This case study deals with the planning and execution of a promotional campaign for an organized discount retail format in a rural area, and also measures the impact of this promotional campaign. The study was conducted in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. Fifty store visitors and 120 prospects were surveyed through a questionnaire to measure the impact of promotional campaign. The study found a multifold increase in the footfall of visitors as well as increase in the number of bills per day, but not much change was observed in average ticket size. An increase in week-over-week sales was also found. It was found that the most successful source of awareness in the area was pamphlet, followed by door-to-door campaigning, posters, and cable TV advertisement. Store location, external as well as internal ambience, product line variety and availability are important parameters for a customer to visit a store. Hence, the study recommends the addition of more categories, such as fruits and vegetables, clothing, kitchen appliances, footwear, confectionery, bakery and stationery items to the product list. Further, replication of promotional campaign in other potential areas which are slightly far off from the store could also attract more visitors.

India is heading fast toward a retail revolution in the urban areas. India’s retail network consisting of about 15 million retail outlets was so far dominated by ‘mom-and-pop’ stores, i.e., small grocery stores run by individuals or families and catering to their immediate neighborhood or locality. This is now being replaced by organized retail outlets in both urban as well as rural areas. The organized retail industry in India is growing at a rate of about 40% per year. Organized retailers, who had earlier commanded about 2% of total turnover of about $350 bn industry, increased their share to over 5% by 2010.

In addition to the large number of urban formats, a few players have also entered the rural areas with stores that cater to the needs of rural customers. Large retail chains in India are focusing on creating a customer base by developing a right product-service mix. The biggest challenge for the emerging retail formats is to achieve the scale which requires attracting a large number of visitors, for which awareness is the key. This is also very important in the case of rural formats, as rural consumers are not exposed to these organized retail stores as well as to the products and services offered through them. Though the purchasing power of the rural consumer is increasing, they are not exposed to such kind of organized buying formats and have been fulfilling their needs from small retailers, such as kiranas, rehriwalas, pheriwalas, arhtiyas, and haats.

The opportunity for rural retail formats exists, but the challenge lies in customer acquisition by offering them a right product-service mix at affordable price and creating a right communication and promotional strategy to trigger purchase at point of sale, increase traffic and bring in new customers. This case study deals with planning, execution and measuring impact of the promotional campaign launched by the emerging rural organized retail format for its store in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. The case also discusses the problems encountered in the process and strategy planned subsequently. The study signifies how promotion can be an effective tool to penetrate into the rural market and promotional expenditure can have a multiplier effect on the store’s footfall and sales of retail format in rural areas.

Agricultural Economics Journal, Rubber Production, Nontraditional Areas, Capital Investment, Government Agencies, Community Processing Centers, Rubber Plantation, Government Forest Lands, Goalpara District, Economic Empowerment.