Page 44 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Unit 2: Rural Marketing Environment

9. It is estimated that there are 78% literate in rural India as compared with 365 of whole Notes
country.
10. The biggest thing is that there is lack of any research into the consumer behavior of the
rural areas
11. The predominance of agriculture in the income pattern has one more significance-rural
demand is more seasonal.

2.5 Understanding Rural Markets

There has been always a vast difference between the two markets for a long time now. The
difference is not only between urban and rural but also within the rural areas – between regions,
states and districts. There is a difference in the media reach, the education levels, in the culture
and the type of products that the two markets are exposed to and this leads to a difference in the
two markets.
The difference is in things like – how do you celebrate New Year, how do you celebrate birthdays?
Small things like these are celebrated in a completely different manner when the rural and the
urban customers are concerned. There is a vast difference in the lifestyles of the people in the
two regions. The kind of choices of brands that an urban customer enjoys is different from the
choices available to the rural counterparts. The rural customer usually has 2 or 3 brands to
choose from whereas the urban one has multiple choices. The difference is also in the way of
thinking. The rural customer has a fairly simple thinking as compared to the urban counterpart.
But with technology coming in, mass media reach and the literacy levels going up - this divide
is expected top reduce.

The biggest thing is that there is lack of any research into the consumer behavior of the rural
areas. There is considerable amount of data on the urban consumer regarding things like – who
is the influencer, who is the buyer, how do they go and buy, how much money do they spend on
their purchases, etc. but on the rural front – the effort has started to happen now. So there is a
need to understand the buyer.
There is no collective effort. Some people have spent time in the rural markets, carried out
studies and have understood the rural behavior, but their works have not been passed or known
to the rest of the industry. So, an in depth understanding of the consumer is one key area that the
industry needs to work on.
There are vast differences in the rural areas as well. There are some 5, 60,000 villages and some
525 districts and each one is different from the other. The geographical spread is not as
homogeneous as it is with the urban areas owing to vast cultural differences. So an in depth
understanding of the areas is what is required.
The field of rural marketing has been witnessing a lot of action from both the fast moving
consumer goods (FMCG) sector and consumer products manufacturers but, there has been little
success in the manner in which rural research is carried out.
The limitation lies in the inadequate or unavailability of appropriate tools to evaluate the rural
market behavior. The problem arises because of general lack of education resulting in low
awareness about the products and hence the inability to respond to the queries of the researcher
in these areas. Conventional research tools do not work in these markets, as these are difficult to
comprehend for the illiterate and semi-literate rural people.

The typical research scales used are for ranking, rating and attitude measurement, limiting the
research questions to simple yes/no kinds that do not bring the true essence of the research
process. In an effort to look in to this issue two students from Management Development

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