Santa's not the only one feeling the pressure this Christmas. One of the largest and most respected online retailers, eToys, has announced that it will be putting itself up for sale in the new year after failing dramatically to hit the targets it had set itself.

The failure of eToys to make the breakthrough is an indication of just how difficult lesser cyberstores will find it to make the grade in the months ahead, especially with support from the markets for funds via initial public offerings or otherwise fading all the time.

It seems only a short while ago that the brash upstarts of the Internet were pronouncing their way the path of the future and scoffing at the bricks and mortar retailers whose time, they assured us, was rapidly coming to an end.

Now the boot is on the other foot and more and more e-tailers are struggling to find a foothold in the world of bricks and mortar.

It is somewhat ironic that these businesses of the future forgot one of the most basic rules - build on a firm foundation. So keen were they to dominate, they sacrificed all to size.