Unique visitors to the sites included in the Index reached 35.9 million, a 13% increase over this year’s Black Friday Web traffic.

Many of the top online retail destinations on Cyber Monday were the same as those on Black Friday. eBay drew the largest unique audience (10.6 million), while Amazon and Wal-Mart claimed second and third places, with 9 million and 5.2 million unique visitors, respectively.

Among the top 10 online retailers, Sears’ site saw the fastest growth (+58%, year over year).

Beauty was the fastest growing product category on Monday, increasing 151% over the previous Monday, November 24, 2008.

Toys/Videogames ranked second, growing 112% Monday over Monday, while Apparel rounded out the top three with an increase of 58%.

“The growth in traffic to online retail sites on Cyber Monday was better than many people expected, making retailers hopeful that this growth will carry through the holiday shopping season and drive sales,” Ken Cassar, vice president, industry insights, Nielsen Online, noted.  “It remains to be seen if people have done the majority of their shopping on these two big shopping days to save time, or if they are holding out for additional sales and promotions. If history is any indication, we expect that Monday, Dec. 15th will be the peak day for online shopping traffic.”

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings by the Associated Press and Bloomberg, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, Ad Age, PC World, the Orlando Sentinel, ClickZ.com, and InternetRetailer.com.

“Even with the weakening economy, an unstable stock market and a rising unemployment rate, Black Friday traffic to online retail sites grew at a double digit rate this year,” said Ken Cassar, vice president, industry insights, Nielsen Online.

Black Friday Online Conversations and Consumer Perceptions

• Not surprisingly, shopping incentives were a key part of Black Friday discussions. The terms “deals,” “sales,” and “doorbusters,” referring to deep discounts intended to get shoppers in the door, were all closely associated with Black Friday.
• Specific retailers were also mentioned in relation to Black Friday, including Sears, CVS, Wal-Mart, JCPenney, Staples and Circuit City, among others.
• Consumers discussed specific products and gift ideas, including high definition televisions, video games, laptops and toys.

See Nielsen Online’s Black Friday BAM here.

The Nielsen Online Holiday eShopping Index is comprised of over 120 representative online retailers across twelve categories, and acts as a barometer to gauge the level of activity at online shopping destinations during the holiday season. The Index illustrates increased shopping activity through category growth.

View the complete report.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in TIME, the Financial Times, by the Associated Press and Bloomberg, and on CNET.com, NPR.org, and Digital Daily.

The company’s sales for the most recent quarter grew 41% to $4.06 billion, and its operating income increased by 86% to $217 million.

The story noted that Web traffic to Amazon.com grew 10% from last year — up from 49.3 million visitors in Q2 2007 to an average audience of 54.4 million in Q2 2008, according to Nielsen Online. 

In May, Nielsen ranked Amazon.com second among U.S. online retailers, in terms of total purchases.