Meaning and Definition of Rural Marketing
India is a land of diversity and about 70% of the
population lives in villages. To a large extent, villages contribute
towards the economic development of the nation through the production of food
grains, vegetables, fruits etc. Export of these agricultural products generate
capital and earnings from foreign exchange. There are approximately 600,000 big
and small villages in India according to rural market researchers. 25% of
villages account for 65% of the total rural population. So we can calculate 65%
of 700 million populations by from only 150,000 villages – which becomes a huge
potential of this market.
National Commission on Agriculture defines rural marketing as “a
process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm commodity and
it involves all the aspects of market structure or system, both functional and
institutional, based on technical and economic considerations and includes pre
and post harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation and
distribution.”
According to Thomsen, the study of rural marketing comprises of
all the operations, and the agencies conducting them, involved in the movement
of farm produced food, raw materials and their derivatives, such as textiles, from
the farms to the final consumers, and the effects of such operations on producers,
middlemen and consumers.
Processes
and Scope of Rural Marketing
Rural marketing has two major areas, namely,
(a) marketing of agricultural products, from rural to urban areas,
and
(b) marketing of manufactured goods and services in rural areas.
In other words, rural marketing is a two-way marketing process.
One is the flow of goods from rural to urban areas and the other
one is flow of goods and services from urban to rural areas. Rural marketing
also includes the flow of goods and services within the rural areas itself. The
rural to urban transactions include the agricultural products like food gains,
oilseeds, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, etc. The urban to rural transactions
cover the goods and services of all agricultural inputs. Fertilizers,
pesticides, seeds, tractors, consumer durables like radio, bicycle, mopeds,
electrical and electronic goods, etc. are transacted from urban to rural. The
processes of rural marketing are explained below:
Rural marketing involves the process of developing, pricing,
promoting, distributing rural specific product and a service leading to
exchange between rural and urban market which satisfies consumer demand and
also achieves organizational objectives. It is a two-way marketing process
wherein the transactions can be:
1. Urban to Rural: It involves the selling of products
and services by urban marketers in rural areas. These include: Pesticides, FMCG
Products, Consumer durables, etc.
2. Rural to Urban: Here, a rural producer (involved in
agriculture) sells his produce in urban market. This may not be direct. There
generally are middlemen, agencies, government co-operatives, etc who sell
fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses and others.
3. Rural to Rural: These include selling of
agricultural tools, cattle, carts and others to another village in its
proximity. India is a land of diversity and about 70% of the Indian population
lives in villages. These villages contribute in the economic development of the
nation through the production of food grains, vegetables, fruits, etc. Export
of these agricultural commodities result in the generation of capital and
earnings of foreign exchange.
Features
of Indian Rural Markets
India is a peculiar country in the world. People from different
religion, culture, and race live together.
Therefore, Indian rural markets have some special features. The important features of Indian rural market are
given below:
a) Large,
Diverse and Scattered Market: Rural market in India is large, and
scattered into a number of regions. There may be less number of shops available
to market products.
b) Major
Income of Rural consumers is from Agriculture: Rural Prosperity is tied with
agriculture prosperity. In the event of a crop failure, the income of the rural
masses is directly affected.
c) Standard
of Living and Rising Disposable Income of the Rural Customers: It is known
that majority of the rural population lives below poverty line and has low literacy
rate, low per capita income, societal backwardness, low savings, etc. But the new
tax structure, good monsoon, government regulation on pricing has created disposable
incomes. Today the rural customer spends money to get value and is aware of the
happening around him.
d) Traditional
Outlook: Villages develop slowly and have a traditional outlook. Change
is a continuous process but most rural people accept change gradually. This is
gradually changing due to literacy especially in the youth who have begun to change
the outlook in the villages.
e) Rising
literacy levels: It is documented that approximately 45% of rural Indians are literate.
Hence awareness has increased and the farmers are well-informed about the world
around them. They are also educating themselves on the new technology around
them and aspiring for a better lifestyle.
f) Diverse
Socioeconomic background: Due to dispersion of geographical areas and uneven
land fertility, rural people have disparate socioeconomic background, which ultimately
affects the rural market.
g) Infrastructure
Facilities: The infrastructure facilities like cemented roads, warehouses,
communication system, and financial facilities are inadequate in rural areas.
Hence physical distribution is a challenge to marketers who have to find innovative
ways to market their products.
Problems
of Indian Rural Markets
There are several problems that make it
difficult to progress in the rural market. Marketers encounter a number of
problems like dealing with physical distribution, logistics, proper and
effective deployment of sales force and effective marketing communication when
they enter rural markets. The major problems are listed below.
1. Standard of Living: The
number of people below the poverty line is more in rural markets. Thus the market
is also underdeveloped and marketing strategies have to be different from those
used in urban marketing.
2. Low Literacy Levels: The low
literacy levels in rural areas leads to a problem of communication. Print media
has less utility compared to the other media of communication.
3. Low Per Capita Income: Agriculture
is the main source of income and hence spending capacity depends upon
the agriculture produce. Demand may not be stable or regular.
4. Transportation and Warehousing: Transportation
is one of the biggest challenges in rural markets. As far as road transportation
is concerned, about 50% of Indian villages are connected by roads. However, the
rest of the rural markets do not even have a proper road linkage which makes
physical distribution a tough task.
5. Ineffective Distribution Channels: The
distribution chain is not very well organized and requires a large number of
intermediaries, which in turn increases the cost and creates administrative
problems. Due to lack of proper infrastructure, manufacturers are
reluctant to open outlets in these areas. They are mainly dependent on
dealers, who are not easily available for rural areas. This is a
challenge to the marketers.
6. Many Languages and Diversity in Culture: Factors
like cultural congruence, different behavior and language of the respective areas
make it difficult to handle the customers. Traits among the sales force are
required to match the various requirements of these specific areas.
7. Lack of Effective Communication System: Quick
communication is the need of the hour for smooth conduct of business, but it
continues to be a far cry in rural areas due to lack of communication
facilities like telegraph and telecommunication systems etc.
8. Spurious Brands: Cost is an
important factor that determines purchasing decision in rural areas. A
lot of spurious brands or look-alikes are available, providing a low cost
option to the rural customer. Many a time the rural customer may not be
aware of the difference due to illiteracy.
9. Seasonal Demand: Demand may
be seasonal due to dependency on agricultural income. Harvest season might
see an increase in disposable income and hence more purchasing power.
10. Dispersed Markets: Rural
population is highly dispersed and requires a lot of marketing efforts in terms
of distribution and communication.
Solutions
to Problems of Rural Markets
To solve the problems of rural markets in India, the following
suggestions can be used by marketers:
1. Regarding the problems of physical distribution, the marketer
may have a joint network of stockiest/ clearing-cum-forwarding (C&F) agents
at strategic location for facilitation of physical distribution for its
products in the rural market. The main advantage of this scheme is that the
costs of physical distribution can be shared by the companies and stockists.
The combination of different modes of transport based on availability of trucks
will be beneficial to the companies. Presently, bullock-cart plays a very vital
role in rural distribution where the roads are not available. Some of the
leading companies use delivery vans in rural areas for resolving the
distribution problems in rural market. The delivery van takes the products to
the retail shops in every corner of the rural market and it enables the company
to establish direct sales contact with majority of the rural consumers which
helps in sales promotion.
2. The rural market is composed of a number of retail sales
outlets along with fair price shops under the public distribution system. It is
suggested that the government should encourage private shopkeepers and
cooperative stores to come forward and establish their business in rural areas
instead of the weekly market known as weekly bazaar. Fertilizer companies have
opened their outlets for proper distribution of fertilizer among the farmers.
Similarly, the companies dealing in consumer goods can apply this model. The
company may also appoint a number of retailers in and around the feeder towns
and attach them to the stockist who distributes the goods to the retailers as
per the potential of the market. This system has the benefit of penetrating
into the interior areas of the rural markets.
3. To solve the problems of sales force management, it is
suggested that the company takes due care in the recruitment and selection of
sales people because the traits they require are different from urban and
suburban sales persons. For the rural markets, only those sales people should
be considered for selections who are willing to work in rural areas. They must
be aware of the local language and must have the patience to deal with rural
customers and can discharge the duties of a bare-footed salesman.
Administration of such a large and scattered sales force, supervising and supporting
them in sales calls, guiding them, attending to their official and personal problems,
and motivating them for better results should be an exacting task for the sales
manager. Thus, the people operating in rural areas should invariably be from the
rural background and should have a missionary zeal to serve the rural masses.
4. With reference to marketing communication in rural areas, the
company should use organized media-mix like TV, Radio, cinema and POP (point of
purchase). Television is gaining popularity in the rural areas but due to poor
supply of electricity, radio is performing significantly better. Since, the
rural people need demonstration, short feature films with disguised
advertisement messages, direct advertisement films and documentaries that
combine knowledge and advertisements will perform better rural marketing
communication. Here the companies may also use audiovisual publicity vans,
which may sell the products with promotion campaign. To attract the rural
consumers, companies can organize village fairs, dance and drama shows, group
meetings to convince the rural consumers about the products and services. In
most Indian villages, there are some opinion leaders. For the rural markets,
only those sales people should be preferred for selection who is willing to
work in rural areas like Sarpanch, Pradhan and other elderly persons. They can
be approached by the marketers to propagate their messages; these persons can
prove to be effective communicators within the rural masses.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE RURAL MARKETS
If we meet a sales executive today and ask which market he would prefer
to serve, the immediate answer would be, “Rural Markets” as they are still
unexploited. A number of factors have been recognized as responsible for the
rural market boom. Some of them are:
1. Increase in population, and hence increase in demand. The rural
population in 1971 was 43.80 crores, which increased to 50.20 crores in 1981,
60.21 crores in 1991, 66.0 crores in 2001 78.0 crores in 2011.
2. A marked increase in the rural income due to agrarian prosperity.
3. Large inflow of investment for rural development programmes
from government and other sources.
4. Increased contact of rural people with their urban counterparts
due to development of transport and a wide communication network.
5. Increase in literacy and educational level among rural folks, and
the resultant inclination to lead sophisticated lives.
6. Inflow of foreign remittances and foreign made goods in rural areas.
7. Changes in the land tenure system causing a structural change
in the ownership pattern and consequent changes in the buying behaviour. The
general rise in the level of prosperity appears to have resulted in two
dominant shifts in the rural consuming system. One is conspicuous consumption
of consumer durables by almost all segments of rural consumers, and the obvious
preference for branded goods as compared to non-branded goods of rural.
Evolution and Growth of Rural
Marketing
The term ‘rural marketing’ used to be an umbrella term for the people
who dealt with rural people in one way or other. This term got a separate
meaning and importance after the economic revaluation in Indian after 1990. So,
before venturing into the other aspects of rural marketing let us discuss the
development of this area in different parts which is briefly explained here.
Part I (Before 1960): Rural marketing referred to selling of
rural products in rural and urban areas and agricultural inputs in rural markets.
It was treated as synonymous to ‘agricultural marketing’. Agricultural produces
like food grains and industrial inputs like cotton, oil seeds, sugarcane etc.
occupied the central place of discussion during this period. The supply-chain
activities of firms supplying agricultural inputs and of artisans in rural
areas received secondary attention. The local marketing of products like bamboo
baskets, ropes, window and door frames, small agricultural tools like ploughs
by sellers like black smiths, carpenters, cobblers, and pot makers were
emphasised in general. This was totally an unorganized market where all banias
and mahajans (local business people) dominated this market.
Part II (1960 to 1990): In this era, green revolution resulted
from scientific farming and transferred many of the poor villages into prosperous
business centers. As a result, the demand for agricultural inputs went up
especially in terms of wheats and paddies. Better irrigation facilities, soil
testing, use of high yield variety seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and
deployment of machinery like powder tillers, harvesters, threshers etc. changed
the rural scenario. In this context, marketing of agricultural inputs took the
importance. Two separate areas of activities had emerged- during this period
‘marketing of agricultural inputs’ and the conventional “Agricultural
Marketing”. During this period, the marketing of rural products received
considerable attention in the general marketing frame work. The formation of
agencies like Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Girijan Cooperative
Societies APCO Fabrics, IFFCO, KRIBHCO, etc., and also the special attention government
had paid to promote these products were responsible for this upsurge. Village
industries flourished and products like handicrafts, handloom textiles, soaps,
safety matches, crackers etc. hit the urban market on a large scale from rural
areas.
Part III (After Mid 1990s): The products which were not given attention
so far during the two earlier phases were that of marketing of household
consumables and durables to the rural markets due to obvious reasons. The
economic conditions of the country were as such that the rural people were not
in a position to buy these kinds of products. Secondly, our market was in a
close shape and we newer allowed companies (foreign) to operate in Indian
market. But we lifted the and opened up economy, consequently companies started
flourishing in India. The small villages/hamlets were widely scattered making
reach difficult and expensive consequently. Rural markets were seen an adjunct
to urban market and conveniently ignored. However, since 1990s, India’s
industrial sector had gained in strength and maturity. Its contribution to GNP
increased substantially. A new service sector had emerged signifying the
metamorphosis of agricultural society into industrial society. Meanwhile, due
to the development programmes of the central and state governments, service
organizations and socially responsible business groups like Mafatlal, Tatas,
Birlas, Goenkas and others, the rural area witnessed an all round
socio-economic progress. The economic reforms further accelerated the process
by introducing competition in the markets. Steadily, the rural market has grown
for household consumables and durables.
Rural marketing represented the emergent distinct activity of attracting
and serving rural markets to fulfil the needs and wants of persons, households
and occupations of rural people. As a result of the above analysis, we are in a
position to define rural marketing “Rural marketing can be seen as a function
which manages all those activities involved in assessing, stimulating and
converting the purchasing power into an effective demand for specific products
and services, and moving them to the people in rural area to create
satisfaction and a standard of living for them and thereby achieves the goals
of the organization”.