Marketing in developing countries like India have often been borrowed from the western world. Concepts like Brand identity, Customer relationship management, 4 Ps of the marketing mix, Consumer behavior process; Segmentation, targeting and positioning etc. have often been lifted straight from the marketing intelligentsia abroad and adopted in Indian conditions, often with minimal success. Reason lies not in the fault of such concepts, but their integration with the Indian ethos and culture. The rural India offers a tremendous market potential. Nearly two-thirds of all middle-income households in the country are in rural India and represents half of India’s buying potential. Despite, the strong potential the rural markets are by and large less exploited. Consider the market, out of five lakhs villages in India only one lakh have been tapped so far. According to us if the rural market has to be adequately tapped, there has to be a change in the way marketing concepts learnt in B-schools with adequate adoption according to scenarios prevalent in rural India. The paper thereby present the modified version of Philip Kotler’s famous marketing mix consisting of 4Ps. The focus is on its modification and subsequent customization to Indian rural markets perspective. The 4Ps have to be modified to include 1P i.e. Packaging and 1R i.e. Retailer as special focus areas. Further to ensure the sustainability of the marketing mix two Es i.e. Education and Empowerment have to be at the core as they help in generating widespread participation from the rural clientele by enhancing their standard of living. The Products in the rural market should essentially operate at the basic and expected level of product classification. They should essentially meet the basic needs of the consumer and should be a no-frill product, as the consumer would not be valuing much any further addition to the product concept. Companies also face a daunting task in communicating about their products to the consumer due to lack of literacy and failure of traditional media to penetrate in the rural households.
Hence, the advertising mix has to be more towards non-conventional yet effective medium like Puppetry, Folk Theater Song, Wall Painting, Demonstration, Posters, Agricultural Games, NGOs network, etc. Thus overall either the product or communication or preferably both need to be customized to target the rural customer. In terms of physical distribution due to lack of infrastructure the costs are very exorbitant to reach the rural customer. Thus, mediums like rural marketing vehicles and melas and haats provide better opportunities to meet customer needs. Also the existing distribution would need a transformation to achieve the required penetration levels as success of Project Streamline of HLL has shown. Since, the value for money concept is more important rural customers, there has to be an approach of treating customer as budget seeking consumer. Here, fitting the consumer needs into an affordable price point is pursued first and then other features of product are fitted in. Similarly, packaging has to meet customer needs of better brand recall and introducing favorable price points. At the same time the importance of retailer has to be recognized where he is one of the most major influencer is customer’s decision making process. He acts as the friend and guide in this process and hence, needs to be managed effectively through promotion programmes and incentives to promote the brand of a company. In order to bridge the gap between Philip Kotler and countryside Indian what is needed the appreciation of unique features of rural India and thus, responding to them by making adequate improvements in the application of the marketing concepts learnt in the class. For achieving the desired results of capturing the rural customer a comprehensive approach to the traditional marketing concepts has to be taken. This marketing mix has to be responsive to customers needs and fit into his life as a tool of self-enhancement. To be successful the concept of marketing has to be taken in conjunction with its economic, psychological and social implications.
Contents:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
CONCLUSIONS
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHY
