Editor's Note: 2 Key Trends From eTail West

As it usually does, the eTail West conference in Palm Desert, Calif., from which I've just returned, didn't disappoint. I'm back from the show with a stack of business cards from retailers and consultants whom I can't wait to contact to discuss retail industry trends, a reporter's notebook filled with great insights around cross-channel retailers' marketing strategies and a new excitement about the year ahead for cross-channel retailers. There's nothing like a few days at a conference to restart my engine and get me thinking about what's really important to our readers. While a bunch of themes emerged from the show — big data, analytics, social media personalization, customer engagement, conversion and mobile apps, to name a few — two stuck out that I'd like to discuss here: