I WATCH 2000-10-09

Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass., said in a recent report that on-line grocery stores will "win the war for HBA customers" and suggested that health-and-beauty aid manufacturers should strengthen their ties with Internet grocery stores. The report, by Forrester's Robert Rubin, cited flat sales and slow-growing or shrinking traffic at several on-line drugstores, while food and beverage spending and traffic is climbing for many Internet grocers.

any. WalMart.com, an independent company formed earlier this year by Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart and venture capital firm Accel Partners here, said it would close for "a few weeks" but reopen in time for holiday shopping.