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Retailers Must Adapt To A New Kind Of Shopper

Retailers and malls that have been in survival mode for the past two years now need to reposition themselves to reach consumers who have new demands and ways of shopping, Bain & Co. partner Michael Collins tells Ann Zimmerman and Rachel Dodes.

Many are too big, for one thing, now that many shoppers are doing their browsing online. And chain retailers have to make their products more enticing, as Best Buy is doing, by allowing consumers to plays with gadgets at the middle of their stores. That said, things are looking up.

"The rise in wages and incomes bodes well for retailers," says Carl Steidtmann, chief economist at Deloitte LLP's research unit. "The consumer traditionally has been the mechanism in driving recoveries. We have seen a bit of a rise in spending in the last six months, but not nearly as robust as in past recoveries."

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