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Retailing is constantly changing, and now more than ever, big and small retailers alike are using the Web to hunt down holiday shoppers. Online sales in the November/December 2006 period were projected to leap 22 percent above last year to $138 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.

But beyond that, retailers who have long relied only on their brick-and-mortar stores for significant sales growth have finally figured out how to use the Internet to capture a bigger share of consumers' wallets by better integrating the convenience of online purchasing with in-store shopping.

Can the gourmet retailer use that strategy effectively? I suggest that Internet selling has to be a strategic piece and key part of a retailer's total sales-growth strategy.

What are some of the big retailers doing?
• Wal-Mart is focused on using walmart.com as a marketing channel to drive people into their stores.
• Sears is guaranteeing that merchandise ordered online can be picked up in a store within five minutes of handing the receipt to the checker, or the consumer gets a $5 coupon.
• Circuit City's policy is that an online sale can be picked up at a store no more than 24 minutes after receiving the confirmation e-mail. If the product's not there on time, customers get a $24 gift card.
• Best Buy states that more and more customers are coming into their stores with print-outs from ads promoted on the Best Buy Web site.

Why has the Web assumed such prominence?
First of all, more people are spending more time on the Net. An estimated 75 percent of all homes now have high-speed connections, and the profile of the average Internet shopper is no longer a young male but more reflective of the greater population — meaning more women are shopping online. Consumers also feel more secure in putting credit card information on the Web. The online marketing channel is always going to be a small percentage of the total commerce, but it's gaining an important place in helping customers make the decision on where they're going to buy merchandise. Online commerce as a percentage of total commerce in the future is really an exciting growth curve.

I've been checking out the most popular Web sites devoted to food and drink and I discovered some exciting ingredients that tend to attract a large audience. Here are a few:
1. chow.com — A new Web site that contains a smorgasbord of recipes, restaurant reviews, party hints, and video tutorials.
2. urbanbaby.com — Child-rearing guidance for the sophisticated mom.
3. epicurious.com — The publishers of Gourmet and Bon Appetit food magazines have outstanding recipe libraries and make a seamless connection between the publications and the Web site.
4. allrecipes.com — Provides clever ways to search for recipes, and has a matchless recipe library.
5. foodnetwork.com — Has an outstanding recipe library, videos (tutorials by Food Network celebrity chefs and cooks), and articles about the activities of celebrity chefs.
6. kraftfoods.com — Also has an outstanding recipe library, videos (how to prepare balsamic-marinated flank steak, for example), and articles from the Kraft-sponsored magazine Food & Family.

How to make your Web site star for you!
Build a bad-looking small business site filled with poorly written text, and your potential customers will go away. Build one that is attractive, compelling and clever but with crucial design mistakes, and again, few people will know that the site exists.

What must an effective Web site contain?
1. Addictive content — Stay away from gobbledygook text. Don't use words that are not understandable by humans.
2. Get your message across quickly — Most people do not go beyond what is in front of their faces. Only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible screen of their PC monitor. Users spend an average of only 30 seconds reviewing a home page.
3. When are you open? — The first thing customers visiting any store's Web site want to know is when the store is open.
4. It's all about the basics — Visitors must immediately find out "who you are, what you do, and how people can reach you."
5. Not everyone has a large monitor and a fast DSL connection — Consider screen resolution and understand that no two monitors will necessarily present your site in the same way.
6. Use thumbnail photos that can be enlarged when clicked — When you are selling a product, do not use a graphic that can be rotated in every direction. Otherwise, you see products at weird angles.
7. Eliminate unnecessary design — This is the most important rule in Web page design. Do not add large, spinning graphics that take a long time to download.
8. No introductory splash pages — Don't force a viewer to watch a video or animation. Graphics also do nothing to help a site become discovered by search engines like Google or Yahoo. Those sites troll the Internet for key words, as well as the frequency and quality of one site that links to another.

I hope I have convinced you that the quote "If you build it, they will come" does not hold true for Web sites. Check out webpagesthatsuck.com, a site that analyzes why some pages do not work. If you're looking for some good Internet marketing ideas that will help you get a better ROI from your Web site, try adwords.google.com today. If you want to create, send and monitor e-mail campaign results, try www.constantcontact.com.

You really can extend your online reach and target new customers with the Internet tools I've mentioned in this column. Go for it!

Marshall Marcovitz is the founder and former CEO of the CHEF'S Catalog, a leading Internet shopping site. Currently, he is a lecturer, a university professor and a marketing consultant. He can be contacted at mmmellow9@yahoo.com.