Page 17 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Rural Marketing

Notes may quietly slip out of it, leaving a bigger cake for the remaining players. In decline stage
several players close shop and the one’s remaining can plan niche marketing and harvesting the
balance business. Others can hang on to the product as it might be used for bundling with other
fast selling products to make offers more attractive.

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
7. Companies with the largest market share are the market leaders, belonging to the Star
quadrant in the BCG Matrix.
8. Companies do a cost benefit analysis before planning marketing communication as the
advertising.
9. Firms getting their R&D operations to bring out innovative uses of existing products or
developing new better products giving superior satisfaction to the buyers.
10. Secondary Stage gives big profits for the first arrivals on the scene as with no competition
skimming prices can be charged.

11. Production in rural markets is tricky because the companies spend more on transporting
the products as compared to transporting them to the cities.

1.8 Market Evolution

In the beginning of the time, people lived in caves, hunted for food and searched for edible
roots, fruits. The division of work or of labour started with more proficient hunters going for
the beasts while others kept the search for vegetable foods. Next, minerals were found. The
women were engaged in preparing food for eating and shaping the animal hides for wearing
and using minerals as cosmetics. We can consider the women as manufacturers of that time.

Later, people found that they had a little surplus of a few items of food or clothing while they
needed some other items. This lead to persons going with their wares to neighbouring areas to
barter their products with those of the areas they were visiting. These persons were the first
salesmen. As the commerce increased, it became necessary for some people to precede the
salesmen and could talk about the products. Thus started the profession of advertising.
Still later, the community heads, the warriors and others who had nothing to sell, and yet they
wanted to buy, needed an item, which they could give in exchange of goods. The currency, and
monetary systems can find their genesis from this point.
From such beginnings, we have reached the world of supermarkets, and Internet sales with
highly competitive products coming out in the market on a continuous basis. This has led to
organized market research into the needs of the customers, and research and development for
developing the needed products, besides other innovative products which find market eventually,
like the cell phone, through diverse and complex distribution systems. The government of the
country - its monitory systems, money supply organizations together with greater awareness of
products and their needs among the customers, has made the market place complex as also
rewarding.
The sequence of market development can thus be shown as given below.
Later periods saw the burgeoning Distribution Channels, rise of Middleman, the Agency System,
Credit Sales, and Hire-Purchase.
Over a period of time the concept of just selling got converted into the Grand Marketing
Phenomenon.

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