has already been bested for highest combined home and work traffic during the holiday season.

The distinction for the shopping day with the greatest traffic thus far belongs to Wednesday, November 29, with a unique audience of 30.3 million - an 18 percent increase over the same day a year ago. Cyber Monday is still the highest-traffic day from work, garnering 16.1 million unique visitors, seven percent more than in the previous year.

Also, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, November 26, beat out Black Friday for the most visitors from home - a unique audience of 20.0 million, which is 20 percent more than the year-earlier period.

The fastest-growing category so far is Toys/Video Games, with online visits increasing 129 percent since the end of October. Consumer Electronics took the No. 2 spot, growing 101 percent, followed by Jewelry, which increased 76 percent. Shopping Comparison Sites/Portals and Home & Garden rounded out the top five fastest-growing categories, increasing 75 and 59 percent, respectively.