Online business booms at America.com

Online retail sales in the United States are expected to grow to $20.2 billion this year, according to market researchers at Forrester Research. As many as 70 percent of Internet users are planning to do some or all of their holiday shopping online with the top four online stores;

Amazon.com, CDnow, eToys and ToysRUs.com

Today, some 17 million American households will be shopping online in 1999, Forrester Research said, and 49 million U.S. households will spend $184 billion online by 2004. The average amount spent online per year is expected to increase to $3,738 in 2004 from $1,167 in 1999. ''Web retailers will need to do more than just sell everything to anyone,'' said Forrester consumer e-commerce analyst Seema Williams.

''To succeed, they must anticipate customer demand, expand their product and service offerings into adjacent categories and simultaneously sell through multiple retail channels, including stores, catalogs, call centers, Web sites, interactive TV and mobile devices. None of today's merchants are prepared for post-Web retail.'' Likely, major retailers will soon be forming alliances to broaden their reach or define the most profitable customers. ''Consolidation will reshape the post-Web retail landscape as merchants expand into complementary product categories,'' Williams added.