The dot com crash blew away hundreds of ill-thought-out business models. Those left alive have a revitalized chance for success this year. The growth of Internet didn't pause through this recession. More people are online, more people are using high-speed connectivity, and more people are buying online. Even Internet ad sales grew through downturn, which is quite remarkable considering that an offline ad depression has delivered a body blow to print and broadcast media companies.

So we begin 2002 with fewer Internet companies, more Internet buyers and a larger Internet advertising pool. The final piece of picture, venture capital, will probably come later in year. This will create a favorable environment for new Net launches or expansions by existing Internet companies. Certainly a good dose of skepticism will remain from brutal dot com crash, but a new dose of caution will probably help enhance positive environment for growth. The Internet boom of 1999 and 2000 toppled in part because a lack of caution pushed capital into incompetent hands.

The question remains: who will benefit from a favorable online business climate? During holiday season of 2001, big beneficiaries were major brick retailers such as Sears, Columbia House, Barnes and Noble, Toys 'R' Us. In part, it was because these companies had capital. New Internet companies had little to work with in promoting their business, since venture community sat on sidelines during all of 2001.

This could change in 2002. If venture capitalists invest in new online ventures, brick companies could get a run for their money. Chances are, with caution in place, venture money will go highly experienced management teams, perhaps defectors from successful online teams now living within major brick retailers.

According to Jupiter, Net retailers that saw greatest increase in sales also have a brick component. While Internet as a whole experienced a 50 percent increase in sales, traditional retailers saw their Web sales grow by 73 percent over 2000. "We've been waiting for inevitable dominance of traditional retailers over their pure-play counterparts, and it appears that 2001 may have been year when it finally happened," said Ken Cassar, senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "With a few exceptions such as Amazon.com, dominant retailers that sell merchandise directly from their sites tend to be affiliated with brick-and-mortar stores and catalogs." The top three traditional retailers during holiday season were Columbia House, with 598,000 average daily unique visitors, Toysrus with 515,000 and Barnesandnoble with 447,000.

As well as good news, there were also some less exciting developments during holiday season. The volume of orders that did not arrive on time for Christmas did not improve over 2000. Both years came in with a dismal 12 percent late delivery. The top performers for on-time delivery were sporting goods, health and beauty, and food and drink. Many online retailers blamed late shipments on delivery services. As for actual in-stock items, Net retailers actually did better than year before, so there may be some merit to their complains about delivery companies.

Overall, 2001 holiday season was more than a silver lining around dark cloud of 2001 dot com disaster. The Christmas season may actually have ushered in a break in stormy clouds, and that could indicate some real sunshine. Online retailing is clearly here to stay, even if big numbers are collecting on balance sheets of major offline retailers.