Internet sales won't kill retail stores.

Despite what some experts are predicting, shopping on the Internet does not mean the demise of malls and retail outlets, maintains Richard A. Feinberg, director of the Retail Institute and head of the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing. Purdue University. West Lafayette, Ind. "When the home shopping networks first appeared on television, experts started telling us that consumers would eventually do all of their shopping at home by phone. What these purveyors of doom fail to realize is that a tremendous number of individuals truly enjoy the shopping experience. They love to see, feel, smell, and try our merchandise before they buy."

Feinberg acknowledge that television shopping channels and Internet shopping have taken a bite out of on site outlets profits, but says the bite hardly draws blood. "Estimates show that retail sales on the Internet will grow from $500,000,000 in 1996 to approximately $7,000,000,000 in 2000. Those figures sound impressive until you compare them to the 2.3 trillion dollars in retail sales and $70,000,000 in catalog sales in 1996."

That is not to say doing business on the Web isn't a good idea for retailers. "The Internet is a profitable outlet for a few select types of...