Online retail traffic is up 6.2 percent for the two weeks ending November 11, compared to the same period in 2005, with popular online shopping site Amazon.com attracting the largest number of website hits, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

Hitwise, an Internet market research firm, said the most popular search was Apple iPod, with most consumers going to online auction site eBay to search for competitive prices.

The eagerly anticipated Playstation 3 is already ranked as the 6th most searched for item on Amazon.com. Online searches for the video game console, increased 171 percent for the week ending November 11, 2006 compared to two weeks earlier on October 28, the research firm reported.

Meanwhile, searches for rival game system ‘Nintendo Wii’ increased 135 percent during the same period.

Online retail strengthened in Q3 and in the six weeks since October 1, 2006 visits to the Hitwise Retail 100 Index have been up an average of 5.7 percent, which indicates strong growth for online retailers during the 2006 holiday shopping season, said Bill Tancer, general manager of Research at Hitwise.

Amazon.com currently has over 13 percent of the market share, followed by Wal-Mart, Target and Overstock.com. The research firm predicts that online sales will peak on Thanksgiving Day and suggests that the strongest pre-Christmas searches will take place during second weekend of December.

Retail Ebay