comScore, Inc. released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in the Latin American region based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

The onset of the Christmas shopping season brought increased traffic to online retail sites, with the flowers/gifts/greetings category experiencing the strongest growth, followed by the fragrances/cosmetics, sports/outdoor, toys and jewelry/luxury goods/accessories categories. Among product manufacturers, Sony Online and Mattel Sites achieved some of the largest visitor gains.

The e-cards category also enjoyed significant growth during the Christmas season, with traffic climbing 60 percent to nearly 11 million visitors - an increase driven in part by the 72-percent growth experienced by the American Greetings Property, which was the fastest growing site in the Latin American region in December. The hobbies/lifestyle - food (up 23 percent) and shipping (up 16 percent) site categories also saw strong gains in December.