UNIT 2

RURAL RETAILING
INTRODUCTION
Retail and Rural have almost become the buzz word for corporate world and
marketers in India. Rural India has become the land of opportunities of
marketers due to its vast outlook and changing scenario. “India lives in its
Villages” – Mahatma Gandhi This famous observation made by the Father of
the Nation many years ago, still holds true. Villagers comprise the core of
Indian society and also represent the real India. And it is for these villagers that
we need to make sure we build a system that delivers basic social infrastructure
in an effective manner. In order to ensure that the fruits of India's progress are
shared by all sections of the society, the government has identified several
elements of social and economic infrastructure, critical to the quality of life in
rural areas. Well, before we discuss in detail about the services and facilities
being planned and provided by the government, it's important to know what
constitutes the rural sector in India.
Often Rural Marketing is confused with Agricultural Marketing but two are
very different in nature. Rural marketing is also quite different from urban
marketing , the polices and strategies adopted by companies in urban market
cannot be implemented in rural market. Rural market requires entire different
study and approach. Traditionally, rural India was an agrarian economy.
However, this is no longer true, already the non – farm sector accounts for
higher incomes in rural India than the farm sector. This has increased disposable
income in the hands of Rural people and they are willing to spend and follow
latest trends. Rural marketing has become the latest mantra of most corporate.
Companies like Hindustan Lever, Colgate Palmolive, Britannia and even
Multinational Companies (MNCs) like Pepsi, Coca Cola, L.G., Philips, Cavin
Kare are all eyeing rural markets to capture the large Indian market. Coming to
the frame work of Rural Marketing, Rural Marketing broadly involves reaching
the rural customer, understanding their needs and wants, supply of goods and
services to meet their requirements, carrying out after sales service that leads to
customer satisfaction and repeat purchase/sales.
Organized Retailing
With more than 15 million owner manned mom-and-pop stores, India is often
called a nation of shopkeepers. This is referred to as unorganized retailing and
it refers to the traditional formats of low-cost retailing such as the local corner
shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores,
hand carts and pavement vendors, etc. On the other hand, organized
retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers who are
registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the publicly traded
supermarkets, corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the
privately owned large retail businesses.

The face of retailing in India was changed by the emergence of organized retail
formats along with a shift in the Indian consumer’s attitude. The above figure
shows the evolution of the Indian retail market. However, organized retailing in
the Indian markets has mostly been in the urban regions and the overall
Organized Retail Penetration (ORP) is low at 8% (in 2015) showing that a lot of
potential still exists.

Features of Indian Rural Markets

• Large, Diverse and Scattered Market: Rural market in India is large, and
scattered into a number of regions. There may be less number of shops available
to market product.
• Major Income of Rural consumers is from Agriculture: Rural Prosperity is tied
with agriculture prosperity. In the event of a crop failure, the income of the rural
masses is directly affected.
Standard of Living and rising disposable income of the rural customers: It is
known that majority of the rural population lives below poverty line and has
low literacy rate, low per capital income, societal backwardness, low savings,
etc. But the new tax structure, good monsoon, government regulation on pricing
has created disposable incomes. Today the rural customer spends money to get
value and is aware of the happening around him.

• Traditional Outlook: Villages develop slowly and have a traditional outlook.

Change is a continuous process but most rural people accept change gradually.
This is gradually changing due to literacy especially in the youth who have
begun to change the outlook in the villages. • Rising literacy levels: It is
documented that approximately 45% of rural Indians are literate. Hence
awareness has increases and the farmers are well-informed about the world
around them. They are also educating themselves on the new technology around
them and aspiring for a better lifestyle.
• Diverse Socioeconomic background: Due to dispersion of geographical areas
and uneven land fertility, rural people have disparate socioeconomic
background, which ultimately affects the rural market.
• Infrastructure Facilities: The infrastructure facilities like cemented roads,
warehouses, communication system, and financial facilities are inadequate in
rural areas. Hence physical distribution is a challenge to marketers who have
found innovative ways to market their products. As part of planned economic
development, the government is making continuous efforts towards rural
development. In this age of liberalization,
• Privatization and globalization, rural market offers a big attraction to the
marketers to explore markets that are untapped.

Four A's for Rural India

There are four Ps of marketing -- product, price, place and promotion, as
outlined above -- but they can be replaced by a different framework for analysis.
"A number of companies have worked on various elements of the marketing
mix to improve the four A's -- affordability, awareness, availability and
acceptability -- for rural markets," he says. "FMCG companies innovated on
package sizes to introduce low price points. They have customized promotional
strategies for rural markets using local language and talent. Some FMCG
players continue to expand rural penetration [HUL's Project Shakti, Tata Tea's
Gaon Chalo]. Coca-Cola's Parivartan program has trained more than 6,000
retailers to display and stock products. Dabur has created a training module
ASTRA [advanced sales training for retail ascendance] in several regional
languages. A number of auto companies have launched rural-specific
campaigns."

1. Acceptability- The first important component of the marketing mix is

acceptability for the product. Marketing products in rural areas requires
companies to customize their offerings to meet the requirements of the rural
consumers. In the rural markets, consumers look for the functionality of the
product and value for their money, whereas their urban counterparts are
considered to be mindful of the design, size, and additional features of the
product. It is imperative for companies to customize their products as per the
needs of the consumers and provide solution for the same. The rural
consumers should be able to see that there is a value for the product and it
delivers a purpose. As a result, they will go an extra mile and spend excess
amount for the product.
The rural consumers are price sensitive; it therefore becomes vital for
marketers to carry out a detailed research on the needs, wants, and desires
of the rural consumers along with understanding their pattern of income. The
pattern of income is important to ascertain for companies as the rural income
is seasonal. Companies can then fine tune their products to meet their needs.
It is also important to know that rural consumers do not compromise on the
quality of the product. Products that are of low cost and good quality are
likely to succeed in the rural areas
 2. Affordability- The second important component of the marketing mix is the
affordability. Affordability refers to the purchasing power of the consumers.
Rural consumers do not look for elegant and complicated features in products.
They are interested in the functions of the products. They are willing to pay
extra out of their pockets only when the product is worth the value for their
hard-earned money. Although the disposable income of rural consumers is low,
this doesn’t mean that they will purchase products of low quality. The pricing
decision is important as companies need to consider not only the income of the
consumers, but also the pattern of seasonal income, as farmers get considerable
amount of their income during the harvest season. Marketers have to consider
pricing their products by keeping in mind the affordability as well as ensure that
they are within the buying capacity of the consumers. Companies like
Hindustan Lever were first among the MNCs to understand the potential of the
rural consumers. The company launched Life Buoy soap at Rs. 2 for 50 g. Some
of the products like Sunsilk, Head & Shoulders, and Colgate cost around Rs. 1
and Rs. 2 for sachets. Coco-Cola introduced returnable glass bottles at Rs. 5,
following which the company launched refill in the form of powdered soft drink
concentrate that is available in two variants single and multi-serve packets.
Smokeless Chandu stove was introduced by Philips Company

3. Availability- The third important component of the marketing mix is the

availability of products and services. India is a land of villages with nearly 6,
40,867 villages that are spread across 3.3 million sq. km. 833.1 million Indians
live in villages. People are spread across the length and breadth of the country
and residing in remote villages that makes it difficult to find them. The marketer
has to first target villages with a population size over 5000, as reaching remote
villages is far reaching due to the poor conditions of roads. Some of them are
kuccha and not usable during rainy seasons. To make products available to
consumers, companies use various methods like hub and spoke system, direct
selling, syndicated distribution, and setting up stalls in melas. To service remote
villages, stockists use auto rickshaws, bullock carts, and even boats in
backwaters in Kerala. Coco-Cola has developed the hub-spoke distribution
model to reach villages. Philips covered 540 districts across India by carrying
out product-wise mapping to ensure availability of their products. Philips has
one of the largest distribution networks to deliver its products in retail outlets.
Over the years, India’s largest MNC like HUL has been able to build a strong
distribution channel to ensure its brands reach remote villages and it is able to
cater to the needs of the consumers. HUL has used the hub-andspoke model to
distribute products to interior of villages as well as introduced project Shakti.
Project Shakti is a rural distribution enterprise of HUL that targets population
size of more than 5000. HUL is linked to Self Help Groups (SHGs) for business
opportunities. These groups often consist of 15-20 members that buy small items
like soaps or detergents and sell them directly to consumers. This is a win-win
situation as HUL is able to reach to the mediadark regions as well as provide
employment opportunities to women thereby creating women empowerment.
 These women are called Shaktiammas. ‘Shakti’ means power and ‘amma’ means
mother in the language spoken in Andhra Pradesh where the project was first
initiated. In addition to Shaktiammas, HUL decided to make use of men folk
from the Shaktiammas families. This will expand the market reach of products to
2,00,000 taking the total up to 5,00,000 villages.
The Shaktimaans are provided with bicycle and products to be sold in a vicinity
of 5-km radius. Top performing Shaktiammas, i.e., the top 20,000 of them, are
given an option to work along with their men folk. In addition to Shaktiammas,
HUL’s decision to expand its distribution makes use of geo tagging to understand
how far villages are from the nearest highways and distributors who are located
close by in order to make products available at retail outlets. With the help of
these maps, HUL also came up with effective routes for their distributors to
travel and service remote villages.
4. Awareness- The fourth important component is the awareness about products
and services. Only 41% of the rural population has access to television.
Therefore, it becomes a challenge to build a brand in the rural areas. It is
imperative for marketers to build awareness by designing messages that are
understood by the rural audiences in various parts of the country. There are many
alternatives available for companies to create awareness like showcasing the
products in melas, road shows as rural consumer’s preferences, and activities
vary from their urban counterparts. Rural consumers prefer going out, attending
festivals, melas, fun fairs, etc. The television viewing of the rural audiences is
limited to Doordarshan channel. The rural folks are information hungry but
entertainment starved. In villages, entertainment is limited. This gives companies
an upper hand in designing their messages that are eye catching and entertaining
to help create awareness among people about the launch of the latest products.
This also help in increasing the sales for the company. Messages can be
customized to the local languages of the people to be more effective in conveying
details about the features of the product.
It becomes essential that elements like pictures, colours, logos, and taglines are
designed as per the understanding of the rural consumers. As the literacy levels
are low of people in rural areas, this will help those who do not understand
English to easily identify the product by the pictures/symbols printed on the
products while they make purchases at retail stores. The design on the products
will make the products look attractive. In addition, the rural people will be able to
differentiate between spurious products and original products.

Organized Retailing in Rural Indian Markets

The unorganized retailers hold advantages such as being personal, strong
relationships, serving as points of news, offering credit and helping the people
in difficult times. Further, they understand the local requirements and offer low
prices as they have low overheads. By 2012, urban Indian markets was where
85% of the organized retailing took place in India. However, with a lot of
foreign players entering, limited and expensive desirable real estate and foreign
investment restrictions have pushed the India’s retail market closer to maturity.
The rural Indian market on the other hand, consists of 833,087,662 people
(68.84% of total) living in around 6,40,867 villages. Development of the rural
market began after the Green Revolution when the demand for farm inputs like
hybrids seeds and fertilisers began rising. Yet only a small part of the vast rural
market remains covered by organized retailers such as DCM Shriram’s Hariyali,
HUL’s Project Shakti and ITC’s e-Choupal. The following figure shows the
evolution of the different retailing formats in the rural markets:

Organized retailing offers certain advantages such as operating in a large scale

with multiple outlets, being highly efficient and hold high bargaining power
over suppliers due to their volume purchases. In addition to these advantages,
following are some drivers which are fueling organized retailing in the rural
markets:
Organized retailing offers certain advantages such as operating in a large scale
with multiple outlets, being highly efficient and hold high bargaining power
over suppliers due to their volume purchases. In addition to these advantages,
following are some drivers which are fueling organized retailing in the rural
markets.
SWOT ANALYSIS OF INDIAN RURAL RETAIL MARKET
Strength
• 70 % of India's population lives in 627000 villages in rural areas
• At the highest income level there are 2.3 million urban households as
against 1.6 million households in rural areas
• Middle and high-income households in rural India is expected to grow
from 80 million to 111 million by 2007.
• In urban India, the same is expected to grow from 46million to 59 million.
Thus, the absolute size of rural India is expected to be double that of urban
India.
• Young Population,
• Increasing purchasing power
Weakness
• Large and Scattered market
• Major income from agriculture
• Low standard of living
• Traditional Outlook
• Diverse socio-economic backwardness
• Infrastructure Facilities
• Lack of Proper Physical Communication Facilities
• Many Languages and Dialects
• Dispersed Market
• Low Per Capita Income
• Low Levels of Literacy
• Prevalence of spurious brands and seasonal demand
• Different way of thinking
Opportunity
• 3 times more families lives in Rural India,
• Rural India has a large consuming class with 41 per cent of India's
middle-class and 58 per cent of the total disposable income.
• There purchasing power is increasing,
• Exposure and increase in literacy rates will open market further,
• Govt. focus on agricultural policies will increase in rural earning,
• Population is becoming brand conscious,
Threat
• Improper / Oversupply of the format in same key market.
• Shifting of young generation from rural to urban cities,
• Entry of small time players
• Study on buying behavior of rural consumer indicates that the rural
retailers influences 35% of purchase occasions. ,
• Underdeveloped People and Underdeveloped Markets: The number of
people below poverty line has not decreased in any appreciable manner.
Thus underdeveloped people and consequently underdeveloped market by
and large characterize the rural markets. Vast majorities of the rural
people are tradition bound, fatalistic and believe in old customs, traditions,
habits, taboos and practices.
• Substitution : Direct distribution model- HLL Shakti, Mobile Model-
HLL Project Bharat,

RURAL RETAIL SCENARIO

Our nation has around 450 districts, and approximately 6,00,000 villages, which
can be segmented under different parameters such as literacy levels,
accessibility and income levels. India's rural markets are growing at double the
rate of urban markets.,The total number of rural households is expected to rise
from 135 million in 200 1-02 to 153 million I in 2009-10, giving a tremendous
push to rural retail opportunity. Rural areas in India increasingly reflect the
growing purchasing power, changing consumption patterns, increased access to
information and communication technology and improved infrastructure.
Government has initiated rural development programs which provide
employment opportunities to mral poor. The infrastructure in rural areas is
being developed. Roads are being built which connect villages to nearby towns.
Electrification orograms are being initiated. The Indian rural retail opportunity
is currently estimated to 9 5 )e in excess of Rs. 1400 billion (approximately
US$34 billion).
Rural Retails Facts
Rural India is huge with a large market and great opportunities. A few of the
fallowing statistics will make this clear. Roughly 70 % of India's population
lives in 6,00,000 villages in rural mas. According to the NCAER study, there
are almost twice .as many 'lower middle income' households in rural areas as in
the urban areas. There are 2.3 million urban households in Upper Income class
as against 1.6 million households in rural areas. Middle and Upper-income
households in rural India are expected to be around 11 1 million in 2007. In
urban India, the same is expected to be around 59 million. Thus, there are about
twice as many household in rural India with similar purchasing capacity.
Salient Features .
The rural malls purchase directly from manufacturers and sell them directly to
the consumers; High quality products are sold at discounted prices and this
helps to bind the consumers to them. A majority of these malls act as two way
supply chain. As mentioned earlier, the farmers not only offload their harvest
here but also make their purchases from here. Customers coming to these malls
are assured genuine products. - Both known brands and recently launched
products are sold side by side. They have a great potential from the tourism
point of view as it combines shopping, entertainment and good food.

RURAL RETAILING FORMATS

, India's largely rural population has also caught the eye of large retailers
looking for new areas of growth. Organised retail chains are establishing their
operations in rural India. They are innovating new formats to meet the needs of
rural India. ITC launched the country's first rural mall ' Chaupal Sagar' , offering
a diverse product range from FMCG to electronics appliances to automobiles,
attempting to provide farmers a onestop destination for all of their needs. ITC's
e-chaupals have revolutionized distribution of.farm produce. They offer advice
to farmers on crop yield and farming practices and guide then1 to get best prices
for the farm produce.
There has been yet another initiative by the DCM Shriram Group called the '
Hariyali Bazaar' , that was initially started off by providing fium related inputs
and services but plans to introduce the conlplete shopping basket in due course.
DCM Shriram launched its Hariyali Kisan Bapar in 9002 in Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarahhand. It has more than 70
stores with an average store area of 9000-10000 square feet. These stores serve
a catchment area with a radius of 25 kilometres.
Tata Chemicals too launched its Tata Kisan Sansar (TKS) in Punjab, Haryana,
UP, Bihar, West Bengal and has already more than 800 TKS franchisees with
an average store area.of 300 sq. ft and catchment area of over 10 km. Even
public sector companies entered the fray. Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC) rural
retail initiative was launched last year in UP, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka and Bihar with more than 1,400 stores and an average store
area of 4,400 sq. ft attracting customers from a catchment area covering a radius
of 10-15 km. Reliance Retail's Rural Hubs (procuringcum-processing hub &
one-stop farmer shop) has plans for Punjab, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra
Pradesh and Gujarat. Pantaloons also plans a similar procuring-cumprocessing
hub for setting up farm input malls in rural areas.
Scope
This study looks at various secondary sources of information regarding the
major players involved in organized retailing in the rural Indian markets. An
analysis of their marketing mix along with their strategies is done and the
opportunities and challenges for retailing in these markets are identified.
Following are the organized retailing entities covered as a part of this study:

1. Godrej Aadhaar
2. ITC e-Choupal & Caupal Sagar
3. HUL Shakti
4. DSCL Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar

Challenges in Rural Market

At present, three out of four of country’s consumers are in rural market and
one-half of national income is generated there. A number of corporate units
have been trying to get grip on the rural market in a variety of ways. There is no
doubt that rural market reveals opportunities and great attraction to marketers.
But, it not as easy as it seems on surface. It is not so simple to enter and succeed
in this market in a smooth way. This market poses a variety of challenges, and,
therefore, the marketer has to work hard to tackle these challenges tactfully. A
company planning to enter and/or expand rural market must consider these
problems seriously.
SOME OF GENUINE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH RURAL MARKET
INCLUDE
Wide and Scattered Market: Wide and scattered market is difficult to reach
in both the aspects – promotion and distribution. Rural India is spread in the
entire county in around 6 lakhs villages of different sizes while urban
population is concentrated in around 3200 cities. Most of villages are extremely
small with population less than 500 people. Only one percent (6300) villages
have a population of more than 5000. It is challenging tasks to choose target
markets and to serve them effectively.
Problem of Designing Products Products sold successfully in urban markets,
may not necessarily be successful in the rural markets due to difference in
utility value of the products. Mind-set of rural segments seems quite astonishing
and different. Existence of considerable heterogeneity among rural folks poses
challenges for marketers to incorporate their uneven expectations in the
products.
Transportation Bottleneck Transportation is the nerve centre for any type of
business. Most of villages are not properly connected with main roads. Every
year during monsoon thousands of villages are disconnected for a longer time.
Lack of proper transportation hinders marketing activities. Agro-based products
cannot be sent to marketing centres, and industrial products cannot be supplied
to rural population safely in time. In certain areas, even construction of road or
railway is difficult to construct and maintain.
Seasonal and Irregular Demand Rural demand is characterized as seasonal
and irregular. So, companies cannot concentrate on rural segments as it is
difficult to plan. In the same way, demand depends on income of rural
customers, and income is quite uncertain because they depend on agriculture,
and agriculture depends on monsoon.
Uncertain and Unpredictable Market Market response is difficult to scale.
They don’t have stable and predicted behaviour. In such a situation, the
effective marketing strategies do not make a sense. Rapid changes are difficult
to incorporate and, hence, there are more chances to suffer. Overwhelming
response of rural population to some products experiences sudden fall. Market
planning remains ever challenging in rural segments.
Low Living Standards Rural customers have low income, low purchasing
power, low literacy rate, and, therefore, low standard of living. But, picture is
now changing and marketers can have better opportunities than ever. Low
standard of living restricts their buying ability and pace of adopting products.
Lethargic Life Style Lack of desire for a new life style is most critical issue for
a marketer. They cannot be easily convinced to try, use and adopt certain
products with better qualities and innovative features Product modification does
not create desirable and positive effects on rural folks. Customs, established
beliefs, superstitions, etc., restrict their behaviour. Unfortunately, their opinion
leaders lack scientific approach. Innovative and superior products are difficult
to be introduced successfully in rural areas.
Language Problem Language is a main constrains in communication
strategies. Multiplicity of languages spoken in rural areas makes marketing
activities difficult. Languages differ from state to state, and area to area in the
same state. While designing advertising, personal selling, and publicity
strategies, marketers cannot fulfil linguistic expectation of all rural people.
Promotion programme always lacks versatility.
Urban Marketers v/s Rural Customers: The executives in companies cannot
understand the consumer psychology of rural markets. Lack of awareness and
understanding about consumer behaviour in rural markets create problems in
formulating marketing strategies. Rural and urban customers significantly differ
in terms of habits, tastes, uses, preferences, and other such aspects. So, any
attempt to satisfy rural customers with urban mind (marketing executives born
and brought-up in urban climate) results into vain endeavour.
Backwardness Rural customers are economically backward. More than 30 per
cent of the rural masses live below the poverty line. Poverty confines them to
spend even for basic necessities. Backwardness also affects their mentality to
change. Their poor purchasing power and rigidity are main constraints for
marketers to serve them.
High Inventory Costs Since rural demand is limited and uncertain, an effective
inventory management is difficult. Besides, the retailers serving in rural areas
don’t have adequate knowledge and aptitude to decide optimum inventory.
Unnecessary stocks cut their profit margin, and they lose customers in case of
inadequate stocks.
Inadequate Marketing Support Normally, producers and wholesalers do not
extend full support to rural retailers in terms of liberal credit, financial
assistance, and other facilities that they offer to traders of urban areas. In same
way, rural customers and retailers are not given adequate space in designing
overall marketing programme.
Distribution problem Effective distribution requires village-level shopkeeper,
toluka-level wholesaler/dealer, district-level stockist/distributor, and company-
owned depot at state level. These many tiers increase the cost of distribution.
Rural markets typically signify complex logistical challenges that directly
translate into high distribution costs. Bad roads, inadequate warehousing and
lack of good distributors pose as major problems to the marketers. Out of the
above all the biggest challenge what marketers face is making products
available i.e distribution. Due to various constrains like poor road connectivity,
high cost, widely scattered area have thrown biggest challenge in front of
marketers to make product timely available for rural market. In this training
existing retail store owners and developing new stores will help in making
inroads deeper into rural markets.
Rural Retailing – Prospects and Challenges
The rural section of the Indian economy is growing at a rate of 8-10% per
annum and expected to add new consumption of 100 billion over the period
2012-2017 to the current base of US$ 240-250 billion. The some leading
opportunity sectors and indicators are listed below. Automobile- Rural India
accounts 35% of automobile industry sales, led by demand for two-wheelers,
entrylevel cars and tractors. FMCG (fast moving consumer goods)- Rural
consumers spend around 13 percent of their income, the second highest after
food on fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), as per a RMAI study.
Telecommunication- A joint Confederation of Indian Industries and Ernst &
Young report reveals that of the next 250 million wireless users, approximately
100 million (40 %) of it belongs to rural areas, and by 2012, rural users will
account for over 60 total telecom benefactor base in India. In a bid to acquire
rural benefactor, most Indian telecom operators have been started investing in
infrastructure to roll out their services in these areas.
Rural marketing communication is going to appear in a big way as the of smart
phones are expected to grow two fold. Internet & e-Commerce- In a step to
increase Internet introduction in rural India, the Government of India (GoI) will
create more 250,000 nodes for broadband by 2016 that will serve more than 6.0
lakh villages. Consumer Durables- India will be the fifth largest consumer
durable market in the world by 2025. Both Urban and rural markets are equally
contributing in its growth with rural market having a upper hand in it. Food and
Grocery- With changing lifestyle due to exposure and awareness in rural
markets the food and grocery market will grow two fold by 2020.
Today “Go Rural” is the tagline of every marketer. Earlier, rural markets
remained untapped and unexplored owing to the literacy levels of consumers,
low income levels, low demand for branded products, etc. With the urban
markets reaching their saturation point and the rural markets experiencing a
profound change in terms of size of demand, higher incomes, and change in
lifestyle and preferences, these markets are posing great opportunities for
companies and marketers have understood that there is great potential to explore
an untapped market. Marketers entering the rural market with strategies
incorporated for the urban market will be highly unsuccessful for the simple
reason that rural markets as a segment are a heterogeneous market. The rural
markets vary drastically from the urban markets. It is crucial for companies to
conduct a detailed research before entering the market to design the right
marketing mix for the rural markets. The marketing mix is an important element
in marketing. It requires to be planned in advance to reap benefits. The 4 ‘A’s of
the rural marketing mix are of paramount importance in rural markets.
Companies have to understand each component of the mix to customize their
offerings to suit the needs of rural consumers; this will come a long way for
companies in helping themselves develop different strategies that have to be
adopted by re-engineering and adjusting to the dynamics of rural markets. So
that they are able to cater to the consumers by providing right products, at the
right price, creating awareness through the right promotional strategy and
ensuring the products are available at the right place. The 4 ‘P’s are tools that
have to be fine-tuned to the rural market along with the 4 ‘A’s model to be
successful in the rural markets.