Merton [2] distinguishes two types of opinion leadership: monomorphic and polymorphic.

Typically, opinion leadership is viewed as a monomorphic, domain-specific measure of individual differences, that is, a person that is an opinion leader in one field may be a follower in another field [3] [4]. An example of a monomorphic opinion leader in the field of computer technology, might be a neighborhood computer service technician. The technician has access to far more information on this topic than the average consumer and has the requisite background to understand the information, though the same person might be a follower at another field (for example sports) and ask others for advice. In contrast, polymorphic opinion leaders are able to influence others in a broad range of domains. Variants of polymorphic opinion leadership include market mavenism [5], personality strength [6] and generalized opinion leadership. Rural Consumer Behavior: The consumer market in this case is Rural India. About 70% of India's population lives in rural areas. There are more than 600,000 villages in the country as against about 300 cities and 4600 towns. Consumers in this huge segment h ave displayed vast differences in their purchase decisions and the product use. Villagers react differently to different products, colors, sizes, etc. in different parts of India. Thus utmost care in terms of understanding consumer psyche needs to be taken while marketing products to rural India. Thus, it is important to study the thought process t h a t g o e s i n t o making a purchase decision, so that m a r k e t e r s c a n r e a c h t h i s h u g e untapped segment. There are some factors, which influence the rural consumer while they buy something. Factors Social Activities Cultural Background Family Size Influence of Opinion Leader Status in the area Purchasing Power 1.Social Activities: Rural consumer always believe that whatever he buys it should be good, by which he will have a name in the society. They should have a standard than their neighbors. They are conservative and take long time to buy something. It is not easy to influence them. They always believe that it is better to discuss with others before purchase something. 2.Cultural Background: They are very conservative; believe in Traditions, customs, and old rules. Because of all these it is really tough to understand them. They are superstition and before buying any product they check with their elders. If it is in their culture and Traditions then they go for the product. 3.Family Size: The families in rural are market are joint ones. Till now they live in joint families. They check with the family members and discuss everything

before buying any product. It is important to check the size of the family, depending upon this they can go for the product. The family member's discussion influences the purchasing decision. Here the money does not play any role; they go with their decision only. 4.Influence of opinion leaders: Rural consumers believe to take advice from the opinion leaders before buying any product. Opinion leaders are those people who are well educated, go to towns frequently to buy products, School teachers, Head masters, President of the village, youth leader etc. They feel that their opinion leaders will have more idea about the product then others. They influence more on the decision of opinion leaders only. Whatever be the decision of the leader they try to realize on it then they move on to that. 5.Status in the area: Most of the people in rural market buy products according to their status in that area. For Ex: People in the villages of Andhra Pradesh buy products by looking at their status, If he is the president of the village then he buys all the branded and costlier products. Hence depending upon the role and status in the society they like to buy the product. Sometimes to make a show off they buy highly priced and branded products even if it is not in need. 6.Purchasing Power: To buy any product the main factor we look at is the economy nature of the consumer. In rural India most of them are depended upon the agriculture, which is a seasonal demand business. Depending upon the yield only they go for any product. They look at all the factors before buying any product. They look the product features and believe that for low price it should come for long-term usage. Hence it is one of the important factors that companies should take into account before going in the market. 7.Advice of Retailer: Depending upon the relationship with the retailer most of the consumers take their advice and follow it. They believe he is offering them the right choice. They believe he is in the market and knows well, that is the reason they go for the advice of the retailer. If at all he is the new customer also he buys the product depending upon his experience at the retail shop. Apart from the above, there are some other factors in common. The mood of the consumer is good then he buys the product, if he wants to take risk then he will go for it. Hence depending upon the attitude, mood, risk nature, Demo of products they buy the product. Hence if the companies can take care of the above factors then they can sustain in the market for a long time. Eg:: T h e g e o g r a p h i c l o c a t i o n i n w h i c h t h e rural consumer is located also speaks about the thought process o f t h e c o n s u m e r. F o r i n s t a n c e , v i l l a g e s i n S o u t h I n d i a a c c e p t technology quicker than in other parts of India. Thus, HMT sells more winding watches in the north while they sell more quartz watches down south.