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RURAL MARKETING A CRITICAL REVIEW, Year-2009 By Miss. P. PIRAKATHEESWARI, Lecturer in Commerce, Sri Sarada Colle e !

!or Women "Autonomous#, Salem $ %&. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about his vision for rural India: "My vision of rural India is of a modern agrarian, industrial and services economy co-existing side by side, where eo le can live in well-e!ui ed villages and commute easily to work, be it on the farm or in the non-farm economy" #here is much that modern science and technology can do to reali$e this vision" %ural incomes have to be increased" %ural infrastructure has to be im roved" %ural health and education needs have to be met" &m loyment o ortunities have to be created in rural areas"" 'Go rural' is the slogan of marketing gurus after analy$ing the socio-economic changes in villages" #he %ural o ulation is nearly three times the urban, so that %ural consumers have become the rime target market for consumer durable and non-durable roducts, food, construction, electrical, electronics, automobiles, banks, insurance com anies and other sectors besides hundred er cent of agri-in ut roducts such as seeds, fertili$ers, esticides and farm machinery" #he Indian rural market today accounts for only about %s ' billion of the total ad ie of %s ()* billion, thus claiming +"+ er cent of the total share" So clearly there seems to be a long way ahead" ,lthough a lot is s oken about the immense otential of the unex lored rural market, advertisers and com anies find it easier to vie for a share of the already divided urban ie" #he success of a brand in the Indian rural market is as un redictable as rain" It has always been difficult to gauge the rural market" Many brands, which should have been successful, have failed miserably" More often than not, eo le attribute rural market success to luck" #herefore, marketers need to understand the social dynamics and attitude variations within each village though nationally it follows a consistent attern looking at the challenges and the o ortunities which rural markets offer to the marketers it can be said that the future is very romising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and ex loit them to their best advantage" , radical change in attitudes of marketers towards the vibrant and burgeoning rural markets is called for, so they can successfully im ress on the )-* million rural consumers s read over a roximately six hundred thousand villages in rural India" What rural market u!"#

%ural India buys small acks, as they are erceived as value for money" #here is brand stickiness, where a consumer buys a brand out of habit and not really by choice" .rands rarely fight for market share/ they 0ust have to be visible in the right lace" &ven ex ensive brands, such as 1lose-2 , Marie biscuits and 1linic sham oo are doing well because of dee distribution, many brands are doing well without much advertising su ort 3 4hadi, a big detergent brand in 5orth India, is an exam le" Wh! Rural Market#

#he Indian rural market has a huge demand base and offers great o ortunities to marketers" #wothirds of Indian consumers live in rural areas and almost half of the national income is generated here" #he reasons for heading into the rural areas are fairly clear" #he urban consumer durable market for roducts like colour #6s, washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners is growing annually at between 7 er cent and (* er cent" #he rural market is $ooming ahead at around )8 er cent annually" "#he rural market is growing faster than urban India now," says 6enugo al 9hoot, chairman of the %s :': -crore;%s billion< 6ideocon , liances" "#he urban market is a re lacement and u gradation market today," adds Samsung=s director, marketing, %avinder >utshi" Rea"$%" &$r 'm(r$)eme%t $& u"'%e"" '% rural area

Socio-economic changes ;lifestyle, habits and tastes, economic status< ?iteracy level ;)8@ before inde endence A more than +8@ in )**(< Infrastructure facilities ;roads, electricity, media< Increase in income Increase in ex ectations

M,%#, the s ecialist rural marketing and rural develo ment consultancy has found that 8- er cent of BM14 sales lie in the rural areas, as do 8: er cent of consumer durable sales, said its head Pradee Cashya at the seminar" Df two million .S5? mobile connections, 8* er cent went to small towns and villages, of )* million %ediffmail subscri tions, +* er cent came from small towns, so did half the transactions on %ediff=s sho ing site" *(e+'al &eature" $& rural market 2nlike urban markets, rural markets are difficult to redict and ossess s ecial characteristics" #he featured o ulation is redominantly illiterate, have low income, characteri$ed by irregular income, lack of monthly income and flow of income fluctuating with the monsoon winds" %ural markets face the critical issues of 9istribution, 2nderstanding the rural consumer, 1ommunication and Poor infrastructure" #he marketer has to strengthen the distribution and ricing strategies" #he rural consumer ex ects value for money and owing to has unsteady and meager status of weekly income/ increasing the household income and im roving distribution are the viable strategies that have to be ada ted to ta the immense otential of the market" Media reach is a strong reason for the enetration of goods like cosmetics, mobile hones, etc", which are only used by the urban eo le" Increasing awareness and knowledge on different roducts and brands accelerate the demand" #he rural audience are however critical of glamorous ads on #6, and de end on the o inion leaders who introduce the roduct by using it and recommending it" D inion leaders lay a key role in o ulari$ing roducts and influence in rural market" 5owadays educated youth of rural also influences the rural consumers" %ural consumers are influenced by the life style they watch on television sets" #heir less ex osure to outside world makes them innocent and

fascinated to novelties" #he reach of mass television media, es ecially television has influenced the buying behaviour greatly Creat'%, ra%-" &$r rural I%-'a

%ural markets are delicately owerful" 1ertain ada tations are re!uired to cater to the rural masses/ they have uni!ue ex ectation and warrant changes in all four arameters of roduct, rice, romotion and distribution" , lot is already em hasi$ed on ada ting the roduct and rice in terms of ackaging, flavouring, etc and in sachets, riced to suit the economic status of the rural India in si$es like %s"8 acks and %e"( acks that are erceived to be of value for money" #his is a ty ical enetration strategy that romises to convert the first time customers to re eated customers" #he romotion strategies and distribution strategies are of aramount im ortance" ,d makers have learnt to leverage the benefits of im roved infrastructure and media reach" #he television airs advertisements to lure rural masses, and they are sure it reaches the target audience, because ma0ority of rural India ossesses and is glued to #6 setsE 9istributing small and medium si$ed ackets thro oor roads, over long distances, into dee ockets of rural India and getting the stockiest to trust the mobility is a Ferculean task" 4iving the confidence those advertisements will su ort" Sales force is being trained to win the confidence of o inion leaders" D inion leaders lay an im ortant role in o ulari$ing the brand" #hey sometimes lay the role of entry barriers for new roducts" #he method of romotion needs to be tailored to suit the ex ectations of the market" #echni!ues that have roved to be successful are 6an cam aigns, edutainment films, generating word of mouth ublicity through o inion leaders, colourful wall aintings" #he Gide reach of television has ex osed the other wise conservative audience to westerni$ation" Panchayat televisions in #amilnadu carries message that are well received and contribute to community develo ment" 9ynamics of rural markets differ from other market ty es, and similarly rural marketing strategies are also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial consumer" #his, along with several other related issues, have been sub0ect matter of intense discussions and debate in countries like India and 1hina and focus of even international sym osia organi$ed in these countries" %ural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include: H 1lient and location s ecific romotion H Ioint or coo erative romotion H .undling of in uts H Partnershi for sustainability

1lient and ?ocation s ecific romotion involves a strategy designed to be suitable to the location and the client" Ioint or co-o erative romotion strategy involves artici ation between the marketing agencies and the client" =.undling of in uts= denote a marketing strategy, in which several related items are sold to the target client, including arrangements of credit, after-sale service, and so on" Media, both traditional as well as the modern media, is used as a marketing strategy to attract rural customers" Partnershi for sustainability involves laying and building a foundation for continuous and long lasting relationshi " Innovative media can be used to reach the rural customers" %adio and television are the conventional media that are reaching the rural audience effectively" .ut horse cart, bullock cart and wall writing are the other media, which can carry the message effectively to the rural customers" %ural marketing is an evolving conce t, and as a art of any economy has unta ed otential/ marketers have reali$ed the o ortunity recently" Im rovement in infrastructure and reach, romise a bright future for those intending to go rural" %ural consumers are keen on branded goods nowadays, so the market si$e for roducts and services seems to have burgeoned" #he rural o ulation has shown a trend of wanting to move into a state of gradual urbani$ation in terms of ex osure, habits, lifestyles and lastly, consum tion atterns of goods and services" #here are dangers on concentrating more on the rural customers" %educing the roduct features in order to lower rices is a dangerous game to lay"

Re!erences' (" Rural Marketing, Ravindranath V. Badi and Naranyansa V. Badi, Himalaya Publishing, 2 2. "he Hindu # Business $ine %. &&&.de''anherald.'om !. &&&.indiantelevision.'om !

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