Editor’s Note: Retail Trends From INNOVATE 2011

Here are just five of several retail trends I learned about at INNOVATE 2011, the Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference sponsored by the National Retail Federation, held last month in San Francisco:

1. Assume your customer is a cross-channel shopper. Retailers must understand that cross-channel is here to stay; they have to build their business processes around that fact. "The shopping process is a multi-
channel process for customers today and, as a result, retailers need to communicate with them in an integrated way," said Van Baker, vice president and research director for retail and manufacturing advisory services at Gartner Inc., who spoke at a session that discussed disruptive business models and how they're poised to 
influence retail.