Those who arent quite familiar with marketing concepts may find it difficult to understand that why there is a need for a separate strategy for the rural market in India. They feel that advertising in rural market and the urban market doesnt make any difference. However, marketing experts know it very well that they are totally different ballgames.
The products or services offered in these markets arent different, but you need separate strategies for marketing and promotion. Field researches indicate that there are unique challenges and specialties of these markets. Therefore, marketing geeks should be aware of it. If you think about the biggest challenges, then here are the top challenges and strategies:
How to manage the distribution and logistics?
In spite of a massive improvement in the infrastructure, it is a big challenge to manage the logistics still. Approach roads to the bigger villages have improved greatly, but the condition is not quite good in the interiors. Lack of affective distribution prevents manufacturers and dealers in ensuring smooth and uninterrupted supplies. It is one of the biggest challenges in front of rural marketing companies in india.
How to collect the payments?
In the background of recent decision taken by the government about demonetization of 500 and 1000 rupee notes, there is a big focus on making the economy cashless. Since the rural markets largely depend on cash transactions, efforts are required to educate them about the smart, digital ways of doing transactions. Though people are developing indigenous methods and solutions to overcome the issue, it is critically important point today.
How to decide the product packaging?
Well, there is a disparity in the income patterns as far as the total and urban consumers are concerned? While in the cities and towns, buyers arent much worried about cash flow, the situation is different in the rural areas. People are greatly dependent on agriculture income, and the crop cycle determines their buying pattern. In such situation, it is not a wise thing to flood the market with products when it is not the harvesting season. In the rural markets, low-value products are always successful. FMCG companies have successfully done it in the form of sachets of detergents or shampoo. The small packaging doesnt need extensive advertisement in rural areas. The more visible they are, the higher is the publicity.
The majority of the companies are targeting rural markets now for a great success in overcoming the challenges mentioned above.