While many gloomy forecasts for online sales dominated the preholiday airwaves, the numbers rolling in show that Americans were eager to hit the Web for holiday gifts. However, moving forward, the challenge is for retailers to retain and expand customer relationships, and continue to increase online sales to justify investments well into 2001. And if the buzz at this week's annual gathering of the National Retail Federation in New York City is any indication, online retailing is alive and well. And I think we'll see that continue. What this means is that in many cases traditional retailers have a huge advantage over pure Internet retailers when selling online.
Some analysts say no.