Jewelry and luxury goods and accessories Web sites were among the big gainers in October as consumers began their holiday shopping early, according to a comScore Media Metrix survey.

“Holidays were the primary driver of Americans’ Web activity during the month,” said Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix. “With retailers moving their holiday season promotions earlier and earlier, October now represents the unofficial beginning of the holiday retail season. The surge in traffic to several online retail categories suggests that Americans are already beginning their hunt for holiday bargains.”

The jewelry/luxury goods/accessories category was among the top 10 performers in October, with nearly 16.5 million unique visitors, an eight percent increase over the previous year, according to the Reston, Va.-based company. Mall sites rose 13 percent to 30.8 million visitors with the five most visited sites in the category all posting double-digit growth for the month.

Many online retailers also benefited from the Halloween and Sweetest Day promotions during the month.

E-card sites gained 23 percent to reach 33.8 million visitors, making it the top-gaining category for the month. The category was led by the American Greetings Properties with 10.3 million visitors (up 56 percent), followed by Evite.com with 8.2 million visitors (up 31 percent), and Hallmark.com with 5 million visitors (up 20 percent). The flowers/gifts/greetings category saw a 22-percent gain to 35.6 million visitors with PartyCity.com experiencing the largest growth of the category’s top sites with a 151 percent jump to 3.5 million visitors.

Amid news of continued toy recalls, traffic to toy sites rose 12 percent to 23.6 million visitors. High demand for hot electronic items helped boost traffic to the consumer electronics category 8 percent to 50.1 million visitors.

JCK