Retail sites saw the biggest surge in online traffic in November, with jewelry, luxury goods and accessories as one of the top 10 gaining product categories, according to ComScore Inc.

With approximately 20 million unique visitors in November, the jewelry, luxury goods and accessories online category increased 20 percent last month compared with October. Other top-gaining categories included toys with 31.1 million unique visitors, sports and outdoor with 32.2 million unique visitors and consumer electronics with 59.3 million unique visitors.

"With November marking the start of the holiday shopping season, online retailers, comparison-shopping engine and discount sites experienced a flood of visitors," ComScore Media Metrix Executive Vice President Jack Flanagan said in a statement released on Wednesday. "With the sub-prime meltdown and high gas prices having an impact on retail spending, consumers are doing their research and searching for the best deals online."

As multi-channel retailers continue to develop their online strategies, increasing numbers of consumers are frequenting department store sites. Target Corp. led the category with nearly 42 million visitors in November (up 35 percent), followed by Wal-Mart with nearly 40 million visitors (up 54 percent) and J.C. Penney with 18 million visitors (up 37 percent). Sears (up 66 percent to 15.4 million visitors), Kohl`s Corp. (up 58 percent to 12 million visitors) and Kmart (up 83 percent to 9.3 million visitors) also experienced traffic increases.

ComScore Inc. measures the digital world based on a global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given the company permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. ComScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions.