There are a number of myths and realities regarding the immense potential of the Indian rural market. There is no doubt that the rural market presents a huge untapped opportunity for marketer as nearly 70% of the population lives in rural India. However, marketers need to explore growth indicators and key strategic tools for successful exploitation of this untapped market. The article focuses on segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies for rural markets with some success stories of MNCs in the background.
Rural
India is characterized by half a dozen religions, 33 languages, 1650 dialects,
and diversity in castes, sub-castes, tribes, culture, and subculture. So rural
marketers need to have an open mind, and sensitize themselves to understand the
rural consumer. Apart from understanding the consumer, communicating in the language
that the rural consumer comprehends is a challenge most marketers face. Creative
approaches to providing a satisfactory offering: in terms of adaptation to consumer
needs through differentiated product offering, ad message used, are absolute essentials
to achieve success in the Indian rural market through effective segmentation and
implementation.
In
the changing business environment, even the rural customer is very active and
quality conscious. Companies have been moving from traditional marketing to modern
marketing; hence, marketing calls for more than developing a product, pricing,
promoting, and making it accessible to target customers. Technology has also played
a key role in transforming marketing.
These developments have enriched the field of marketing management. Although there
is a greater integration of business functions, unfortunately marketers are yet
to understand the full impact of these developmentswhether they are opportunities
or challenges. |
