NEW ORLEANS-Retail chains and developers are faced with changing consumer behavior, which is different from what they have had to weather in the past, said speakers here at the International Council of Shopping Centers fall conference. “There aren't any big megatrends any more,” said David Lobaugh, president of Marietta, GA-based consulting firm August Partners. “We used to have megatrends, now we have microtrends.”

That's not to say all retailers have done a poor job of adapting, he said, pointing to the success of such specialty chains as Anthropologie, Starbucks and Zumiez, as well as the reinvention of such major players as JC Penney. “They started listening to the consumer,” Lobaugh said. “They want differentiation, but it has to be relevant.”

One way that the consumer landscape has changed is that we are now in a society that is less dictated by men and more controlled by women, who make 95% of the buying decisions in this country, according to Richard Foy, co-chairman of Communication Arts, a Boulder, CO-based design firm.