- Mike Shields, Mediaweek

As retailers anticipate a gloomy holiday shopping season, there may be a reason for some to be hopeful—if they sell products on the Web that is.

According to a new @Plan report published by Nielsen Online, shopping on the Web is now mainstream behavior; the report found that 78 percent of adult consumers purchased something on the Internet over the last six months. Travel was the top online shopping category, as 38 percent of consumers made some sort of travel-related purchase. The report is based on surveys of about 36,000 U.S. Internet users, ages 18 and older.

While credit card management and online banking ranked second and third, more encouraging to retail brands are the large number of consumers who continue to shop for products on the Web despite the rough economic conditions. Nielsen (the parent company of Brandweek) found that 40 million unique users—or 28 percent of the online audience—purchased at least one clothing item on the Web over the past sixth months. Similarly, 26 percent (37 million) of Internet users purchased a book, 18 percent made hotel reservations, 16 percent made auction purchases and 14 percent spent on events.

It's still unclear whether the trend of regular online shopping will translate to more shoppers turning to the Web for bargains this holiday season. But according to Nachi Lolla, research director, commerce at Nielsen Online, the majority of consumer concerns about online shopping have been lifted. 

"Most consumers see online retail as a primary benefit of the Internet. The sheer convenience of being able to comparison shop from your home or office has become all but irresistible," said Lolla, adding that early concerns about online security have been addressed, thus now the challenge for retailers is how to "differentiate their brand among all others."

Retailers that rounded out the top five for the most traffic over the last six months are: eBay (49.2 million visitors), Amazon (48.3 mil.) Wal-Mart (25.3 mil.), Target (23.8 mil.) and Netflix (14.3 mil.).