Retail Brew hopped across the pond to Barcelona, Spain last week for our first trip to Shoptalk Europe to get a global perspective on retail’s current challenges and triumphs.

During the show, we learned that conference-goers in Spain dress much nicer—save for a pair of Swarovski crocs that hit the stage on Day 2—than they do in the states, and, beyond that, gained a lot of insight into the topics on European retail leaders’ minds.

Navigating disruption with agility

Tariffs—or “the ‘t’ word,” as they were colloquially known at the show—were surprisingly mentioned and alluded to only a few times. (To be fair, the show’s theme was “Shoptalk’s Guide to the Retail Galaxy,” and there are no taxes imposed on space—yet).

Several discussions instead were focused more broadly around agility as a solution to disruption. Lessons learned during the supply chain tumult of the Covid-19 pandemic are similarly valuable now as brands and retailers’ face tariff-driven disruption and other geopolitical uncertainty, leaders mentioned during a panel on supply chain resilience.

Jamal Chamariq, SVP of global supply chain at the Estée Lauder Companies, said disruption is the “new normal.”

Keep reading here.—EC

Some sports sponsorships just make sense, like Reese’s and Angel Reese or Rao’s and Tommy DeVito. Add Bic Soleil and the Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) to that list.

The razor brand served as the title sponsor of the PVF’s championship tournament, formally called the 2025 Bic Soleil Pro Volleyball Federation Championship, in Nevada in May. The deal came together in part because of a volleyball play called a “bic,” short for “back-row attack,” in which a player attacks the ball from the back of the court. Beyond the obvious synergy in the name, the play is a bit of a metaphor for the Bic Soleil brand, Karen Schwartz, global VP of blade excellence at Bic, told Marketing Brew.

Keep reading here on Marketing Brew.—AM

Next Sunday is Father’s Day, and major retailers are highlighting, and in some cases discounting, dad-coded products ranging from the traditional (grills, lawnmowers, and golf clubs) to the cutting edge (a bird feeder with an embedded camera). Whatever route you decide to go, the National Retail Federation is expecting you to shell out. A new survey from the trade group predicts spending will hit a record $24 billion, up from $22.4 billion in 2024.

Here’s what else is going on in retail this week:

In data releases: The consumer price index for May is due out on Wednesday, and economists are predicting the number to be in line with what we saw in April, which saw the inflation gauge rise slower than expected at 0.2% month over month and 2.3% year over year. The annual rate was notably the lowest since 2021. If the Trump administration’s steepest tariffs had gone into effect, perhaps the number would be different, but a 90-day pause has once again kicked the can down the road.

Keep reading here.—AV