According to new Nielsen Online figures, Argos held its number two ranking above Tesco and below Amazon, with a 32% year-on-year growth in the number of UK visitors to 8.2m.
Amazon, averaging 15.6m users each month in Q4, and Play.com averaging 5.7 m, were the only pure online players in the top ten.
Amazon saw an 18% growth in visitors compared to the Christmas period in 2007, while Play.com received a 35% boost to its numbers. But Play.com's growth was not enough to beat Tesco's 7.3m web shoppers.
Littlewoods and Asda showed the biggest growth this Christmas. Littlewoods moved up the ranking above Currys, but could not match Marks & Spencer's online shoppers.
Nielsen said online retail provided some bright news amid the overall gloomy economic picture at the end of 2008, with an opportunity to weather the storm as retailers promote it as the best way of finding cheaper goods.
Overall, the mass merchandisers, beauty, home and garden, electronics and fashion retail sectors averaged a 19% increase in unique visitors during the 2008 Christmas shopping period compared to the 2007 period.
The biggest retail sector - mass merchandisers - which includes retailers such as Amazon, Argos and Tesco, increased numbers by 15%.
Amongst the five major retail sectors online, home and fashion - which includes sites such as Marks & Spencer, Boots and Next - had the largest year-on-year growth of 30%.
Nielsen Online's Alex Burmaster said: ‘The multi-category home and fashion sector - which includes sites that sell various home and fashion goods including strong growth retailers such as Laura Ashley, BHS and T.K. Maxx - has done particularly well, growing at around five times the rate of overall Internet growth.
‘Again, this is encouraging for the retail sector in 2009 as people aren't coming online just for small-ticket, everyday items like CD's and groceries but are increasingly looking to buy all manner of items from clothes for all the family to furniture across the entire house.'
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