European online Christmas shopping season got off to a strong start this year in the U.K., France and Germany, according to a new report from comScore.

Visits to retail sites were up 18 percent during the first week of November compared to an average week during the prior two months, and increased even more throughout the month to reach a 41 percent growth rate during the week ending November 29.

France saw solid gains, resulting in the same 41 percent growth rate during the last week of November, while Germany showed slight lower growth at 16 percent.

"That we're seeing such strong growth in visitation to retail sites in three of Europe's leading countries prior to the December pre-Christmas rush is, hopefully, a positive sign for the overall European economy," said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni.

"Right now the U.K. and France appear to be demonstrating the highest rate of traffic growth to retail sites, outperforming the U.S. by a considerable margin. While German growth has been slightly slower, the heavy part of the country's online shopping season should begin in earnest during the first week of December."

During the month of November, average weekly visits to online retail sites grew 35 percent in the U.K. compared to the prior two months. Among the top 5 online retailers as ranked by average weekly visits, Play.com sites experienced the largest growth at 62 percent, closely followed by the Home Retail Group (61%) and Tesco (50%).

Visits to online retail sites in France were up 36 percent during the first week of the month and remained steady during November. Groupe PriceMinister has the fastest growth rate at 188 percent, followed by Amazon and Cdiscount, both at 40 percent.

In Germany, visits to online retail sites got off to a slightly slower start than in France and the U.K., but still showed 17 percent average weekly growth. Amazon was the fastest growing retail site during November, up 46 percent, followed by Neckermann Gruppe (up18%).
 

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