more luxurious Bloomingdale's outlets.Mr.Ryan argues that bricks-and-mortar shops are gravely threatened by Amazon and other online-only retailers,and says he can see "no evidence that there are big opportunities for traditional retailers in online retail” [C]Overall,retail sales in America are pretty flat,so the double-digit growth of online sellers is coming at the expense of physical shops.Amazon'ssaes in the past year were $48 billion compared with Macy's $26 billion.Last year online sales in America reached $188 billion,about 8%of total retail sales.They are forecast to reach $270 billion by 2015.So far,Mr.Lundgren has good reason not to worry that the sky is falling.Most relevant for Mr.Lundgren's debate with his friendly rival, online sales from the websites of Mr.Macy's and Bloomingdale's jumped by 40%. This reflects Macy's efforts to expand its online business.It is building a new logistics (center for online sales in West Virginia and expanding an existing one in Tennessee.And it is fixing a glaring flaw in its Internet-sales operation:until now online shoppers have only been able to buy goods in Macy's warehouses;soon they will be able to order items from the stock of its stores. Magic mirrors and Facebook friends D ]Mr.Lundgren is keen to continue experimenting with ways to use the Internet.In 2010 Macy's introduced a virtual fitting room where customers tried on digital representations of clothes through their reflection in a "magic mirror"and shared them with their friends on Facebook."It didn't work,"admits Mr.Lundgren.So Macy's is now trying out virtual models.With its thriving Intemet business,Macy's is ahead of many other retailers. [E Walmart,the world's biggest,waited for a long time and hesitated over its online strategy until it finally decided to "make winning of e-commerce a key priority",as Mike Duke,its chief executive,puts it.Like an increasing number of store chains Walmart is inviting online shoppers to pick up their purchases from its physical stores if that suits them.Since last June they have been able to do so on the day they place their order.Now,says Joel Anderson,who runs the company's online business. more than half of Internet orders are collected from stores.The company claims this is saving shoppers millions of dollars in delivery charges.In spite of these recent improvements,Walmart is not yet reaping big profits from its online business.It does not break out its Internet sales from the total,but they are still tiny for its size. [F There are some retailers,in particular those at the extremes of the market,that can safely ignore the threat from shoppers'migration to the Internet.At the luxury end Yves Saint Laurent is unlikely to start selling its ball gowns over the net;at the cost-conscious end,dollar stores will continue "piling it high and selling it cheap". But the vast majority of retailers in between may have little choice but to counter the rise of online-only rivals by creating strong Internet operations of their own.The 第5页（共8页） 第 5 页 （共 8 页） more luxurious Bloomingdale’s outlets. Mr. Ryan argues that bricks-and-mortar shops are gravely threatened by Amazon and other online-only retailers, and says he can see “no evidence that there are big opportunities for traditional retailers in online retail.” [ C ] Overall, retail sales in America are pretty flat, so the double-digit growth of online sellers is coming at the expense of physical shops. Amazon’s sales in the past year were $48 billion compared with Macy’s $26 billion. Last year online sales in America reached $188 billion, about 8% of total retail sales. They are forecast to reach $270 billion by 2015. So far, Mr. Lundgren has good reason not to worry that the sky is falling. Most relevant for Mr. Lundgren’s debate with his friendly rival, online sales from the websites of Mr. Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s jumped by 40%. This reflects Macy’s efforts to expand its online business. It is building a new logistics （物流）center for online sales in West Virginia and expanding an existing one in Tennessee. And it is fixing a glaring flaw in its Internet-sales operation: until now online shoppers have only been able to buy goods in Macy’s warehouses; soon they will be able to order items from the stock of its stores. Magic mirrors and Facebook friends [ D ] Mr. Lundgren is keen to continue experimenting with ways to use the Internet. In 2010 Macy’s introduced a virtual fitting room where customers tried on digital representations of clothes through their reflection in a “magic mirror” and shared them with their friends on Facebook. “It didn’t work,” admits Mr. Lundgren. So Macy’s is now trying out virtual models. With its thriving Internet business, Macy’s is ahead of many other retailers. [ E ] Walmart, the world’s biggest, waited for a long time and hesitated over its online strategy until it finally decided to “make winning of e-commerce a key priority”, as Mike Duke, its chief executive, puts it. Like an increasing number of store chains, Walmart is inviting online shoppers to pick up their purchases from its physical stores if that suits them. Since last June they have been able to do so on the day they place their order. Now, says Joel Anderson, who runs the company’s online business, more than half of Internet orders are collected from stores. The company claims this is saving shoppers millions of dollars in delivery charges. In spite of these recent improvements, Walmart is not yet reaping big profits from its online business. It does not break out its Internet sales from the total, but they are still tiny for its size. [ F ] There are some retailers, in particular those at the extremes of the market, that can safely ignore the threat from shoppers’ migration to the Internet. At the luxury end, Yves Saint Laurent is unlikely to start selling its ball gowns over the net; at the cost-conscious end, dollar stores will continue “piling it high and selling it cheap”. But the vast majority of retailers in between may have little choice but to counter the rise of online-only rivals by creating strong Internet operations of their own. The