The perfume also went on sales at 1,200 offline stores in Japan.

"An offline store would post a sign or something," I complained.

Only edited versions of albums with parental advisories are available, just as they are in Wal-Mart's offline stores.

With inventories as large as 2,500 different wines (compared with the 400 or so that an offline store might stock), the selection is getting much better.

The idea of offering searches of offline stores - from the big chains to local merchants - has been tried before without much success or cooperation from stores.

CrossMedia also has, since 1999, operated SalesHound.com, one of the earliest sites to allow consumers to compare sale items at offline stores.

"It will never replace the offline stores," Ms. Evans said of online shopping.

Pretend you're in an offline store.

He said that the Web site's merchandising expertise would help it market the genre more effectively than many offline stores.

Those developers, he predicted, will be able to deliver photo-realistic renderings of offline stores and merchandise in the next five years.