abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
To understand the way the rural markets work - we need to go to these markets and spend time there in understanding them. We live in surroundings where the things are completely different from what the rural customer experiences. And we can't understand him unless we go and spend time there.
Things like what time does he get up, etc need to be studied and customer needs to be understood. Also these studies need to be passed on so others can also benefit from the ground works done and enhance them further. We need in depth studies of the market, the medium, the message and the rural customer in center of all these to understand the rural markets completely.
The winning combination will be a good product with consistent quality and availability. Once you earn the villagers' loyalty (and they are known for their brand loyalty), it will be difficult for competitors to take away your customers.
• RETAILERS: -For the rural customer the choices available are limited. So the retailer plays a very big role in the purchase decision. Data on rural consumer buying behavior indicates that the rural retailer influences 35% of purchase occasions. The rural customer goes to the same shop always to buy his things.
And there is a very strong bonding in terms of trust between the two. The buying behavior is also such that the customer doesn't ask for the things by brand but like - "paanch rupey waali chaye dena". Now it is on the retailer to push whatever brand he wants to push as they can influence the buyer very easily and very strongly on the preferences. Therefore, sheer product availability can determine brand choice, volumes and market share. Thus distribution is the key factor for the success of rural marketing.
This includes, maintaining favorable trade relations, providing innovative incentives to retailers and organizing demand generation activities among a host of other things.
In rural areas, the place where consumers prefer to shop is very important, because it has been found that they buy their requirements from the same shop. This high shop loyalty is accentuated by the "khata" system, which is widely practiced. Hence, if the product is not available at the place where the consumer shops, he would buy some other available brand.
Things like what time does he get up, etc need to be studied and customer needs to be understood. Also these studies need to be passed on so others can also benefit from the ground works done and enhance them further. We need in depth studies of the market, the medium, the message and the rural customer in center of all these to understand the rural markets completely.
The winning combination will be a good product with consistent quality and availability. Once you earn the villagers' loyalty (and they are known for their brand loyalty), it will be difficult for competitors to take away your customers.
• RETAILERS: -For the rural customer the choices available are limited. So the retailer plays a very big role in the purchase decision. Data on rural consumer buying behavior indicates that the rural retailer influences 35% of purchase occasions. The rural customer goes to the same shop always to buy his things.
And there is a very strong bonding in terms of trust between the two. The buying behavior is also such that the customer doesn't ask for the things by brand but like - "paanch rupey waali chaye dena". Now it is on the retailer to push whatever brand he wants to push as they can influence the buyer very easily and very strongly on the preferences. Therefore, sheer product availability can determine brand choice, volumes and market share. Thus distribution is the key factor for the success of rural marketing.
This includes, maintaining favorable trade relations, providing innovative incentives to retailers and organizing demand generation activities among a host of other things.
In rural areas, the place where consumers prefer to shop is very important, because it has been found that they buy their requirements from the same shop. This high shop loyalty is accentuated by the "khata" system, which is widely practiced. Hence, if the product is not available at the place where the consumer shops, he would buy some other available brand.