Identifying Target Markets

When KPMG UK became the first business to report our socio-economic background pay gap and set a senior socio-economic background representation target in 2021, I said it would take a collective and sustained focus, through organisations working together, to make real and lasting change. Last year, in partnership with Bridge Group, our pioneering study – the biggest ‘progression gap’ ever published by a business – found that socio-economic background has the strongest effect on an individual’s career progression. Our goal was to deepen understanding of social inequalities in the workplace, while sharing these insights with the wider business community. Socio-economic background can be complex and emotive. It requires us to confront how our upbringing shapes the opportunities we have access to later in life. But as businesses we need to lean into this discomfort if we are to make progress. So I’m delighted that we are co-sponsoring the ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ report published today by the The Social Mobility Foundation and Bridge Group. This is a practical guide to help employers calculate their socio-economic background pay gap.   Improving opportunities for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds is not only a moral imperative, but an economic necessity for the professional services sector and the wider UK economy.   https://lnkd.in/e4J-zMKa #SocialMobility #ClassPayGap #ClassPayGapDay #OurKPMG 

Witnessing the profound impact of social and economic factors on health has reshaped my perspective on healthcare. Our well-being isn't just determined by what happens in clinics but by our access to food, housing, utilities, transportation, and safety. These factors can profoundly influence our lives, especially for those who are marginalized or economically disadvantaged. In the U.S., nearly two-thirds of primary care physicians screen patients for social needs, yet only about a third screen for financial security, a critical concern for many low-income Americans. This gap reveals a significant mismatch between what physicians are looking for and what patients are most worried about. Our current healthcare system is slowly recognizing the importance of addressing these drivers. Providers, payers, and policymakers are taking steps to integrate social and economic needs into clinical care. This includes screening patients for these needs and coordinating with community-based organizations to address them. However, this effort often requires resources that many practices lack, and some argue that addressing non-medical needs falls outside the traditional scope of healthcare. From my perspective, the evidence suggests that meeting these needs can reduce costly healthcare demands and improve outcomes. For example, food insecurity is linked to chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, which require ongoing management. By addressing such needs, we can potentially alleviate the burden on emergency and chronic care services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have facilitated these efforts by creating pathways to address social needs. Yet, many states, particularly in the Midwest and South, have yet to fully leverage these opportunities. Encouraging more states to participate through simplified application processes and clearer guidance could expand these beneficial programs nationwide., investingIn my work, I've seen the critical need for a healthcare system that addresses more than just clinical symptoms. By focusing on the social determinants of health, we can create a more holistic approach to patient care. This means not only screening for and addressing these needs, investing in community resources, and forming strong partnerships with local organizations. As we move forward, we must continue to advocate for policies and practices that integrate social and medical care. This approach will not only improve individual health outcomes and create a more equitable and efficient healthcare system for all. It's time to rethink how we deliver care in America, ensuring every patient has the support they need to live healthy, fulfilling lives. Read more at: https://buff.ly/4buJ798 #healthcare #hospitals #health #doctors

Email frequency matters more than most marketers assume. An analysis of 53,000 emails and 5,300 purchases across 200 customers revealed a clear pattern: the best results come when brands tailor frequency to buying behavior.  The optimal monthly cadence: ↳ 5-7 emails for frequent buyers ↳ 6-10 for medium buyers ↳ 12-14 for occasional buyers When customers aren’t segmented, 7 emails a month deliver the strongest performance. The highest open rates and most purchases over time. Sending only 4 emails reduces lifetime profit by 32%, while sending 10 cuts it by 16%. The reason is simple. Frequent buyers already know the brand, so too many emails create fatigue. Occasional buyers, on the other hand, read more when they’re still exploring and learning. This makes segmentation strategy the real growth lever. Instead of treating every subscriber the same, match communication frequency to purchase behavior. The balance is all about timing and relevance. The right message to the right segment builds stronger engagement, higher retention, and more revenue over time. How often do you adjust your email frequency based on buyer type?

Are you building a category creator or a challenger brand? That single decision determines your customer, your capital needs, and how fast you can scale. - Category Creator You are building a new behavior. You are not just selling a product: you are creating awareness, educating consumers, and building trust from scratch. The upside? You become the market leader. Top of mind. The one people associate with the category itself. The downside? It takes enormous time, capital, and patience. Think of Oatly making oat milk mainstream, or Beyond Meat making plant-based meat a household conversation. They weren’t just selling products. They were building categories. - Challenger Brand You enter an existing category: but with a product so differentiated that consumers are willing to switch. You leverage habits already created by the market leader and scale faster, with far better efficiency. But there’s a catch: Your product has to be meaningfully better. Not just different. Better. Think of Olipop challenging traditional soda, or Magic Spoon challenging legacy breakfast cereals. Same category. Completely different positioning. At Open Secret, we believe in the latter. We are not trying to invent snacking. We are trying to unjunk it. Same craving. Same habit. A fundamentally better product. That clarity matters. Because once you know the game you’re playing, your strategy becomes obvious. Are you building a category or challenging one? And which brands come to your mind?

A recent in-depth research project on college admissions has unveiled some striking insights about the connection between parental income and college attendance, particularly in the U.S.'s top-tier institutions. 🔍 Key Insights: 1. Selective private colleges exhibit a clear bias towards the wealthy. Those with parents in the top 1% income bracket have significantly higher attendance rates than their peers with similar academic qualifications. 2. Flagship public colleges, in contrast, maintain a more equitable admission system. In-state students across varying income levels attend at comparable rates. 3. Elite private colleges, especially Ivy Leagues, display even more pronounced disparities in admissions. For example, a student from the top 1% income tier is 1.5 times more likely to attend Harvard than another student with the same test score but from a different income group. 4. Legacy admissions, recruitment of athletes, and preferences for students from specific feeder schools often drive this advantage for affluent students. 5. Public universities generally uphold a different mandate and admission process, often not giving preferences based on legacy or donations. This leads to a more diverse student body in terms of economic backgrounds. 📉 Data Source: The comprehensive data, derived from college attendance records and federal income tax details, stems from Opportunity Insights, led by Harvard's @Raj Chetty. It provides a sweeping overview, covering 139 colleges, and juxtaposes student attendance against parental income. �� What It Means: Public institutions, by virtue of their larger size and distinct admissions mandate, present a more balanced socioeconomic student profile. Their role in offering equitable higher education opportunities to American students, irrespective of their economic backgrounds, is undeniable. Yet, the disparity in elite private colleges is undeniable. With over half of their student population hailing from the top 20% income bracket, there's a glaring underrepresentation of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In a society that prides itself on equal opportunities for all, this disparity poses a pressing question: How can we make the path to top-tier education more equitable and reflective of society's diversity? #educationalequity #equalopportunities #nytimes #disparities #ivyleague

For years, the “Big Three” ruled comfortably: In early 2026, the Indian two-wheeler market doesn’t have a king. It has a shared throne with Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India & TVS Motor Company. Together, they have over 71% market share. But 2026 isn’t about who sells the most bikes. It’s about who can go electric without surrendering petrol dominance. ✅ The Scoreboard: January 2026 The gap between No. 1 and No. 2 is shrinking. 1. Hero MotoCorp: 492,167 units | 26.56% share. It is still No. 1, with a slight dip in share. 2. Honda: 472,938 units | 25.52% share. Gained 1.1% share. Biggest mover. 3. TVS Motor: 364,241 units | 19.66% share. It is the fastest growth among legacy OEMs. 4. Ather Energy: 21,999 units | 1.19% total market share. Up 68% YoY. 5. Ola Electric: 7,516 units | 0.41% total share. Down 69% YoY. ✅ Why TVS Is Playing Chess, Not Checkers TVS is executing. The iQube did 34,440 units in January 2026. It is nearly 28% of the total electric two-wheeler market. But that’s not the real edge. TVS has 4,000+ service touchpoints, a strong 125cc+ portfolio, and urban youth brand positioning. In 2026, EV buyers don’t just ask: “What’s the range?” They ask: “Where do I service it?” Trust is becoming the new torque. ✅ The EV Contrast: Ather vs Ola Two companies. Two philosophies. 1. Ather – The Experience Play: Ather Energy scaled 73% in 2025. It is not by discounting but by upgrading. 700+ experience centres focus on the Rizta family scooter, premium positioning, and public listing credibility. They moved from tech toy to family vehicle. 2. Ola – The Scale Correction: Ola Electric once dominated with 35%+ EV share. Now, it's 5.87% EV share, 0.41% overall, service delays and customer trust gaps. They’ve launched hyper-service to cut the backlog. Because in 2026, disruption alone doesn’t win. Reliability does. ✅ The Silent Move: Hero’s Battery Play Hero MotoCorp launched Vida with a Battery-as-a-Service model. The Vida VX2 brought upfront pricing under ₹50,000. That’s psychological disruption. Instead of fighting in metros, Hero is leveraging rural dealership density. Tier-3 EV adoption may become 2026’s real story. ✅ Let me share the #Rajspectives 1. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India entered the EV properly with the Activa e: in early 2026. Dual swappable batteries & a battery-sharing network. And most importantly, the Activa brand trust. In India, loyalty compounds. If even 10% of petrol Activa buyers shift to electric, the market changes overnight. 2. 2022-23 was the era of early adopters. 2026 is the era of service density, battery ecosystems & brand reliability. The winner won’t be the loudest; it will be the most dependable. 3. The throne is still shared. But the next king won’t be decided by engine capacity. It will be decided by charging time, service turnaround & trust. In India’s two-wheeler market, trust has always been the fastest machine. #india #automotiveindustry #sales #brand #electricvehicles

Half our marketing budget targeted women 25-34. Our highest converting audience? Men 45-65 buying gifts. Discovered this by accident when analyzing order patterns from last Diwali season. These gift-buying men were completely invisible in our targeting strategy. Weird pattern we noticed: ⤵︎ They never used discount codes ⤵︎ Always chose express shipping ⤵︎ Bought our highest-priced items ⤵︎ Had near-zero return rates Our acquisition cost for this segment was 4X lower while average order value was 3.2X higher. Instead of ignoring this insight, we rebuilt our entire holiday strategy around it: ↗︎ Created "gift concierge" landing pages with curated selections ↗︎ Added gift wrapping and personalized message options ↗︎ Developed email sequences specifically for gift occasions ↗︎ Built lookalike audiences based on this high-value segment These changes increased our holiday revenue by 142% year-over-year while reducing marketing spend by 17%. The most profitable audience segments rarely match your brand's imagined customer avatar. Data reveals who's actually buying, not who you think should be buying. What hidden audience segments are you overlooking?

#lidl’s highest ever market share, and #aldi losing share for the first time since March 2021, are the highlights from Worldpanel by Kantar's UK market data for 12 weeks ending 17th March released this morning. 12-wk sales grew by 4.2%, down from the last 12-wk period figure of 5.1% as 4-wk grocery #inflation fell from 5.3% to 4.5%, its lowest since February 2022.   Of the £1.355 Bn. sales growth year-on-year, 77% has been driven by just three retailers – #tesco (with sales up 5.8%), #sainsburys (up 6.7%), and Lidl (up 8.8%). All three retailers have increased their market share by 0.4% points year-on-year.   Aldi, with sales up just 3.1%, has seen their share fall by 0.1% point from 9.9% this period in 2023 to 9.8%. They have contributed just 7% of the market value growth, with sales up £97M year-on-year. Store numbers have grown from around 985 last year to 1015 now – around 3% - suggesting that like-for-like store sales are flat. Quite a few empty spaces on shelf have been seen recently. Their roll-out of a new SAP system worldwide may be proving a challenge from a stock availability perspective.   Total discounter share has nevertheless rebounded from 16.9% in the 12 weeks to 18th February to 17.6% this period. One reason is that Christmas sales were included in the last 12-wk period, and these have now dropped out of the latest period – discounter share always falls over Christmas. Furthermore, Lidl continue to grow ahead of the market, at +8.8%, giving them their highest ever market share of 7.8%.  Kantar state that their baked goods are up a huge 24% YoY. Their impressive in-store bakery will be helping this, and Lidl are promoting many in-store bakery products through the Lidl Plus app. Oh, and Aldi doesn’t have an in-store bakery… or app... #morrisons and #waitrose are enjoying an upward trend in sales growth. Although they still lag behind the total market, their growth rates are now ahead of Aldi’s for the first time since the pandemic. Waitrose and Ocado are the only grocers to boost their number of shoppers in the last 12 weeks, according to Kantar. In the last 4 weeks #branded sales growth (6.1%) is ahead of #privatelabel (4.7%) – a significant shift considering the strong gains made by private label over the last 2 years. The increasing use of promotions (many through loyalty apps) and some very strong instore merchandising of some brands will have fuelled this. Within private label, the premium tier is flying with sales up 16.1%. Premium tier features strongly in Meal Deals which have been heavily promoted leading up to Easter. Kantar has revealed that #easter treats are up by £88M compared with the same period in 2023, although a major factor behind this will be that Easter falls one week earlier this year. With two weeks to go from this latest data date to Easter Sunday, the next data set should reveal who the real winners are this Easter - a key trading period for retailers to retain customer loyalty.

Why is the social gradient in childhood dental health so persistent? In a paper recently published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, David Conway and a team from University of Glasgow analysed data from over 5,800 children across two Scottish birth cohorts to understand how socioeconomic circumstances (SEC) shape oral health before and after the 2011 national roll-out of Childsmile, the child oral health improvement programme for Scotland. Key questions: To what extent do parenting styles and oral health behaviours (diet, brushing, dental attendance) explain the link between poverty and tooth decay? Did the national implementation of a major preventive program in 2011 shift these underlying pathways? Key findings: * Despite the success of Childsmile in improving overall population health, the fundamental pathways linking SEC to caries remained largely unchanged. * The role of home toothbrushing as a mediator for inequality declined in the later cohort. This suggests that Childsmile’s universal interventions - such as supervised brushing in schools and distribution of toothbrushing packs - may be successfully 'levelling the playing field' for oral hygiene. * Cariogenic diet (e.g. sugary drinks and foods) remains a dominant and stable factor. Unlike brushing, dietary habits are heavily constrained by food affordability and availability, which behaviour-change programs alone struggle to solve. * While responsive parenting supports better brushing, and demandingness (structure) helps with diet, parenting styles overall accounted for less than 5% of the SEC-caries relationship. * A significant portion of the SEC effect remains unexplained by behaviours or parenting. This highlights the entrenched nature of structural disadvantage that individual interventions cannot reach. The Bottom Line Clinical and behavioural interventions are vital, but they aren't enough to eliminate oral health inequalities. To move the needle, we must pair these programs with upstream, equity-oriented policies that tackle the root causes of material deprivation and food insecurity. Read the open access article here: https://lnkd.in/eMDwJVdw #OralHealth #PublicHealth #ChildHealth #HealthEquity #Epidemiology #Childsmile #SocialDeterminants #Dentistry Roger Keller Celeste Georgios Tsakos Belinda Nicolau Ankur Singh Xiaoli Gao

I have spent years analyzing hundreds of eCommerce launches, and one pattern always emerges: Most purchase decisions are irrational, but predictable. Customers don't compare specs like a spreadsheet. They’re influenced by cognitive biases, i.e., mental shortcuts that steer attention, value perception, and urgency. Here are 9 biases I see shaping buying behavior every day: 1) Category Heuristics: → Customers focus on a few key specs to compare quickly. → Highlight top attributes to guide decisions instantly. 2) Power of Now: → Immediate offers drive faster action. → Delays reduce perceived value and urgency. 3) Social Proof: → Reviews and ratings boost trust. → Recommendations from others validate purchase decisions. 4) Scarcity Bias: → Limited availability creates urgency. → “Only a few left” nudges faster buying. 5) Authority Bias: → Expert endorsements reduce hesitation. → Recognizable brands or figures build instant credibility. 6) Power of Free: → Small freebies increase perceived value. → Free add-ons motivate purchase without extra cost. 7) Anchoring Bias: → First price sets the mental reference point. → Subsequent options feel more valuable or affordable. 8) Loss Aversion: → Fear of missing out drives immediate action. → People avoid losses faster than they seek gains. 9) Decoy Effect: → Middle option nudges buyers toward higher-margin choice. → Position options to shift perception without force. Here’s the truth: Cognitive biases allow you to design buying experiences that feel intuitive, effortless, and even inevitable. When applied to pricing, offers, bundles, and landing pages, these biases: → Increase conversion rates → Strengthen perceived value → Accelerate buying decisions → Reduce hesitation and cart abandonment Next time your conversion lags or launches underperform, Ask: Are you designing the experience, or leaving it to chance? Save & share this to help others in your network. Follow Asim Khaliq for more applied growth strategies.