RURALMARKETING

In the India context, the word RURAL is so much associated with agriculture and farmers that rural marketing tends to be seen as a marketing of inputs or outputs related to agriculture.

What is Rural Marketing?

Rural marketing is a function which manages all those activates involved in assessing, stimulating and converting the purchasing power into an effective demand for specific products and services, and moving them to the people in rural area to create satisfaction and a standard of living to them and thereby achieves the goals of the organization.

 Rural marketing involves the process of developing, pricing, promoting, distributing rural specific product and a service leading to exchange between rural and urban market which satisfies consumer demand and also achieves organizational objectives.

It is a two-way marketing process wherein the transactions can be: Urban to Rural: A major part of rural marketing falls into this category. It involves the selling of products and services by urban marketers in rural areas. Rural to Urban: Transactions in this category basically fall under agricultural marketing where a rural producer seeks to sell his produce in an urban market. An agent or a middleman plays a crucial role in the marketing process. Rural to Rural: This includes the activities that take place between two villages in close proximity to each other. The transactions relate to the areas of expertise the particular village has

Nature of Rural Market

Large, Diverse and Scattered Market Major Income of Rural consumers is from Agriculture Traditional Outlook

Rising literacy levels

Diverse socioeconomic background

Infrastructure Facilities

Segmentation

Factors critical for Segmentation

Differences and variations in climate Development levels electricity, road connectivity Differences in Food habits
North v/s south

Cultural differences
Traditional south v/s outgoing north

Factors critical for Segmentation

Intra region differences caste based village Variation in population size and density Variation on literacy levels
Bihar v/s Kerala

Media exposure levels Differences in income levels and patterns of income flow
Farmers v/s daily wage earners

Comparison of the Lifestyles

Dimensions Urban Rural

Demographics

Private school educated, salary earner, nuclear family, dense population Office jobs, communication driven, shopping, partying Outside eating, fashion, self, holidays, diamond jewellery

Govt. school, self employed, large family, scattered population, Agriculture, physical sports, gossip, cinema, religious functions Milk, bright coloured clothes, gold jewellery, melas, visiting towns

Activities

Interests

The rural consumers are classified into the following groups based on their economic status:
- The Affluent Group: They are cash rich farmers and a very
few in number. They have affordability but not form a demand base large enough for marketing firms to depend on - The Middle Class: This is one of the largest segments for manufactured goods and is fast expanding.

- The Poor: This constitutes a huge segment. Purchasing power is less, but strength is more. They receive the grants from government and reap the benefits of many such schemes and may move towards the middleclass.

Rural Consumer Classification

Affluent
Well Off
Owning 4 wheelers A.C. & or Motor cycle/Fridge/ Colour TV

Climbers
Aspirant Destitutes (poor)

Mixer, sewing machine, Audio equipment

Bicycles, Fans, Irons Mechanical wrist watches, pressure cooker, audio recorder, radio

Challenges

 Widely scattered village

Low -level of literacy. Heterogeneity Language problems

Problems in the Rural Marketing

Unstable & seasonal demands Inadequate Bank & credit facilities Lack of infrastructure

Widely Scattered Village

In spite of accommodating 72.2% of countrys population it is very much very scattered geographically, which is spread in more than six lakh villages. Even within a particular state one can find villages with a population as high as 10,000 & as low as 5 persons

Low Level of Literacy

Rural literacy rate has shown growth over the years but still 50% of population is literate. Low rate of literacy indicate inaccessibility of various media of communications as well as requirement of more visual component in brand name & packaging..

Heterogeneity
There is no uniformity in rural across the country. Each village is a complete social unit by itself with own religion, cultural & social pressures along with huge economic disparities. Due to this, a marketer has to make modification in brand name, packaging, colour etc for the product for different rural areas increasing marketing expenses for the marketer.

Language Diversity
The number of recognized languages is 16 & number of dialects is estimated to be around 8500.On and average every district has more or less its own dialect. This pose a major problem on communication front, to ensure effective communication a marketer should prepare communication message in maximum possible dialects,

Unstable & Seasonal Demand

Demand depends upon crop since it is a main occupation & agricultural yield depends upon weather, hence it is seasonal. Agriculture depends on monsoon, which is unpredictable & adds to risk.

Inadequate Bank & Credit Facility

The rural retailer has a large proportion of the sales on credit. They face problems in financing their sales on credit. Because of problems in financing are unable to carry enough stocks results in a low turnover. Lack of credit facility pose problem on both front, rural retailer as well as consumers

Lack of Infrastructure
Infrastructure comprise of roads, electrification, housing, communication & storage facility. No public warehousing exists in rural India. Bad networks of all season roads, All these factors give an indication of extra effort required on the part of a marketer in terms of cost & time.

4 A Approach

The 4A Approach
The rural market may be attractive but it is not without its problems . Low per capita income that is large number of daily wage earners, Acute dependence on the monsoon Seasonal consumption Poor roads Power problems, & inaccessibility to conventional advertising media.

 Availability Affordability

Place Price

Acceptability Product Awareness Promotion

Availability
The first challenge is to ensure an availability of the products /services. Given the poor state of roads even greater challenge to regularly reach the far flung villages.

Affordability
SECOND CHALLENGE IS TO ENSURE AFFORDABILITY OF THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICE. With low disposable income, products need to be affordable to the rural consumer.

Acceptability
Third challenge is to gain acceptability for the product/service. Need to offer the products /services that suits the rural market

Awareness
With large part of rural India inaccessible to conventional media only 41% rural households have access to TVBUILDING AWARENESS IS ANOTHER PROBLEM.

Types of markets

 Village shop- outlet in village stores very essential manufactured goods, required on daily basis like beedis, cigarettes, tea dust, oil etc. may be offered on credit. Weekly Haats assemble on a fixed day at a particular spot in a specific village. The commodities include agricultural products, toiletries, & other essentials agricultural tools .even livestock.

Primary wholesaler.
Assembly markets/ Mandis market place to sell his agricultural products soon after the harvest Mandis are well-established markets for selling & buying agricultural products with number of market functionaries.

 Rural consumer might purchase consumable items at village shop or haats But will purchase consumer durable items from district headquarters to the town where the primary/secondary markets are located.

Communication Strategy In Rural Market

 Advertising go hand in hand with economic growth. Prior to liberalization, the rural market was sellers market. Due to economic liberalization & increase in rural prosperity, the marketers are interested in informing rural population about the benefits of buying & consuming their products & services.

 Since rural environment is different from urban, hence communicating to potential consumers in rural India is challenging risk. In many cases, advertising communication, which is designed for urban area, is extended to rural area without considering the values & sensitivities of the audience.

This leads to negative perception in the minds of audience.

 A marketer needs to follow a communication mix consisting of specific blend of advertising, sales promotions, personal selling & public relations .The communication in rural India goes beyond these promotional tools. This is because urbanites who are more or less similar rural folks differ from region to region.

Khaitan fans' ad on a horse cart

 The greatest challenge for advertisers and marketers continues to be in finding the right mix that will have a pan-Indian rural appeal. Coca Cola, with their Aamir Khan ad campaign succeeded in providing just that.

"Yaara da Tashan... ads with Aamir Khan created universal appeal for Coca Cola

 "Yaara da Tashan..." ads with Aamir Khan created universal appeal for Coca Cola Coca-Cola India tapped the rural market in a big way when it introduced bottles priced at Rs 5 and backed it with the Aamir Khan ads. The company, on its behalf, has also been investing steadily to build their infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the rural market, which reiterates the fact that this multinational has realised the potential of the rural market is going strength to strength to tap the same.