In June, retailers and brands kept experimenting with experiential marketing, cultural partnerships, and strategic pop-ups. The campaigns that stood out tied themselves to sports moments and real consumer engagement. Here are the three retailers that won June’s “Unofficial Monthly Retailer Awards.”

North America improves, but China and merchandising woes linger.

Consumers are increasingly using AI chat to explore purchases before they ever reach a search engine. Those conversations are creating a new layer of intent signals that marketers have only begun to tap into.

As AI-powered search tools become integral to product discovery, retailers face a measurement challenge. Consumers are still researching products, but increasingly bypassing the clicks marketers traditionally relied on. That shift is making it harder for brands to determine which content, publishers, and partners are actually influencing sales.

Gen Z loyalty isn’t driven by reach alone. Brands that prioritize community, cultural relevance, and authentic engagement are setting a new standard for retail marketing.

The brand faces numerous headwinds, including underperformance in China, war in the Middle East, and slowing athleisure sales.

Overall apparel spending is expected to grow, but plus-size chains feel near-term pain.

Retailers that broke through the noise in February didn't necessarily spend the most, they just understood the moment better than their competitors. Here are the three winners from this month’s Unofficial Monthly Retailer Awards, according to a recent episode of “Reimagining Retail.”

This FAQ explores how marketers can reach Gen Alpha amid tightening privacy rules and growing household influence.

Sneaker fans experienced a full-court press at the NBA’s All-Star weekend in Los Angeles this month. Nike's Jordan Brand unleashed a series of activations throughout the city, putting in action a playbook for marketers looking to make a real-world impact on brand enthusiasts.

CPG firms are raising prices where they have to while cutting prices with promos elsewhere to address shopper revolt.

This FAQ examines how the D2C model has evolved and what brands must do to make it profitable in 2026.

The athleisure retailer pulled yet another line of leggings after complaints that they were too sheer.

Super Bowl campaigns aren’t one-size-fits-all; brands are now splitting between full-scale TV buys and multi-channel activations that extend beyond the broadcast.

Nike returned to growth in fiscal Q1, snapping a four-quarter streak of declining sales. Nike is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, as Hill’s turnaround plan begins to make headway despite considerable uncertainty. While tariffs are weighing on margins, investments in new product lines are beginning to restore brand heat.

Shoppers will be able to buy the much-hyped Nike-Skims collaboration starting Friday, seven months after the partnership was announced. While an unusual pairing on paper, the collaboration between Nike and Skims plays to both companies’ strengths, and positions the new brand to become an athletic powerhouse. The collection’s versatility and innovation are likely to appeal to consumers who want both performance and style from their clothing—as well as those who lean more heavily toward either.

Nike and Under Armour are leaning on the star power of LeBron James and Steph Curry to restore flagging sales in China and stay culturally relevant. Their ongoing struggles in the region show that brands can no longer expect to coast on their reputations to win over global customers—especially now, as US trade policies sour relations with even its closest allies.

Nike, H&M, and Louis Vuitton will see their share of the global apparel market fall this year, according to a report by GlobalData. Meanwhile, adidas, Shein, Uniqlo, and Skechers will be the biggest winners as shifting trends and tariffs reshape the apparel industry. This year’s apparel winners share two key traits: agility in responding to consumer trends and the ability to offer products that are either affordable or that shoppers deem to be worth the expense. These factors are emerging as critical competitive advantages, especially amid economic and tariff pressures.