What is Rural Marketing and its Salient Features? - Marketing Management (MBA/BBA)(#ggsipu)(#ipumusings)(#bba)(#mbanotes)(#ruralmarketing)(#marketingmanagment)
What is Rural Marketing and its Salient Features? - Marketing Management (MBA/BBA)
(MBA- End Term Paper 2012)
Marketing is identifying the requirements of clients and potential clients giving products /service benefits that satisfy their necessities, and creating and promoting process cycles or frameworks to deliver your product/service to the market when, where, and how customers need it.
Rural marketing involves activities of developing, pricing, promoting, and dispensing rural specific goods and services to rural clients to satisfy their wants and needs, and also to achieve organizational objectives. Rural marketing is a two-way marketing process. There is inflow of merchandise into rural markets for production or intake and there is additionally outflow of merchandise or products to urban areas. The city to rural go with the flow includes agricultural inputs, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) which includes soaps, detergents, cosmetics, textiles, and so on, The rural to city flow includes agricultural produce inclusive of rice, wheat, sugar and cotton. There is also a movement of rural products within rural areas for consumption.
According to Thompson: The study of rural marketing comprises all the operations & the agencies conducting them, involved in the movement of farm produced food, raw materials & their derivatives, such as textiles, form the farm to the final consumers & the effects of such operations on producers, middlemen and consumers.
Features of Rural Marketing:
The main reason why the companies focus on rural market and developing effective strategies is to tap the market potential. Salient features of rural marketing can be summarized as follows:
1. Large and Scattered population:
It is estimated that 70 per cent of India’s population live in rural areas. The rate of increase in rural population is also greater than that of urban population The rural population is scattered in over 6 lakhs villages. The rural population is highly scattered. but holds a big promise for the marketers.
There is a large, impoverished population that still wants and needs consumer goods but cannot pay the prices that the fewer, wealthier consumers in developed nations can. That's why companies offer lower priced goods e.g. P&G developed a single-use shampoo packet for consumers who cannot afford an entire bottle at one time.
2. Higher purchasing capacity:
Purchasing power of the rural people is on the rise. With the advancement of agriculture implements and technology, the average income of farmers increased. Indian Government announced new policies and laws to increase revenue of farmers in forthcoming years. Marketers have realized the potential of rural markets. They are expanding their operations in rural India. In recent years. Rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in purchasing power of rural communities.
3. Market Growth and Less Competition
There is a lot of competition in the Urban market as compared to the rural market. Marketers prefer to move to rural regions to avoid intense market competition. The rural market is growing steadily over the years. Demand for traditional products such as bicycles. mopeds and agricultural inputs; branded products such as toothpaste, tea, soaps and other FMCGs and consumer durables such as refrigerators, TV and washing machines have also grown ever the years.
4. Infrastructure Development and Government Promotional Policies:
There is development of infrastructure facilities such as construction of roads and transportation, communication network, rural electrification and public-service projects in rural India that have increased the scope of rural marketing.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which saw 11 percent increase in average wages at an All India level (Sep vs Mar’20).
5. Low Costs of Standard of living:
The standard of living of rural areas is low a rural consumers have diverse socio-economic backwardness. This is different in different parts of the country. A consumer in.a village area has a low standard of living because of low literacy, low per capita income, social backwardness and low savings.
For example, Godrej offered low-priced refrigerator called 'Chotukool' for rural areas and low-income consumers.
6. Traditional Outlook:
The rural consumer values old customs and traditions. The village population have a tendency to stick to their traditions and are resistant to changes. Gradually, the rural population is changing its demand pattern, specially in rural youth. Technological advancement and changes play a crucial role. However, traditional advertising (Meals, Mass Media) still rules in rural India.
7. Different Marketing Strategies:
The urban products cannot be dumped on rural population. Separate strategy, products mix and distribution systems need to be designed for rural consumers to suit the rural demands. Rural markets are highly decentralized. Local conditions can greatly influence how a company distributes its products or services. For example solar-powered home lighting systems would have a better reach in rural areas than that of urban areas.
👉Books On Rural Marketing
1. Rural Marketing: Concepts and Practices Paperback by Dogra Balram (Author), Karminder Ghuman (Author)
2. Rural Marketing by Kashyap
3. Scope & Challenges of Rural Marketing in India By by Sumesh Raizada (Editor), Vishal Agarwal (Editor)
👉See Also:
