All Optimistic on the Retail Front

It was, to be sure, an example of serendipitous timing. With the Commerce Department reporting on Tuesday that June retail sales were up by 0.6%, more than 600 institutional investors descended upon the Oppenheimer Consumer, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure Conference in Boston to be convinced that the future of retail is -- well, let's just say to be convinced that there is a future.

"Retailers and brands cannot be afraid of the word 'recession,'" Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NDP Group said in his keynote address. "Consumers can deal with it if the retailer learns how to address their new mentality."

Cohen predicted that consumers will open their wallets for innovative products and ideas -- but not those who are simply hoping to ride out the recession until the economy returns to "normal."

"But the new normal will not be what we saw two years ago," Cohen said. "People will go back to shopping more like they did 10 years ago."

And on that mixed note, several retailers and consumer goods-makers vied to prove that they were prepared to capture that new, withered consumer dollar.

Tupperware(TUP Quote) CEO Rick Goings, for one, announced that his company has targeted to have at least 25% of sales come from new products launched within the last two years. He added that Tupperware has been attempting to shed its "June Cleaver" persona by shifting the focus from function to design and beauty.

"The way we do this is by making Tupperware fashionable in new colors and styles and improving some of our older products," Goings said.