Every major marketing company in the world wants to enter the Indian market with its offerings, as India happens to be the world's largest potential market waiting to be tapped. With liberalization, the interest in India has increased. The reasons are not far to seek. In a democracy like India, markets are characterized by variation, stratification, maturity and some market categories by growth. Every major MNC that entered India has found the Indian consumer demanding, defying the conventional logic of marketing, leaving the marketer perplexed. The Indian consumer visits malls to purchase branded goods but continues to patronize his/her neighborhood kirana store. Many questions emerge: why are demand patterns different in India? Is there a middle class in India? Does `bottom of the pyramid' make business sense? Where does India stand in terms of market sophistication and consumption? How can companies understand the Indian consumer? The book under review endeavors to seek answers to such questions and to provide insights. In his foreword to the book, eminent management guru, C K Prahalad highlights that the book illustrates that "any broad generalization of the Indian consumer" can be erroneous and Rama Bijapurkar's analysis is useful for both MNCs planning their entry in India as well as established Indian enterprises.
The book is divided into 13 chapters. All the chapters are linked together by the common thread of understanding the Indian consumer and his behavior. The author has made a case that the nature of emerging market economies such as India is different and need not follow a `global standard', that India, within a restrictive regulatory framework of the past, has developed a sophisticated and complex marketing system with innovations in products, distribution and advertising and that India may not follow the pattern of evolution of developed markets. N R Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor of Infosys in his afterword has highlighted that "The author's detailed research and her expertize on the subject is validated by a text which is simple and cogent, yet interesting and jargon free". Rama Bijapurkar has given examples across India giving a national orientation. A major merit of the book is that it is data driven. The author has made a sharp analysis of the many Indias that exist in the market, bringing out its plurality. She has questioned the conventional view of some professional consultants that Indian markets would evolve in the same manner as developed markets did from their market infancy. The author has emphasized the Indian consumer market feature of continuity with change giving the example of the six yard sari and the blouse that have retained their popularity. |
