CHICAGO - Kicking off the morning of the last day of the NACS State of the Industry Summit, Todd Hale, senior vice president of consumer and shopper insights at Nielsen, told the crowd: "Let??s get the bad stuff out of the way, get over it and move on."

Hale went on to review the past year??s performance calling it "What a ride." But in looking at what??s ahead in 2011, Hale saw some signs of recovery, albeit an uneven recovery. While there is some recent job creation, high unemployment still exists. Low mortgage rates are attractive but foreclosures and low home values abound. Consumers are eating out more but rising gas prices could slow that increase.

To mitigate some of this uneven recovery, according to Hale, many companies are "raising prices, cutting costs, adjusting product size and alternating the ingredient mix." Rising gas prices will also influence consumer spending ?" a $1.00 rise in the price of gas could cost consumers $105 more each month, for example.

In the short term, consumers will compress shopping trips, eat out less, focus on value buying and increase coupon use. So what does this mean for the convenience channel?

Those "winning" retailers are becoming more innovative and are communicating the value proposition to their consumers but with an emotional bent. Retail innovations leading the way include: new store formats (green and ethnic formats including pop-up retailers), communicating and connecting via social media, assortment and services (health clinics and self checkout for example) and promotion (including more sophisticated loyalty programs and a coupon renaissance).

The "flexible retailing" movement ?" with retailers coming directly to consumers either through curbside service, grocery or lunch delivery or drive thru ?" will take convenience to the next level. Ultimately, successful retailers will continue to sustain a strong focus on the core value of convenience, which moves from "optional" to "standard" for consumers.