Sunday, February 1, 2015

Rural Marketing

Defining Rural Markets
The census of India defines any habitation with population density of less than 400 per square km, where at least 75% of male population is engaged in agriculture and where there exists no municipality or board, as a rural habitation.
The rural marketing mix – the 4 A’s
Affordability
Availability
Awareness
Acceptability
The evolution of rural marketing
Phase 1 (prior to the 1960’s)
The term rural marketing referred to the marketing of rural products in rural and urban areas
Marketing of agricultural inputs in rural areas

Phase 2 (1960s – 1980s)
The green revolution changed the face of rural India, ushering in scientific farming practices
Better irrigation facilities, use of fertilizers, pesticides, high yield variety seeds
Newer implements like tractors, power tillers, harvesters, pump sets, sprinklers were used
The white revolution initiated for self sufficiency in milk production
Marketing of agricultural inputs increased
Emergence of companies like Mahindra & Mahindra, escorts, eicher, shriram fertilizers, IFFCO etc.
Promotion of rural products to urban markets increased by promoting KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission), weaver society, handicrafts emporia etc.
Govt. promoted rural industries through “gram shree melas”, “shilp melas” etc.
In this phase few FMCG companies began establishing a distribution network in the rural segment.
In 1970 NIRMA became the first company to initiate and produce products for rural consumers.
Home appliances companies like Usha, Philips and Murphy also came into the picture
Phase 3 (1990’s – 2000)
We have witnessed a positive growth in rural market due to liberalization policies of govt.
Rural market potential was visible as growth in rural infrastructure
Rural markets were very accessible due to no. of govt. schemes to promote rural products and reach of mnc’s to rural India

Phase 4 (after 2000)
After success of e chaupal and project shakti , rural marketing geared up with a great pace.
In this phase number of fmcg , automobile and other companies have realized the potential of rural markets and market their products aggressively in rural areas.
Rural products also gain significance growth with the development of infrastructure specially growth in logistics.

The rural environment
The demographic environment
Rural population –
grown by 200 million(20 crore) in last two decades
still around 70% of Indian population leaves in rural areas
Family structure –
Traditionally joint family but gradually changing to nuclear model
Age – 35% of rural population is in the age of 15-34 years
Education – 20% of the rural population is SSC/HSC pass out. Literacy 63%
Occupation – agriculture is the principal occupation but there is a increase in shop/trade, skilled job, salaried jobs etc.
Landownership - 94 % of small farmers owned around 63% of farming land in India

The physical environment
Settlements –
 scattered and clustered
farmers generally live in abadi (village)
village is generally dominated by a single caste people
the rural housing population
kuccha
semi pucca
pucca

the social and cultural environment
socio cultural regions (SCR) – a socio cultural region (SCR) is a group of districts club together based on linguistic homogeneity, combined with geographical contiguity, financial, economic and administrative homogeneity, and regionalization of culture and lifestyle.
India is divided into 56 SCR. By dividing lager SCR , a total of 90 distinct regions are there in India.

The village community
The village community is generally governed by the council of elders (panchayat). The numerous disputes are solved through panchayat only.
But now trend is changing as more young educated class has started active participation in the village community.
The caste system
Our rural India is highly dominated with this caste system
The political environment
The political environment of rural India is mainly governed by gram sabhas and panchayati raj institutions.

The technological environment
The changes in the rural technological environment is triggered by
a)      Rapid mechanization
b)      The information revolution
c)       Communication technology revolution
The rural economic environment
From slow growth now witnessing a fast growth


The rural economic structure




The rural infrastructure
To built the rural infrastructure gov. introduce a flagship program called “Bharat Nirman”.
Component
Target
Irrigation
To create 10 million hectares of additional irrigation potential
Roads
To provide all weather connectivity to all habitation with over a 1000 population (500 for hilly areas)
Electricity
To provide electricity to 1,25,000 villages (23 million households)
Housing
To construct six million houses
Drinking Water
To provide drinking water to 55067 uncovered habitations by 2009, all habitation with failed sources and water quality problems will be addressed
Telephone Connectivity
To connect all habitations

The government rural employment generation schemes;
a)      The Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA)
b)      The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY)
c)       The Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Yojana (PMRY)
The Consumer Buying Behaviour Model
Marketing Stimuli
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
 
Other Stimuli
Political
Economic
Social
Cultural
Technological
Legal etc.
 
Buyer’s Characteristics
Cultural
Social
Personal
Psychological
 
Buyer’s Decision Process
Problem Recognition
Information Search
Evaluation
Post Purchase Behaviour
 
Buyer’s Decision
Product Choice
Brand Choice
Dealer Choice
Purchase Timing
Purchase

 
 




                                                        





The major factors contributing growth of rural markets are:
a)      The rising middle class young population
b)      Increasing per capita income
c)       Increase in consumption
d)      Increased presence of cable tv in rural areas
e)      Increased presence of telecommunication
f)       Growth in rural infrastructure like roads, transports, electricity etc.
g)      Increased literacy in rural areas
h)      Rise in nuclear families
i)        Govt. schemes

j)        Rising employment opportunities in rural areas etc.

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