The Meat And Potatoes Of Online Shopping?

As the skyrocketing prices of E-commerce stocks such as Amazon.com attest, the concept of shopping on the Internet is catching on, big time. Millions of consumers now routinely order books, videos, airline tickets--you name it--over the Net to avoid a trip to the mall. They're buying everything, it seems--except groceries.

That's not for a lack of companies trying to get folks to order groceries via their PCs. More than a dozen companies have gone after what seems like a great opportunity: helping the busy computer-owning families that make up the most profitable slice of the $400 billion grocery industry skip a trip to the store. But so far, the business is, well, small potatoes: close to $200 million a year, making it the laggard of E-commerce.