INTRODUCTION The buzzword today in the marketing industry is ‘rural marketing’. Reportedly three times that of the European market, the Indian rural market is a huge untapped resource. The rural market today makes up for only about Rs 8 billion of the total advertising revenue of Rs 120 billion, thereby controlling around 6.6 per cent of the total share. In a seminar conducted by CII, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shared his views on the future prospect of the unexploited resources of rural India – “My vision of rural India is of a modern agrarian, industrial and services economy co-existing side by side, where people can live in well-equipped villages and commute easily to work, be it on the farm or in the non-farm economy. There is much that modern science and technology can do to realise this vision. Rural incomes have to be increased. Rural infrastructure has to be improved. Rural health and education needs have to be met. Employment opportunities have to be created in rural areas." Given the ongoing changes in the outlook, habits, purchasing power and recent shifts in attitudes that suggest that rural consumers are open to urbanization of their markets, many a company have lately been scurrying hard to channelize these unexploited markets to garner profits.
WHAT IS RURAL MARKETING?
In a nutshell rural marketing can defined as – the entire process of producing, developing and marketing of a specified commodity or service specially designed for the rural market which involves an exchange between the rural and urban markets for the twin purposes of satisfying consumer demand and achieving organizational goals. This marketing process is a two- way process between the rural and urban markets. It can be of the following types – Rural marketing can be urban to rural – urban marketing in rural areas, viz. consumer durables, fast moving consumer goods etc. It can be rural to urban – marketing of agricultural produce in urban areas. In this process, there are intermediaries like middlemen, govt. agencies etc. between the rural sellers and urban buyers. It can also be rural to rural – rural marketing in rural areas. In order to deeply and effectively penetrate into the market an entrepreneur must firstly understand that the social construct in a village is lot different than in a city. People in villages do not understand brands and to them celebrity endorsements are a driving force. Their consumer patterns indicate that they prefer purchasing in small quantities. To understand that one needs to know the profile of a rural customer. WHO IS A RURAL CUSTOMER? After conducting various research studies, the INDIAN MARKET RESEARCH BUREAU (IMRB) and the NATIONAL COUNCIL for APPLIED ECONOMIC RESEARCH (NCAER) have concluded that the profile of the rural consumer has the following attributes – The purchasing power of the rural buyer is lower than that of his urban counterpart due to lesser sources of income. This means that the standard of living there is also low. Literacy rates in rural areas are very low. Only a quarter of the rural population knows how to read and write. In these circumstances visual mediums, demonstrations etc. work better than posters, hand-outs etc. Most of the 700 million villagers in India are spread out amongst the 7 lakh villages in India. So reaching out to them in remote areas becomes a difficulty. Culturally, villagers are traditional in their outlook and have shown traits of understanding messages that connect to their culture faster. They further, speak regional languages and hence, it is better to convey the message to them in their languages. They are mostly engaged in agriculture for employment. And, patterns reveal that they are influenced by healthcare employees, bank employees, panchayat members, teachers etc. Rural people identify with various media vehicles like the TV, radio, theatre etc. These factors must be fully understood before venturing into the rural markets. CHALLENGES IN RURAL MARKETING Although lucrative as it may seem, the rural market is not without flaws. There are challenges that pose a roadblock to the process. The first bottleneck you will surely encounter is the problem of availability. Given the fact that the rural geographical construct is spread over 3 million sq. kms., it becomes very difficult to market a product in every corner of Indian villages. Poor infrastructure adds to the problem. Success stories includes Hindustan Levers Ltd. who have used local transportation to reach out to villages, LG Electronics who have used various strategies, Coca Cola India Ltd. who eyes the rural market as a imminent future resource. Another problem is that of affordability. Rural markets demand smaller quantities of products. They are also host to various smaller brand value products like say, Britannia Tiger biscuits, or LG’s Sampoorna color TVs etc. keeping this in mind companies have designed packets containing smaller quantities. E.g. Coca Cola’s new 200ml. bottle costing Rs. 5. Then there’s the problem of acceptability. Products must be designed to suit rural demands in order to be successful. A successful example is that of the Sampoorna color TVs that LG designed for the rural buyer in 1998. It was a low cost color TV that was a throwaway hit selling almost 1 lakh pieces in the first year. Advertisements like that of Perk featuring Rani Mukherjee, of Coca Cola featuring Amir Khan in rural surroundings indicate that these products are doing successfully in rural areas. Venturing entrepreneurs must be also wary of lack of awareness. The difficulty is in reaching out to the consumer because it is said that around two-fifths of the entire rural population is unreachable by any media vehicle, be it TV, radio, theatres etc. So it is important to tap in opportunities like haats, melas etc. Faulty storage facilities combined with a poor distribution system also add to the problem. Moreover, the presence of counterfeit brands and seasonal demand are other problems in this regard. RURAL MARKETING STRATEGIES Keeping in mind the rural consumer’s profile and the bottlenecks in reaching them, the following are types of strategies that are employed. Client and location specific promotion - involves a strategy designed to be suitable to the location and the client.
Joint or cooperative promotion - this strategy involves participation
between the marketing agencies and the client.
Bundling of inputs - several related items are sold to the target client, including arrangements of credit, after-sale service, and so on.
Partnership for sustainability - involves laying and building a foundation
for continuous and long lasting relationship.
Various effective marketing tools include mobile advertising, mobile vans, e-
Choupals, door to door advertising, rural events, product demonstrations, free samples etc. CONCLUSION The Indian rural market is today fast growing at 25% annually. Around 68% of the rural market is found in villages with a population less than 1000. Where only 65 million mobile users are found in urban areas, around 135 million more users are found in villages. Demand for urban consumer products like washing machine, coolers, and air conditioners are lately increasing in rural areas. There are many factors leading to an increase in demands from the rural sector, such as, changes in habits, lifestyles, tastes, economic power, increase in literacy levels, increase in income, development of infrastructural facilities. Moreover, by venturing into these remote markets, corporate India can also extend its philanthropic help to rural area through corporate social responsibility and thereby help the government in developing these areas.
