Abstract

The rural markets are green pastures for companies today, as they are growing faster as compared
to the urban markets. With their huge size and demand base, they offer great opportunities to the
marketers. More than three-fourths of the country's consumers reside in rural areas and more than
half of the national income is generated by them. Stagnant urban demand and relative rural
prosperity are attracting companies to the rural markets for selling their products and services. Apart
from the traditional agricultural income, government spending and infrastructure, projects have
meant a cash flow in these markets. Companies are connecting to this base afresh and are getting
their acts together to cater to this market effectively and efficiently. The overall marketing mix
framework for rural markets necessarily focuses around delivering the right product, using value for
money pricing, using effective means of promotion, selecting the most appropriate method of
distribution and building long-term relationships with the customers. Consequently, in case of rural
marketing, the marketing mix has changed from the traditional '4 Ps' to the new '4 As', i.e.,
affordability, awareness, availability and acceptability. In fact, rural markets have unlocked new
fronts for the modern marketers.

INTRODUCTION

Definition: A rural marketing strategy refers to the planning of adequate supply of consumer goods
and agricultural input to the villages at an affordable price to fulfil the needs of the consumers
residing in these rural areas. Rural markets have a high potential and can generate huge sales
volume for the companies which manufacture cost-efficient products and have active supply chain
management.

The rural markets in India have grown size, range and sophistication in recent times. Under the
changing Socio economic scenario, the rural markets have great potentialities in India and offer
bright prospects and attraction to the companies. In fact, the rural markets are green pastures for
companies today, as they are growing faster as compared to the urban markets. With their huge size
and demand base, they offer great opportunities to the marketers. More than three-fourths of
country’s consumers reside in rural areas and more than half of the national income is generated by
them. Due to the global economic downturn, the companies are few facing slower urban sales,
prompting them to make a rush towards rural India

The downturn has not impacted rural markets in the same way as urban markets. Stagnant urban
demand and relative rural prosperity are attracting companies to the rural markets for selling their
products and services. Apart from the traditional agricultural income, government spending and
infrastructure projects have meant cash flow in these markets. Thus, the relative rural prosperity is
fuelling demand and, therefore, drawing companies toward them. The villages, which were once
inconsequential, are now getting the attention of companies across different sectors. All the major
industries in India are tilting towards rural India as the Indian rural market is full of opportunities and
has seen impressive growth in recent years. Today, rural consumer has almost broken all the
prevailing barriers. Momentous growth in purchasing power, improvement in literacy level, change
in lifestyle, increasing brand consciousness, changing consumption pattern, improvement in
infrastructure facilities and rapid spread of communication network in rural areas have presented a
growing potential of rural India for the companies. The corporate sector is, therefore, increasingly
looking towards the rural consumers and fine-tuning their marketing strategies in order to promote
their products and services in the rural areas.

FEATURES OF INDIAN RURAL MARKETS

Large and Scattered market: The rural market of India is large and scattered in the sense that it
consists of over 63 crore consumers from 5,70,000 villages spread throughout the country.

Major income from agriculture: Nearly 60 % of the rural income is from agriculture. Hence rural
prosperity is tied with agricultural prosperity.

Traditional Outlook: The rural consumer values old customs and tradition. They do not prefer
changes.

Diverse socio-economic backwardness: Rural consumers have diverse socio-economic backwardness.

This is different in different parts of the country.

Infrastructure Facilities: The Infrastructure Facilities like roads, warehouses, communication system,
financial facilities are inadequate in rural areas. Hence physical distribution becomes costly due to
inadequate Infrastructure facilities. The rural bazaar is booming beyond everyone's expectation. An
estimated induction of Rs 140 billion in the rural sector through the government's rural development
schemes in the Seventh Plan and about Rs 300 billion in the Eighth Plan is also believed to have
significantly contributed to the rapid growth in demand.

The 4A Approach

The rural market may be alluring but it is not without its problems: Low per capita disposable
incomes that is half the urban disposable income; large number of daily wage earners, acute
dependence on the vagaries of the monsoon; seasonal consumption linked to harvests and festivals
and special occasions; poor roads; power problems; and inaccessibility to conventional advertising
media. Today, rural India is seen as the most lucrative segment because companies across different
sectors are wooing them to support their momentum of business growth. Rural markets offer
opportunities, which are enormous and relatively untapped. They present tremendous prospects for
companies to sell their products and services. Corporation across varied industry verticals are
bucking up to address the rural potential demand. The attitudes, aspirations and demands of rural
consumers are very different from other their urban counterparts. Companies are connecting to this
base afresh and are together to cater to this market effectively and efficiently. Companies resort to a
number of strategies like repositioning of brands, repackaging products and re-pricing them, all with
an eye on rural wallets. The overall marketing mix framework for rural markets necessarily focuses
around delivery the right product, using value for money pricing, using effective means of
promotion, selecting the most appropriate method of distribution and building long term
relationship with the customer in order to sell their products. However, the rural consumer is not
unlike his urban counterpart in many ways. The more daring MNCs are meeting the consequent
challenges of AVAILABILITY, AFFORDABILITY, ACCEPTABILITY, and AWARENESS. (The so-called 4 A’s)

Affordability
In rural areas, the income of the people is meagre. This is the reason for which the consumers are
unable to spend on luxury goods. Moreover, they are mostly concerned about buying the necessary
products.

Keeping in mind the low affordability of rural consumers, marketers must plan for small packaging of
the products at an economical price to capture the attention of price-sensitive consumers.

Availability

The regular supply of the products in the remote areas is another challenging task. We know that
rural consumers are usually daily wage earners who spend on the necessities every day. But, many
times, the product is not readily available in the rural markets, due to which such consumer may
shift to another substitute product.

Acceptability

The product should be designed in a user-friendly manner such that it satisfies all the needs of a
consumer by deriving them some value. If the rural consumers are willing to put in extra money for
buying the product, it shows their acceptability towards the brand.

Awareness

A rural consumer has low accessibility to the media, such as television and smartphones. Moreover,
they have a very different perspective from that of an urban consumer.

Therefore, marketers need to focus on that medium of communication and entertainment which are
commonly available in rural areas. This will help them to create brand awareness and grab the
attention of these potential rural consumers towards their product.

References

Shah, C., & Desai, R. (2013). The “4 As” of Rural Marketing Mix. International Journal of Management
and Social Sciences Research, 2(1), 6-13.