Rural marketing

Rural Marketing can be defined as “the process of developing, pricing, promoting and distributing
rural specific products and services leading to consumer satisfaction and achievement of
organizational objectives” It involves the process of delivering better standard of living and quality
of life to rural environment.

Innovation
Innovation may be defined as exploiting new ideas leading to the creation of a new product,
process or service.

Marketing Innovation
"A marketing innovation is the implementation of a new marketing method involving significant
changes in product design or Packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing."

Innovative marketing of products is about leveraging the marketing mix, namely, the four P's:
Product (Design and Packaging), Price, Place and Promotion in ways that has not been before by
the organisation implementing the innovations.

Innovative Rural Marketing Practices

Rural India is considered today as a huge house of untapped marketing opportunities. However,
now it is a two way marketing process. There is inflow of products into rural markets for
production or consumption and there is outflow of products especially agricultural products to
urban areas.

Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination, and initiatives in deriving

greater or different value from available recourses and encompasses all processes by which new
ideas are generated and converted into useful products and services.

Some of the innovative ideas in rural India

CavinKare

It was an important insight in to mass marketing at that time. The successful brands of the company
like Chik, Nile, Meera, Fairever ,Spinz are all good examples. They entered rural India when
people used to wash their hair with soaps .The could communicate well that the use of shampoo
will leave hair silky and soft and there was a revolution. Parle-G Tikki Packs @Rs 2
ICICI BANK

They customized their rural ATMs, so they can operate biometric authentication. ICICI rural
ATMS are battery operated so that power failure is not issue.

Nokia

They developed affordable mobile phones for rural markets with unique features such as local
language capabilities, present 7 time/ call limits e.t.c. They launched a model ‘1208’ which is
priced at Rs.2000 and has special features like colour screen and dust free mats.

Philips

They developed a television model ‘ Vardaan’ for rural market. This television works on the
voltage of 90-270 volts. They could also develop ‘Free Power radio’. This radio does not require
power and battery also.

ITC e-choupal, an initiative by ITC, by which they link to rural farmers via internet for
procurement of agricultural and farm produce.
Godrej ‘Aadhaar’ the rural retail initiative of Godrej Agrovet Ltd, introduced in 2009 was for
staring stores across rural India in the next five years. the new format stores mark the beginning of
a chain which shall form the farmer's Aadhaar for `Unnati, Ghar Sansar & Gaon', a move from
being just a complete agricultural solution provider

INNOVATIONS IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Cold Chain Logistics

Innovative Supply Chain

ITC e‐ Choupal

Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar: reaching out to farmers in rural India

Gyandoot

INNOVATIONS IN TELECOM SECTOR

BSNL-To introduce low Cost tablets in Rural

Tata Teleservices and Ossian Agro Automation-Nano Ganesh

DOT to subsidies Rural Mobile Telephone
INNOVATIONS IN BANKING SECTOR

Kisan Credit Card

HDFC Opens 87 Rural Branches in a day in Punjab & Haryana States

Govt Plans to Cross Merge RRB

Union Bank of India ties with Jain Irrigation

NABRAD cut refinance rate, Launches crop Lots

Corporate Bank to set up Farm Lending