Page 8 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Unit 1: Rural Marketing – An Introduction

India is a country where the majority population, almost 76%, lives in villages. There are 627000 Notes
villages in the country spread across its length and the breadth. The village people are poorer
than the city folks as the village contributes less than 50% to the total country’s income. However,
now the situation is gradually changing for the better.
There are 25 official languages and some four hundred dialects spoken in the country. Most
world religions have their adherents here.
In the first half of the twentieth century, village people were using neem or babul tree twig for
cleaning their teeth. Today, they are using tooth powder or toothpaste. Instead of groundnuts
the children are asking for chocolate candies. Face cream or lotions have replaced besan (chickpea
flour) as a face cleanser.
Appreciating the size and business potential of the rural market, major companies, including,
Hindustan Unilever, P&G have made special strategies for targeting rural markets.

Did u know? According to Indian Market Demographics 2004, approximate size of Rural
Market ranges from 300-500 million.

1.2 Nature and Characteristics of Rural Market

There goes a saying that the proof of the pudding lies in the eating. So also the proof of all
production lies in consumption/marketing. With the speedy pace of technological development
and augment in peoples buying capacity, more and better goods and services now are in constant
demand. The liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy have given an added
advantage to sophisticated production, proliferation and mass sharing of goods and services.
Taking these into deliberation, the question may arise whether marketers should concentrate
their activities in urban India consisting of metros, district headquarters and large industrial
townships only, or extend their activities to rural India. Rural India is the real India. The bulk of
India’s population lives in villages. In terms of the number of people, the Indian rural market is
almost twice as large as the entire market of the USA or that of the USSR.

 Agriculture is main source of income.
 The income is seasonal in nature. It is fluctuating also as it depends on crop production.
 Though large, the rural market is geographically scattered.
 It shows linguistic, religious and cultural diversities and economic disparities.

 The market is undeveloped, as the people who constitute it still lack adequate purchasing
power.
 It is largely agricultural oriented, with poor standard of living, low-per capital income,
and socio-cultural backwardness.
 It exhibits sharper and varied regional preferences with distinct predilections, habit patterns
and behavioral characteristics.
 Rural marketing process is both a catalyst as well as an outcome of the general rural
development process. Initiation and management of social and economic change in the
rural sector is the core of the rural marketing process. It becomes in this process both
benefactor and beneficiary.

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