• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 19, 2011

What were consumers up to in July? Judging by their Web activity, reserving tickets for some summer fun at concerts and sporting events. 

As a result, ticket sites were among the fastest-growing on the Web in July, with nearly 26 million people browsing for summer events -- marking a 23% increase month-over-month, according to new data from comScore Media Metrix.

"Ticket sites were popular in July as Americans looked to make the most out of their summer at concerts, sports and other events," said Jeff Hackett, EVP of comScore Media Metrix.

Ticketmaster ranked first with 10.9 million visitors -- up 13% -- followed by MovieTickets.com with 5.6 million - up an even more impressive 34%.

Tickets.com sites grew to the third position with 3.6 million, while StubHub.com followed with 3.4 million -- up 9% -- and eBay Tickets U.S. rounded out the top five with 843,000 visitors -- up 31%.

Meanwhile, in a positive sign for the struggling economy, the back-to-school shopping season got an early jump in July as parents stocked up school supplies.

Still, as Hackett notes, promotions had something to do with this trend. "Many parents took advantage of early back-to-school promotions at consumer goods and apparel sites, which experienced a significant spike in traffic," he said.

Nontheless, traffic to consumer goods sites increased 13% to reach 25.6 million people. Staples.com sites took the top spot in the category with 7.3 million visitors -- up 30% -- followed by Office Depot with 4 million, up 21%; QVC Sites with 3.6 million, up 5%; and OfficeMax with 2.5 million, up 32%.

Apparel sites also drew early back-to-school shoppers as the category grew 8% to 66 million visitors. Zappos Sites ranked first with 8.4 million visitors -- up 54% -- followed by Limitedbrands with 6.4 million, Nordstrom.com with 4.9 million -- up 44% -- Nike with 4.8 million, and OldNavy.com with 4.8 million -- up 4%.

Other top apparel retailers in July included Forever 21, Inc. -- 3.6 million -- Abercrombie & Fitch -- 3.4 million -- American Eagle Outfitters -- 3.1 million -- and Gap online -- 2.6 million.

Also of note, the broadly-grouped "beauty/fashion/style" category ranked as the second top-gainer in July. The category grew 17% to 62.6 million visitors, with AOL's Stylelist sites taking the top spot with 10.8 million -- up 12% -- while Glam Style followed in second with 9.5 million visitors -- up 46%. Glo, meanwhile, attracted 5 million -- up 24% -- and PopSugar Fashion Beauty & Shopping attracted 4.6 million -- up 13 percent.