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Rural marketing
Rural markets in developing countries like India and Nepal present both challenges and opportunities for marketers. While rural areas have large populations with significant purchasing power, reaching rural customers is difficult due to issues like low incomes, lack of infrastructure, high distribution costs, and cultural and educational barriers. Understanding diverse rural customer needs, behaviors, and preferences is key to success. Marketers must consider appropriate pricing, product attributes, and promotional strategies tailored for each local rural context. Developing effective rural distribution and managing competition are also important strategic challenges for companies operating in rural emerging markets.
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Rural marketing
- 1. Rural Marketing Dr. GopalThapa Tribhuvan University
- 2. Rural Marketing "Whyrural marketing,when there is enough business available in the urban markets even today?" People are afraid of the unknown elements of the rural markets and they feel that different marketing theories and principles would be required in rural marketing.
- 3. Why Rural Marketing? the product price and affordability in the rural markets. With low income levels, the rural buyer is almost considered a non–buyer distribution patterns with problems arising out of lack of p roper transportation, bad roads adding to the irksome “product availability situation”.
- 4. Why Rural Marketing? Reaching out to the rural customer through advertising poses a major problem due to illiterate population and lack of media reach , it is rural mindsets that create a barrier of significant magnitude to put off several prospective rural marketers. rural buyer behaviour is considered to be entirely at variance with the urban mindset.
- 5. Why Rural Marketing? Urban mind has distanced itself from the rural market through the belief that rural marketing needs specialisation for success The entire village scene has been stereotyped with the belief that they are all the same in the entire country. There is yet no attempt at understanding the village buyers and their buying motivations
- 6. Nature and Characteristicsof Rural Market the proof of all production lies in consumption/marketing. Rural Nepal is the real Nepal Rural India is the Real India In terms of the number of people, the Indian rural market is almost twice as large as the entire market of the USA or that of the USSR.
- 7. Nature and Characteristicsof Rural Market Agriculture is main source of income. The income is seasonal in nature. It is fluctuating also as it depends on crop production. Though large, the rural market is geographically scattered. It shows linguistic, religious and cultural diversities and economic disparities. The market is undeveloped, as the people who constitute it still lack adequate purchasing power.
- 8. Nature and Characteristicsof Rural Market It is largely agricultural oriented, with poor standard of living, low-per capital income, and socio-cultural backwardness. It exhibits sharper and varied regional preferences with distinct predilections, habit patterns and behavioral characteristics. Rural marketing process is both a catalyst as well as an outcome of the general rural development process. Initiation and management of social and economic change in the rural sector is the core of the rural marketing process
- 9. Challenges and Opportunities Rural markets, as part of any economy, have untouched potential. There are several difficulties confronting the effort to fully explore rural markets. The concept of rural markets in India is still in evolving shape, and the sector poses a variety of challenges. Distribution costs and no availability of retail outlets are major problems faced by the marketers
- 10. Challenges and Opportunities The success of a brand in the Indian rural market is as unpredictable as rain. Many brands, which should have been successful, have failed miserably. This is because most firms try to extend marketing plans that they use in urban areas to the rural markets. The unique consumption patterns, tastes, and needs of the rural consumers should be analyzed at the product planning stage so that they match the needs of the rural people.
- 11. Main problems Understandingthe Rural Consumer Poor Infrastructure Physical Distribution Channel Management Promotion and Marketing Communication
- 12. caution on thechallenges Distribution and logistics Payment collection Pricing Scaling across geographies Social and cultural challenges
- 13. Rural Products FMCGproducts like cosmetics, food items, cooking oil, kerosene, and medicines Consumer durables like refrigerators, stoves, motor cycles Farm products like tractors, harvesters, seeders, seeds, fertilizers, and diesel, water supply for household use including drinking purposes and for watering farms Services like, health clinics, water supply, electricity, eateries, inns Housing
- 14. Rural Pricing Pricingin rural markets is tricky because the companies spend more on transporting the products as compared to transporting them to the cities. However, the paying power in rural areas is much less. Companies can, therefore, plan to have low cost packaging with a bit of attractive glitter while keeping the product unchanged in most cases
- 15. Product Promotion inRural Markets Products are kept for sale at the grocers’ shops, diesel/kerosene dealers, and tractor repair shops. Besides, companies sell through mobile vans that cover the villages mostly on the days of their weekly markets. These vans carry advertising materials, audio-visual equipments for showing movies besides company’s advertisements and the products for sale, and also samples like shampoo sachets for test marketing of the products
- 16. Rural Promotion Productpromotion in rural markets is done through the vans. Besides, the radio, which has a wide coverage as it covers the entire country geographically, is used. Television reach has increased of late and with better electricity availability it has become a good option, more especially because of its universal appeal. Pamphlets, loudspeaker announcements during weekly markets, mostly on roaming rickshaws, and banners on elephants and camels are used in many areas.
- 17. Income levels inthe rural market High in certain areas for rich land owning farmers Low for farmers with small lands Very low for farm lands and migratory farmers
- 18. Strategic Challenge – UnderstandingCustomers Needs Customers have needs, which are obvious, like the need for food, clothing, and shelter. Some of these needs are explicitly mentioned like the need of a house. However, what is real is the need of the house in a locality close to the farm, school and shopping area. Besides, the unstated need could be of a pucca brick house
- 19. Strategic Challenge – UnderstandingCustomers Needs Firms face the challenges of new competition, both local and global, and of new technologies as they cater to consumers in business-to-business areas and as individuals. In order to ascertain the product needed by the consumers, market research is undertaken, which offers information about the product, price, placement,
- 20. Strategic Challenge – UnderstandingCustomers Needs Since the competition is doing exactly the same, it is the firm with better strategy, which wins. Changes from the earlier concepts of production orientation, to product orientation and later on to market orientation has helped firms in fine tuning their marketing strategies to suit the consumers from their chosen market segment. The concept of providing socially acceptable products, which do not affect the biodiversity, and which are not ecologically degrading the environment is gaining ground rapidly.
- 21. Marketing Relativity through Competition Companies do not operate in vacuum; they have to face and deal with the competitive forces operating in the market. It is, therefore, of paramount importance for companies to know the exact competitive situation, their moves, their strengths and weaknesses, pricing and promotion strategies, channels they use for distribution and their reaction time to the company’s strategic moves like price modifications, introduction of new channels of distribution and advertising thrusts.
- 22. Sources of Competition Firms selling similar products in same volumes to same customers for giving satisfaction of a similar nature. Firms likely to offer alternate solutions for similar problems (the airlines meeting the fare structure of railways is a case in point). Firms getting their R&D operations to bring out innovative uses of existing products or developing new better products giving superior satisfaction to the buyers.
- 23. Unique Selling Proposition A single product benefit well advertised can capture the customers’ imagination and get firmly planted in their psyche. Attitudes, beliefs and purchase decisions are taken due to such mindsets. However, at times multi-benefit communication can be used to further focus the product into the psyche. Products need to be differentiated for achieving distinctive competitive advantage
- 24. Differentiation Product features Service, both sales service and after sales service Quality, both static structure and dynamic specifications Consistency of quality Reliability of product and service Availability of spares and repair facility Customer training in proper use of the product Channel members personnel Advertising campaigns
- 25. Market Scenario inIndia Opening of country’s economy Global competition Better quality products A large variety of models of same products High-tech products New channels of distribution New channels/media for advertising Educated well informed customers, who are aware of their rights
- 26. Change Removal oflicense to manufacture for most products Foreign equity allowed in industries Lower rates of import duty Partial convertibility of rupee Lowering of importance of government/public sector business
- 27. The present scenein India A good number of MNCs have started operating in the country. Some Indian business have obtained foreign technology and finance. Market growth has slowed down worldwide and more so in India. Stock market has been giving shocks with fluctuations and scams. Terrorists have further down swept the market. Advertising and almost continuous promotion has become omnipresent. Job market has slowed down both in India and elsewhere. IT Industry has had a set back. Many firms are busy in down sizing/right sizing their operations