Being A Rural Marketer
Marketing within Rural Areas[/b][/b]
It is possible to evolve effective strategies for rural marketing considering the environment in which the rural market operates. The small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and artisan’s forms the largest segment in rural market where as rich farmers constitutes about one third of rural market.
For rural market, it will be ideal to think of strategies from the marketing mix point of view, main strategies are related to product, price, place and promotion which are described as follows.
Product strategies[/b][/b]
Small unit and low priced packing[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Larger pack sizes are out of reach for rural consumers because of their price and usage habits. This may not be possible in all types of products, but wherever this can be resorted to, the market is bound to expand.
New product designs[/i][/b][/i][/b]
A close observation of rural household items indicates the importance of redesigning or modifying the products. The manufacturing and marketing men can think in terms of new product designs specially meant for rural areas keeping their lifestyles in view.
Sturdy products[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Sturdiness of a product either in terms of weight or appearance is an important fact for rural consumers. The product meant for rural areas should be sturdy enough to stand rough handling and storage.
Brand name[/i][/b][/i][/b]
The rural consumers are more concerned with the utility of the products. The brand name awareness in the rural areas is fairly high. A brand name and/or logo are very essential for rural consumers for it can be easily remembered.
Pricing strategies[/b][/b]
Pricing strategies are very much linked to product strategies.
Low cost/cheap products[/i][/b][/i][/b]
A common strategy being adopted widely by many manufacturing and marketing men. Price can be kept low by small unit packing’s.
Avoid sophisticated packing[/i][/b][/i][/b]
Simple package can be adopted which can bring down the cost as it is presently being done in the case of biscuits. Some innovation in packing technology is very necessary for rural markets.
Refill packs/reusable packaging[/i][/b][/i][/b]
The price can be reduced with this technology. In addition the packaging material used should preferably lend itself for reuse in rural areas. An ideal example in this direction can be the packing of fertilizers. Now companies have started packing fertilizers in LDPE or HDPE sacks, which are not only tamper proof but also reusable.
Distribution strategies[/b][/b]
Most manufacturers and marketing men do have a distribution arrangement for village with a population of at least 5000 people. The distribution strategies that are specifically designed for rural areas are: through co-operative societies, public distribution system, multi-purpose distribution centres, distribution up to feeder markets/mandi towns shanties/hat/jathras/melas, agricultural input dealers etc.
The fact, however, remains that these societies command only a small share of the total markets and do not present any challenge to the private trade at in most places. The non-govemmental organizations can anchor a key role in conscientizing the rural people to form into cooperatives highlighting the possible benefits without being exploited.
COMMUNICATING AND CHANGING QUALITY PERCEPTION[/b][/b]
Companies are coming up with new technology and they are properly communicating it to the customer. There is a trade between Quality a customer perceives and a company wants to communicate. Thus, this positioning of technology is very crucial. The perception of the Indian about the desired product is changing. Now they know the deference between the products and the utilities derived out of it. As a rural Indian customer always wanted value for money with the changed perception, one can notice deference in current market scenario.
CHANGING PERCEPTION
If one go to villages they will see that villagers using Toothpaste, even when they can use Neem or Babool sticks or Gudakhu, villagers are using soaps like Nima rose, Breeze, Cinthol etc. even when they can use locally manufactured very low priced soaps. Villagers are constantly looking forward for new branded products. What can one infer from these incidents, is the paradigm changing and customer no longer price sensitive? Indian customer was never price sensitive, but they want value for money. They are ready to pay premium for the product if the product is some extra utility for the premium.
Rural marketing requires the understanding of the complexities and this article reviews some of the key issues. Indian agricultural industry has been growing at a tremendous pace in the last few decades. The rural areas are consuming a large number of industrial and urban manufactured products. The rural agricultural production and consumption process plays a predominant role in developing the Indian economy. This has designed a new way for understanding a new process called Rural Marketing. The concept of rural marketing has to be distinguished from Agricultural marketing. Marketing is the process of identifying and satisfying customers needs and providing them with adequate after sales service. Rural marketing is different from agricultural marketing, which signees marketing of rural products to the urban consumer or institutional markets. Rural marketing basically deals with delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers, the demand for which is basically a derived outcome. Rural marketing scientists also term it as developmental marketing, as the process of rural marketing involves an urban to rural activity, which in turn is characterized by various peculiarities in terms of nature of market, products and processes. Rural marketing driers from agricultural or consumer products marketing in terms of the nature of transactions, which includes participants, products, modalities, norms and outcomes. The participants in case of Rural Marketing would also be diferent they include input manufacturers, dealers, farmers, 10opinion makers, government agencies and traders. The existing approach to the rural markets has viewed the markets as a homogeneous one, but in practice, there is significant buyer and user diferences across regions as well as within that requires a deferential treatment of the marketing problems.
These differences could be in terms of the type of farmers, type of crops and other agro-climatic conditions. One has to understand the market norms in agricultural input so as to devise good marketing strategies and to avoid unethical practices, which distort the marketing environment. Many of the inputs used for production process have implications for food, health and environmental sectors. Rural marketing needs to combine concerns for a concern for the society, besides being titled towards rural market for agricultural inputs is a case of market pull and not market push.
Most of the jobs of marketing and selling are left to the local dealers and retailers. The market for input gets interlocked with other markets like output, consumer goods, money and labour. The importance of rural marketing can be understood from the fact that today modern inputs i.e. diesel, electricity, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds account for as much as 70Green Revolution areas. Further the percentages were higher at 81of land. Strategic aspects Rural marketing in India is not much developed there are many hindrances in the area of market, product design and positioning, pricing, distribution and promotion. Companies need to understand rural marketing in a broader manner not only to survive and grow in their business, but also a means to the development of the rural economy. One has to have a strategic view of the rural markets so as to know and understand the markets well. In the context of rural marketing one has to understand the manipulation of marketing mix has to be properly understood in terms of product usage. Product usage is central to price, distribution, promotion, branding, company image and more important farmer economics, thus any strategy in rural marketing should be given due attention and importance by understanding the product usage, all elements of marketing mix can be better organized and managed.