Petah Marian
- Research and Communications Director, KPMG Australia
London, Melbourne
As seen in:
Create Tomorrow, The WGSN Podcast,
The Telegraph,
The London Standard,
Vogue Business,
FashionBeans,
WGSN,
Drapers,
Retail Week,
Just Style,
Total Retail
and
Covers:
fashion trends, business, retail, online retail, fashion, fashion industry, supply chain, trends, clothing
Not here anymore, find me elsewhere.
Articles by Petah Marian
Emerging market B2B e-commerce platforms
West and Central Africa: Betastore There are more than 10m informal retail outlets in West and Central Africa, representing more than 90% of the total trade in essential goods. In Nigeria alone, there are more than 1.5m outlets selling more than £10bn ($12bn, €12bn) worth of FMCG goods (source:Betastore).
Inflationary Loyalty Market
Drivers: what’s happening Consumers around the world are facing unprecedented levels of inflationary pressure, requiring them to mitigate these challenges by trading down or shopping around to ensure the best prices. As price sensitivity grows, retailers are working to better support their customers with innovative strategies that maximise lifetime customer value.
When did everything start to fall apart?
Only by looking into the dystopian futures can we focus on finding our way out… When did you start to feel like everything had begun to fall apart? For me it was when I was in New York for Thanksgiving in 2015, having a conversation with someone about the prospect of Trump getting in - until that point I had perceived Trump as a sideshow, not someone who would gain the nomination, and certainly not the US presidency.
Myth making and wonder - the new brand experience
Creating a sense of wonder is becoming ever-more important for brands looking to help move consumers and create deeper connections. As this shift gathers steam, brands should be looking towards fictional worlds and immersive environments for inspiration. That idea of of suspension of disbelief that comes from creating a sense of immersion into a creative world is something that is starting to emerge at retail.
The death of trends
The Discourse seems to have caught wind of the trend universe, with a sudden and very intense obsession with trends, naming them and, of course, their death. There is some truth to this, with the rise of sites like Aesthetics Wiki documenting the breakdown of mainstream culture with the rise of micro-cultures that disappear almost as quickly as they emerge.
Inflationary Loyalty Market
What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
Five emerging markets B2B e-commerce platforms
What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
Inflationary Loyalty Market
What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Got it! Learn more
Five emerging market B2B e-commerce platforms
What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
Retail-flation Responses
What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
How Atelier is creating anti-fragile beauty supply chains
You have 3 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles. What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
The future is a terrifying place to be
As someone who has spent their career living in the future, it can be a scary place to be, particularly over the last few years. Despite every yoga teacher I’ve ever had telling me to be present, thinking critically about the future has never been more important. The latest edition of the Global Risks Report, produced each year by the World Economic Forum, has just been released. The report gathers insights from almost 1,000 experts and political leaders from 124 countries.
Come as you are
In my old job, I used to joke with one of my colleagues about the beige woman. She’s the kind of ultra-groomed, semi-wealthy type of person that is able to wear outfits in silk, cream, white and beige, because she never comes in contact with the world (doesn’t get dirty) and when she does, has a large dry cleaning budget, so getting stained is never a problem. More than an aesthetic, we imagined her as a person — mysterious, self-contained, corporate job, and definitely no children or pets.
Redemptive Diets
You have 3 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles. What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
But, how do you really feel?
In the last couple of weeks, my home town came out of what has been the longest and most aggressive lockdown measures in the world. As Melbourne heads back to normalcy and 80%, 90(!) vaccination rates, we are also having to learn how to be in the social world after a cumulative 262 days in lockdown. Over the last year, the stories of re-entry have focused less on the cathartic moment of coming back together and more on the anxiety of IRL social interactions.
The dematerialising world
When I think of change, I often think of this story charting the evolution of the computer desk from 1980 to 2014 . As much as we thought our lives were played out in linear ways, this video shows the things that were once deemed essential that slowly dissipated from our office lives.
Contemplative Stores
You have 3 free News articles remaining. Sign up to LS:N Global to get unlimited access to all articles. What do we use cookies for? We use cookies to enable the use of our platform’s paid features and to analyse our traffic. No personal data, including your IP address, is stored and we do not sell data to third parties. Learn more
Forecasting the future through periods of chaos
Foresight and trend forecasting are areas that rely on a huge amount of data in order to make our predictions. Some predictions are relatively linear and, in retrospect, seem easy to predict. For instance, a growing population alongside a lack of investment in new housing is likely to lead to a housing crisis. These challenges are likely to remain challenges even as we experience disruptive moments like the ones presented by the pandemic over the last year and a half.
Telling stories about the future
Welcome to Future Narrative by me, Petah Marian. Futurist and Forecaster inspiring organisations to build for a better tomorrow. Sign up now so you don’t miss the first issue. In the meantime, tell your friends!
Place Remaking: Destination 2024
Cities around the world are undergoing a period of renewal, far from being decimated by the pandemic, they are being dreamed anew, becoming more liveable and accessible places to live. These shifts won’t be something that are only led by city planners, but by those businesses operating in these spaces.
The myth of the hot vax summer
Young people in much of the developed, English-speaking world are on the brink of a kind of catharsis as the world starts to feel safe after the year and a bit indoors. And for those who have spent the past year alone or in unsatisfying relationships, this is being pitched as the Hot Vax Summer. The idea of getting vaxed, waxed and raring to go has become highly meme-able as people get excited about summer’s possibilities.
The Average Everybody
Thanks for subscribing. Since I last wrote here, I’ve been writing for Vogue Business, working on a white paper for a tech company, helping a start-up figure out its proposition, advising on podcast strategy and a few other things. If you’re looking for help with navigating the future, then please get in touch. A few years ago, I predicted the need to focus on the average every body.
Can retail save the world?
If I’m honest, I’ve been having a bit of an existential crisis about the industry I’ve spent over a decade working in. During the Extinction Rebellion protests in London, I would linger in Oxford Circus on my way home, looking with awe at the bright pink boat that had been placed in the heart of my city’s shopping street.
6 Tips for Engaging the High-Velocity Consumer
In a retail landscape that changes exponentially, frequently, it’s easy to assume companies are at the mercy of an increasingly tech-driven era. In reality, it’s consumers themselves who are driving this supersonic change. Fueled by six major things that shift consumer behavior, these macro trends across society, technology, industry, environment, politics and creativity will keep you ahead into 2020 and beyond.
Barneys to open flagship at American Dream mall billed ‘the future of retail’
American Dream opens this year, and the 3 million sq-ft New Jersey super mall is set to embody the future of retail and entertainment. And Barneys New York, the luxury speciality retailer, is convinced enough to open there too, becoming the banner’s only flagship location in New Jersey. “Expect a truly creative venue with a variety of entertainment features, innovative spaces, and experiential activations,” Barneys said in a statement, without elaborating (watch this space).
Retailing to no majority: The importance of inclusivity
In an era of diversifying populations, and with social media empowering more people to find a voice, ensuring your product and offer is culturally sensitive has never been more important. The recent spate of brands releasing offensive products really highlights the importance of inclusivity and how retailers need to evolve their strategies to ensure diversity at all levels of a business.
Tech-forward beauty: L’Oréal unveils AI-based skin diagnostic tool for Vichy
L’Oréal announced a new in-store hair colouring personalisation tool a mere week ago, using artificial intelligence technology from ModiFace, the company it bought in 2018. Now the brand has another tech development, with an AI-powered skin diagnostic tool that’s based on years of scientific research at L’Oréal’s Research & Innovation centre.
WGSN curation: Introducing The Trend Feed
Behind the scenes at WGSN, the trending process is 24/7. Our editors around the world are constantly searching for, building and shaping the trends that help form our content. For the first time, we’re giving you firsthand insight into this process. Updated three times a day, it’s a scrolling feed of image-led updates of the WGSN trends, curated so that you can watch them evolve from emerging ideas into cornerstone content.
Fashion Retail: Events that matter
In a volatile marketplace, fashion retailers are increasingly challenged with attracting and retaining consumers who are overwhelmed with choice and have unprecedented access to products across multiple touch points.
Yoox private label due soon, created using data and AI plus human touch
Get ready for an announcement about a Yoox private brand in the very near future. But this won’t be any old private brand, it will be one designed by the creative team whilst also driven by data insight and artificial intelligence that will inform the company about what its customers have been buying and just what they like in their fashion shopping cart. Yoox has revealed plans to launch the private label that’s “generated by data but designed by our creative team”.
Black Friday: It's a gift
Black Friday’s worth is due to its proximity to Christmas, as consumers seek to save; capitalising on Black Friday deals for Christmas gifting. When looking at demand data, represented by out-of-stocks on a week-on-week comparison, this is evidenced in the highest spikes in OOS being shown in the typical gifting categories. Accessories and gifting apparel such as sleepwear, take the crown for the most demanded products during the Black Friday frenzy across both the US and UK markets.
Black Friday: Understanding Demand
As the concept of Black Friday matures across marketplaces globally, discounting is no longer a novelty but the norm for retailers in what has become a week-long, frenzy. In the past three years, we’ve seen the majority of discounts spiking increasingly earlier in the week leading up to the event, as retailers seek to shed the shackles of overstock that has plagued the market recently.
Diesel boldly channels the negative into a positive via its new ‘Hate Couture’ collection/campaign
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me… so the saying goes. Diesel is boldly tapping into this notion for its latest collection and campaign, printed with some of the worst comments that have been made about the brand’s celebrity roster on social media.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Twenty One
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Twenty
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values.
WGSN HQ: it's the new year, start a new book
Are all your New Year’s resolutions in place? With 2018 fast approaching, we’re all about getting a fresh start and a clean slate. Cue in the 2017 retrospective – hello, lists of what you don’t want on your life anymore (ahem, that time when you thought those 8 Aperol spritzes would sit well on your stomach without any water to dilute them) – and give way to the blank piece of paper and pencil (or that fresh blank doc on your laptop, have it your way).
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Nineteen
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values, like this very lovely ethical beauty brand.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Eighteen
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values. It is not an estimation to say that the world could do with a little more love right now.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Fourteen
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values. While it shouldn’t be something that you have to gift yourself, piece of mind is increasingly becoming a luxury.
How a new generation is discovering the magic of Winnie the Pooh
For kids brands that have been around for decades, it is imperative to stay relevant with long-time fans as well as engaging the younger generations of today. A new Winnie the Pooh exhibit that just opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum manages that delicate balance perfectly. And there’s nothing like an exhibition at such a prestigious institution as a way to spark excitement with all generations, young and old.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Twelve
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values. We’ve asked the question on this blog before about whether shopping for luxury can be truly charitable?
5 badass women of colour set to make waves in 2018
2017 has been the year of self-exploration, acceptance and self-love (I’m not talking hot baths and inhaling donuts on the sofa). To compliment this, mainstream art and culture spaces have been celebrating dual identities. To see exhibitions such as the Beauty of Being British Asian in East London, Illuminating India at the Science Museum and Ayurvedic Man:Encounters with Indian Medicine at the Wellcome Collection unfold throughout the year, has made my 2017 feel magical.
WGSN Alternative Holiday Gift Guide 2017: Day Eleven
The holiday season is all about gifts. But this year we’ve seen the consumer become a little more discerning when it comes to purchase power. Brand values have never been so important to the consumer. So, we’ve launched our annual WGSN gift guide, but this year there’s a twist. The gift guide will be focused on cool products that give back and lovely companies with heartwarming values.
Looking at the changing consumer relationship with food
As you scroll through your feed of avocado toasts and acai bowls, it’s glaringly apparent consumers have never been so preoccupied with how and what they eat. The food obsession has reached critical mass and at WGSN, we are obsessed with figuring out how the future of food will evolve. This year alone we’ve seen meal kits grow in popularity, because with our time crunched lives, structures that help save time on meal planning, prep and cook time are incredibly useful.
Sustainability is all about changing management
It’s become clear that sustainability is about embracing change and being successful at change management. It starts with the brand’s purpose, vision and proposition. It includes a solid strategy and actionable plan aimed at understanding and changing the supply-chain – plus a compelling, creative internal and external communications plan to ensure people and consumers want to be part of the journey based on Futerra’s model.
Initial's immersive fashion week experience celebrates all things blue
Coinciding with the end of October’s S/S 18 Shanghai Fashion Week, Hong Kong brand Initial held an immersive experience for guests, which stood out among the backdrop of catwalk shows. The theme for the event was “The Orient Express’ and the aim of the night was to celebrate all things blue. The event was designed to transport guests back in time, taking them to a retro futuristic past that mixed elements of East meets West.
The Luxury Conundrum: Addressing Exclusivity in the Age of Inclusivity
What is luxury today? While it used to be signified by expensive watches, thousand pound bags, and a yacht in St. Tropez, it’s actually not so narrowly defined anymore. For consumers now, who are short on time, constantly connected to their digital devices, and able to discover remote places around the globe through Instagram, luxury means so much more. Now it’s a luxury to travel far and wide, to digitally disconnected for the weekend, to spend less on a watch or bag, and more on experiences.
Tapping into the experience economy
Apparently Millennials like experiences. We like doing things, we like free things, we like pink things, but apparently we don’t like to buy stuff. But retailers and brands make stuff that they want to sell. It’s not news to say that brands have been tapping into the experience economy in order to try to build a deeper relationship with customers – 2017 has been the year of retailers announcing (ad nauseam) that they’re focusing on experiences in order to drive footfall into stores.
Thursday night in London: Blogging, Instagram and home offices
The main event this week was the Habitat UK Office Gossip event held at the Hoxton Hotel last night. The theme? Home offices and the rise of freelance work culture. The talk covered everything from the emotional reality of what it is like going freelance, to the logistics of launching your own business and working from home. It was a packed night, with seats being found last minute to accommodate the huge crowd who attended to hear from the key speakers.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Petah
Contact Petah, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack