Providing more evidence of the increasing importance of the online channel to retail chains, the e-commerce site of nationwide chain Kohl's Department Stores showed the sharpest year-over-year growth in the number of unique visitors, at 53.1%, in a recent survey of 10 sites. Amazon.com posted the second-large increase, up 48.5%, while Macy's was up 36.1%.

The survey, conducted by Compete Inc., was based on unique visitor totals from Nov. 1 through Dec. 13, 2008, the latest day for which data was available, compared to the same period of 2007. Overall, the number of unique visitors at the 10 surveyed sites rose 25.6% to 765.99 million visitors.

The year-over-year changes were affected, however, by the later start of the 2008 peak holiday shopping season. Thanksgiving, typically the official kickoff of peak holiday shopping, fell on Nov. 27 this year, compared to Nov. 22 in 2007.

Following are the 10 sites surveyed by Compete with their year-over-year rise in unique visitors and their total number of visitors (in millions) for the period Nov. 1 through Dec. 13, 2008:

1. Kohl's, 53.1%, 38.55
2. Amazon.com, 48.5%, 382.02
3. Macys.com, 36.1%, 35.69
4. Sears, 25.1%, 58.62
5. Walmart.com, 22.8%, 181.62
6. ToysRUs.com, 21.7%, 60.04
7. Target.com, 20.3%, 137.23
8. JCP.com, 18.2%, 60.04
9. BestBuy.com, 12.3%, 77.51
10. Overstock.com, -9.8%, 42.01