It is the ultimate form of convenience shopping. Customers can order a week's groceries from their armchairs. No wobbly trolley, no carrying heavy bags, no hassle.

And yet it has failed to catch on. Supermarket J Sainsbury has abandoned its Internet shopping service at the Monks Cross store in York, citing lack of demand. Too few people want to swap their motor for their mouse.

Retail analysts searching for a reason for this failure should consider what shopping means to people today. It is not so much a chore as a sociable experience.

Supermarkets are packed with eager consumers throughout the day and into the night. Many will return two or three times a week.

They are not rushing around the store, eager to get home. They dally around the detergent, linger around the lychee fruit and tarry over the teabags. And that occasional, sly glance at the contents of others' baskets offers a fascinating glimpse into different lifestyles.

Unlike Sainsbury's Orderline, the supermarket visit is a hands-on experience. You can see exactly what you are getting before you buy. Those with an eager eye for a bargain and a readiness to try new lines will soon deviate from their shopping lists.

We have been going to supermarkets for 30 years. We feel at home there. Sainsbury's wants to change our routine overnight; it is expecting too much.

But the shopping public does change and adapt. That is why it is so short-sighted to give up on the Internet so quickly.

When the credit card was introduced to Britain in 1966, take-up was slow. Now almost everyone pays by plastic. The bar code came over here 21 years ago, when it seemed frighteningly futuristic. Today those black and white lines, which made checkouts ten per cent quicker, are ubiquitous.

Both of those innovations were developed in the United States - just like the Internet. In the US, e-commerce has taken off. The same will happen here soon.

Smart businesses are investing in the Net. At present the returns are small. But that will change as we become accustomed to on-line trading.

We hope that on-line shopping at Sainsbury's has simply been shelved, not scrapped for all time.

see NEWS 'Going off-line'

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.