Rural Product Strategy

Introduction

Marketing Mix Challenges A re-look from the rural perspective

Availability

Awareness

Product

Acceptability

Affordability

Availabili ty

Affordabil ity
consumers.

With low disposable incomes products need to affordable to rural Most of them are daily wage earners. Some companies addressed the problem by introducing small unit parks

50gm pack for Rs 2

200ml coke bottle for Rs 9

A cheaper substitute of RASNA for villagers at Rs 5

Acceptabi lity
There is a need to offer products that suit the rural market. LG Electronics reaped rich dividends by doing so. Launched a customized television Sampoorna Coca Cola provides low cost ice-boxes as lack of electricity in rural areas

 Large

Awaren ess
parts are

inaccessible

to

conventional media. Only 41% have

access to television.
Outing confined to local fairs and festivals. Television viewing to state owned channel- Doordarshan. HUL relies on its own company organized media. Godrej uses radio to reach people in their own language.

FMCG Consumer Durables Agri Goods

Toiletries,Cosmetics,foods and beverages,footwear etc (Consumable goods) HLL,Dabur,Marico,ColgatePalmolive,Nirma,CavinCare and Colgate are the major players in FMCG

Durable goods includes products like home appliances , automobiles , watches , furniture etc. Usha,Bajaj,Philips,Titan,Onida,hero Honda,Mahindra & Mahindra are major players of consumer durables.
Goods used for farm activities such as seeds,fertilizers,pesticides,insecticides and implements. Rallis India , Monsanto , DCM Shriram , IFFCO are the major players in rural sector.

Servi ces

Telecomms,Transport,Health care,banking,insurance and education. LIC , SBI , BSNL , ICICI are major players of this segment.

A Rural market is ready to develop after carefully segmented to launch appropriate new products. Product development involves four stages : Idea generation Concept testing Product development and finally Test marketing

Customer Adoption Process

Adoption is slow due to lack of awareness about the new products and resistance to trying new product due to lack of demonstration. The sarpanch , School Teacher , and Salaried people who get access to media become the opinion leaders to the potential buyers.

Product Life Cycle

o Many products that enter rural markets without serious planning die out soon. o The strategies remain same but customer acceptance,innovations,price propsition and the nature of the product affect the demand. o The decline of products in rural is slow; It has hastened sometimes due to technological advancement. The product mix in rural market is Simple , mostly only one product of a particular company registers its availability on rural shelves due to ; limitations of investments in stocks, slow movement and replenishment of stocks, dominance of retailer in the rural market Exceptions- HUL, Dabur

Product Mix

 Plays significant role as it is associated with Affordability Ability To Recognize Convenience Of Usage Product Appeal Needs special focus because of Poor transport system Difficulties of safe storage Poor facilities

Rural Packaging

Marketers Consideration While Packaging

Packaging Aesthetics

Branding in Rural

Brand Building In Rural India

Fake Brands

The Fakes Market

Colour scheme on the packaging material closely resembles packaging of a popular brand. Eg. Shagun for Lifebuoy , Lalita Amla for Dabur Amla.

Exact Replicas of the Original Brand. All the details mentioned in the wrapper are exactly the same.

Package Color and Design is very similar to the original brand. Names are cleverly and subtly misspelled. Eg . Paracute for Parachute.Poms for Ponds.

Fake Brands Images

STRATEGI ES

There is a trade-off between Quality a customer perceives and a company wants to communicate. A rural Indian customer always wants value for money with the satisfactory perception made by them. It is important to sell the concept of quality with proper communication .Hence it is delivered in respected languages.

Villagers are constantly looking forward for new branded products. What can one infer from these incidents, is the paradigm changing and customer no longer price sensitive? Indian customer was never price sensitive, but they want value for money.

Cultural values play major role in deciding what to buy.Moreover, rural people are emotional and sensitive.

Due to lack of awareness of media penetration , Companies should use the heads or the Sarpanch for Print ads in their respective villages.

Penetrating product in deep down villages can be helpful if the product Is given a local languaged name ,Brand name being same.

Rikshaws , Cartwheels ,BiCycles ,Tricycles etc can be used to penetrate from small town wholesale outlets to far flung villages.

Melas are places where villagers gather once a while for recreation and amusement.A good platform to introduce new products. Paintings of product with attractive bright colors .

Conclusion