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Unit 4: Rural Consumer Behaviour

village buyer finds in difficult to understand its usage, is in awe of the technology and buys Notes
only after peers who have seen the product in action buy the same. Because of low income,
price becomes extremely important and rural demand is highly price sensitive. Companies
use the village Bania shops to sell, whose proprietor is dealing with supply of kerosene oil
and whose role as a money lender is still undisputed, in most areas. Marketers use meals,
weekly haats, festival, fairs and publicity vans for demonstrations, advertising and for
sales. These vans carry movie equipment and show regional language films to the villagers.
Products are mostly bought in assemble times when ready cash available, especially during
festivals and harvesting season. Indian festivals coincide with the harvest times in most
places. TV has become a popular entertainment media in villages and hence it is also an
appropriate vehicle for product advertising. Radio, newspapers in local languages, wall
hoardings, pamphlets cover most advertising media. Promotion of sales is done through
gifts and price discounts.

4.1 Rural Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Buyer Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of final consumers – individuals and
households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. All of these final consumers
combined make up the consumer market.

Figure 4.1: Rural Consumer Behaviour

The consumer market in this case is Rural India. About 70% of India’s population lives in rural
areas. There are more than 600,000 villages in the country as against about 300 cities and 4600
towns. Consumers in this huge segment have displayed vast differences in their purchase decisions
and the product use. Villagers react differently to different products, colours, sizes, etc. in different
parts of India. Thus utmost care in terms of understanding consumer psyche needs to be taken
while marketing products to rural India.
Thus, it is important to study the thought process that goes into making a purchase decision, so
that marketers can reach this huge untapped segment.

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