For a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy or parents with preschoolers in tow, a trip to the mall becomes a question of "How badly do we really need this item?" But with almost half of U.S. households on line, shopping over the Internet can turn mall-weary parents into virtual shopping machines.

"If I have a choice," says Hilary Wagner, mother of 5-year-old Sara and 3-year-old Josh, "I'd much rather shop on line. I hate dealing with parking, and dragging the kids into the store, knowing the minute we walk through the doors the kids will explode."

Not all shop owners are open for e-business. Deloitte & Touche surveyed 400 traditional retailers and consumer goods manufacturers and found that only one-fourth of them sold their products on line. While it's expected that these retailers will eventually have to sink or swim in the new global market, in the meantime on-line shoppers are clicking their way to "e-tailers" - stores that sell only over the web.

It's safe to say that every item a child could possibly need is currently available on line. Parents-to-be can outfit the entire nursery from their home computer: diaper pails, cribs, layettes, monitors, strollers, carseats- you name it. Among a vast array of products, Rightstart.com offers a $4 package of diaper sacks and a $300 breast pump, with free shipping and handling on all orders. When you shop at babycenter.com, shipping is $5 - whether you order a canister of wipes or heavy wooden cradle. At babystyle.com, parents (or benevolent grandparents) can order a complete nursery simply by clicking "I want it all." Then, for just $3,097.95 plus shipping and handling, your U.P.S. carrier will deliver the Vintage Corsican Iron Crib, a wicker glider with matching ottoman, a mobile, lamp, stepping stool, and various other items that comprise the "Vanilla and Apple Pie" complete themed nursery. (While the set does include a $36 tissue box, a changing table must be purchased separately - or is that not necessary for the sort of infant who might be ensconced in a Corsican crib?)

On-line shopping may even replace tag sales, auctions, and flea markets. Looking for a gently-used Onesie? At ebay.com, sellers post their auction items- often with photos- and potential buyers bid on them. The trick at this site is to search the categories as you would search a flea market: You never know what you might find, from vintage baptism gowns, Easter dresses by Polly Flinders, maternity clothes, porcelain dishes for children, and all things Beanie. Wagner sold a set of pregnancy workout tapes to someone in Taiwan for $24. She was so happy to be rid of them that she immediately put the tapes in the mail. "It would probably be a good idea to wait for the check to arrive from the buyer," she cautions, "but in my situation it turned out all right. The buyer sent the check."

Meanwhile, retailers must prepare, because by 2004 it's predicted that 90 million households will have Internet access. In order to survive, traditional retailers will have to become more "consumer-centric," measuring their success in sales per customer rather than sales per square foot. According to Price Waterhouse Coopers, the world's largest provider of business advisory services, "Business must move from mall-burbia to cyburbia." When that happens, parents of the world will click a path to their doors, er, web sites.