Think online grocers are forgotten relics from the dotcom boom days? Not so. Webvan, the e-grocery pioneer that was supposed to revolutionize the way people shop, is dead and gone, but the idea behind it lives on. According to Jupiter Research, consumers this year will buy more than $2 billion worth of groceries online--more than three times what they spent in Webvan's heyday back in 2000.
But there's a difference: instead of heading to Internet-only start-ups, customers have been clicking on the websites of regional supermarket chains like Safeway and Albertsons. The chains keep costs in check by picking items...