Seven toys for online retailers in '06

Attention online retailers. Just in time for the holidays, Forrester Research Inc. has come out with seven technologies that will transform online retail. If the past decade was all about the greatest Web site, success in 2006 will depend on technology that promotes the cardinal rules of retailing: finding, serving and keeping customers. Forrester senior analyst Sucharita Mulpuru breaks her list of goodies into two categories -- tools to acquire more online shoppers and applications to retain them. In the category of tools to acquire more online shoppers, the must-haves are:

Really Simple Syndication (RSS): Pull marketing at its best, Forrester said. The content feed for consumers who request it has the benefit of e-mail without the downside -- such as spam. To keep in mind: Only 2% of North Americans (so far) say they use RSS feeds.

Short Message Service: SMS, available on many mobile phones, is finally catching on in the U.S. Forrester found that 24% of people who owned a cell phone and shopped online said they'd be willing to get ads on their phones, if their phone fees were reduced.

"Smart" paid searches: This is the next generation of search technology. It allows advertisers to purchase more targeted ads with layered demographic information that hones in on spending customers.

Online data sharing co-ops: This is the online version of the offline sharing of consumer information to grow mailing lists. Envision eToys showcasing ads on big sites like CNN only to online buyers with kids.