Atish Singh

I. INTRODUCTION TO RURAL MARKETING

Marketing is the process of figuring out what customers want, anticipating their wants, and knowing them, then using all of your company’s resources to give it to them. The organization’s survival depends on meeting the needs and wants of its customers. Consumer behavior includes the things that people, groups, and businesses do, how they interact with goods and services, and how they treat each other.

When a business knows and understands why customers do the things they do, they can find better and more effective ways to please those customers. To make the marketing plan work better, it helps to choose the right sales and advertising tactics.

In India, the rural market began to show its promise in the 1960s, and it continued to grow steadily through the 1970s and 1980s. There was a steady rise in rural India’s buying power in the 1990s, and there are clear signs that it will reach its peak in the 21st century.

With new ideas, marketers have tried to understand and reach rural areas over the past few decades. Some of their work paid off, but many markets are still a mystery. The idea of rural marketing is changing, and like any economy, it has untapped potential. Marketers have only recently discovered this. People who want to move to the country will have a bright future thanks to better facilities and reach. Branded goods are popular with people in rural areas these days, so the market for goods and services seems to have grown.

Definition

National Commission on Agriculture, “Rural marketing is the process that begins with the decision to produce a farm commodity for sale. It encompasses all aspects of the market structure, including functional and institutional components, guided by technical and economic factors. This process includes pre- and post-harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation, and distribution.”

Concept of rural marketing

The concept of rural marketing in India is referred to as the concept of rural marketing. Since the beginning of time, the economy has been a significant factor in the lives of individuals. For the most part, all of India’s districts and industrial townships are connected to rural markets, with the exception of a few major metropolitan areas.

As a result of the fact that the majority of India’s customer base is concentrated in rural areas, the rural market in India is responsible for generating the country’s largest revenues. Within the context of the Indian economy, the rural market is responsible for producing over half of the country’s total income. The marketing of rural goods and services in the Indian economy can be divided into two primary groups.

These include:

1. The market for consumer products that includes both long-lasting and short-lasting items at the same time
2. The market for agricultural inputs such as chemical fertilizers, herbicides, seeds, and other similar products.

What is the definition of rural marketing?

All essential information on rural marketing. Approximately two-thirds of the population, particularly in emerging nations, reside in rural regions and rely on agriculture and other endeavors for their sustenance.

In metropolitan regions, agricultural products such as food, fiber, and raw materials are processed and distributed to consumers.

Rural marketing involves offering a well-developed product at a fair price, presenting it appropriately, and creating awareness among the target audience. The marketing principle dictates that the appropriate product, priced correctly, available at the right location, at the right time, and promoted through the correct channel, should reach the intended customer.

It also applies to rural marketing. Rural marketing is the process of producing a farm commodity for sale, involving market structure, functional and institutional aspects, technical and economic factors, and operations such as assembling, grading, storage, transportation, and distribution.

What is rural marketing?

Rural marketing involves creating, pricing, advertising, and distributing goods and services tailored for rural areas to facilitate exchanges between urban and rural markets, meeting customer needs while achieving corporate goals.

Rural marketing involves creating, promoting, and converting the purchasing power of rural populations into a demand for particular products and services to meet the organization’s aims and objectives.

Rural marketing involves a three-step marketing process.

1. Rural to Urban Market: It involves the movement of goods from rural markets to urban markets for production or consumption. Agricultural items like sugar, rice, wheat, and cotton are carried from rural to urban regions.
2. Rural to Rural Market: It involves the transfer of goods or services between two rural markets. Cattle, agricultural products, carts, and similar items are included in this category.
3. Urban to Rural Market: Urban to rural marketing involves urban marketers selling goods and services in rural areas. Urban areas supply agricultural inputs and fast-moving consumer goods like detergents, soaps, cosmetics, textiles, and other products to rural areas.

A. SCOPE AND AN OVERVIEW OF RURAL MARKETING.

Scope of rural marketing

1. Population: Rural residents make up 72 percent of the overall population and can be found in all corners of the globe, according to the 2011 Census. Twelve percent of the global population is underutilized at the moment.
2. Growing Prosperity in Rural Areas: Due to factors like urbanization, modern farming practices, industrialization of contract farming, etc., the average wage level has remained stagnant. The planned rural development has resulted in a general uptick in economic activity due to the substantial investments in irrigation, fertilizers, agricultural machinery, and the agro-processing sector. Saving habits among rural residents have also seen an upsurge. This also adds to increased buying power.
3. A rise in consumer spending: Consumers in rural areas are seeing an increase in their purchasing power. However, as compared to spending in cities, average household expenditure remains modest.
4. Lifestyle shifts and new demands: The consumer’s lifestyle in rural areas saw a dramatic shift. The desire for both long-lasting and short-lived products, such as table fans, radios, mopeds, soaps, etc., has risen among customers in rural areas. Because of this, producers have a ready market. The rural market is growing steadily.
5. Greater market expansion than metropolitan: Both the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and durable goods markets are expanding rapidly in rural areas. Oils used in cooking, hair care, etc., account for more than half of the rural market.
6. Benefit throughout life: The rural market is still in the growing stage for products that have reached maturity in the urban market.
7. Units for Making Decisions: Even in more remote places, women are starting to make snap judgments when shopping. According to research, 72.3% of family decisions are made together. The influence of children on decision-making is evolving alongside their access to education and the media.

Characteristics of rural market

1. Expansive, Varied, and Dispersed Market: Rural marketing in India is extensive and dispersed across several regions. There may be a reduced number of shops available for marketing products.
2. Rural consumers primarily derive their income from agriculture: Rural prosperity is directly linked to agricultural prosperity. If crops fail, the earnings of many people are immediately impacted.
3. Diversity: Rural markets consist of a diverse population. There are many strata based on income, such as large landowners, traders, small farmers, marginal farmers, laborers, and artisans. There are differences in rural demography among states, such as literacy rates (Kerala 90%, Bihar 44%) and population living below the poverty line (Odisha 48%, Punjab 6%).
4. Quality of life and increasing disposable income of rural consumers: The majority of the rural population is known to live below the poverty line and have poor literacy rates, minimal savings, etc. Rural clients today prioritize spending on value and are well-informed about their surroundings.
5. Group decision-making: Decision-making in rural markets is a communal process. The purchasing process involves individuals who influence, make decisions, and ultimately buy, communicating on many levels. Rural youth brings brand awareness to households.
6. Variety of Socio-Economic Backgrounds: Rural markets are influenced by the diverse socio-economic backgrounds of rural people, which are shaped by variations in geographical areas and land fertility.
7. Infrastructure Facilities: Rural areas lack sufficient infrastructure such as warehouses, communication networks, and financial services. Marketers face challenges in physically distributing their products but have devised creative strategies to overcome them.

Features of rural marketing

1. Dispersed and Huge Population: Seventy percent of India’s population, or 740 million people, reside in rural areas, as reported in the 2001 census. Also, compared to metropolitan areas, rural areas are experiencing faster population growth. Scattered among more than six lakh villages is the rural population. Despite their dispersed nature, the rural population offers marketers a wealth of potential customers.
2. Expanded Opportunities for Purchase: Consumer spending power among rural residents is on the rise. Businesses are increasingly setting up shop in rural India as marketers see the potential in these areas. With the overall growth of the economy leading to a large increase in the purchasing power of rural people, rural marketplaces have become increasingly important in nations like India and China in recent years.
3. Expanding Market: There has been consistent growth in the rural market. Consumer durables like refrigerators, TVs, and washing machines have also seen an increase in demand over the years, in addition to more conventional goods like bicycles, mopeds, and agricultural inputs.
4. Improvements to Existing Facilities: Rural electrification, public service projects, communication networks, roads, and transportation are all examples of infrastructure development in rural India that has expanded the reach of rural marketing.
5. Depressed Living Conditions: Rural consumers come from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and rural areas generally have a lower level of living. From one region of the nation to another, this is distinct. Low levels of education, income per capita, social backwardness, and savings all contribute to a low quality of life for consumers in rural areas.
6. Conventional Perspective: There is a strong emphasis on traditional practices among rural consumers. They are resistant to change. The demand pattern of the rural population is slowly shifting, and branded products are becoming more popular in villages.
7. Combination of Marketing Strategies: It would be unfair to just dump metropolitan goods on rural residents; instead, businesses in rural areas cater to specific needs. The needs of customers in rural areas should inform the revisions made to the marketing mix components.

Factors affecting rural marketing

1. Professionalization of Marketing: Marketing was classified as a career in the early 1950s. People’s tendency to specialize in certain vocations has increased their efficiency. Specialization has led to higher output, which serves as the foundation for marketing expansion. The government also motivates people and provides marketing education by offering fellowships to graduates and a large number of grants to colleges.
2. Rapid urbanization: The rural population is migrating to metropolitan regions in search of education, jobs, business opportunities, and the sale of agricultural and rural products, necessitating a faster increase in agricultural marketing.
3. Developing modes of transportation and communication: Modern modes of transportation and communication are the most significant tools for expanding the reach of rural marketing. The growing transportation and communication infrastructure has expanded the market for agricultural products. In the absence of these infrastructures, the movement of produce from one place to another was restricted, and a product’s consumption was limited to the areas of production or, at best, surrounding locations.
4. Technological Changes in Agriculture: Technological advances in agriculture have resulted in a significant increase in farm production. The sale of excess agricultural produce has therefore increased. This has led to the expansion of the marketing system.
5. Rural marketing involves two parallel institutions: the Marketing Committee System and Cooperative Marketing. The marketing system is working under the direct control of the individual state governments, with its three-tier system. The state marketing board is the apex entity, with central marketing committees at the district and block levels. The principal marketing committees are active in the areas. This is the primary reason for rural marketing’s growing popularity in the Indian market.