Indian rural market opens new dimensions of success for entrepreneurs. However, they have to be aware of the issues, opportunities, and challenge in the journey.
Issues
The Indian rural market has totally different dynamics. Market
ng managers should keep the issues in mind while deriving marketing strategies:
-
The rural market doesn’t show consistent demand throughout the year because the economy is largely dependent on agriculture. The harvesting season typically shows a surge in the market.
-
Poor transportation is still an issue. There has been a great improvement in recent years, though. Roads become unserviceable during the monsoon season, and connectivity becomes a big issue.
-
Material distribution and supply chain is another challenge. Too many tiers in the distribution channels increase cost and time required to deliver the stuff.
-
Lifestyle and mindset of the rural population are different. Hence, products and services that do not use relevant advertising in rural areas remain unnoticed.
-
Buying decisions are usually slow in the rural market. Therefore, it takes the time to popularize a product. Personal experience is more relied than advertising.
Opportunities
-
The huge marketplace is the biggest strength of the rural market. When there are more than a billion people waiting for the opportunity of using a product or service, it is critically important to derive marketing strategies and outdoor advertising ideas that attract rural consumers.
-
Competition is less in the rural segment. Since there are not many players contesting for the largest market share, good profitability can be achieved.
-
There is an immense scope of reaping the benefit of launching low-cost, out-of-the-box products that are relevant to the rural people. Such products get clicked instantly and become a great success. Many companies are focusing on specialized advertisement in rural areas.
Challenges
Marketing gurus have several challenges while deriving effective rural promotion strategies relevant to the rural marketplace. Though it is not impossible to overcome them, they need additional efforts and resources.
-
Deriving a uniform marketing strategy is a big challenge. Since there is a big diversity in India, a homogeneous strategy doesn’t get clicked. Therefore, marketing experts have to do immense efforts to make a product success.
-
Cost is an inhibiting factor, especially when the product doesn’t have direct relevance to them. The rural people are reluctant to pay hefty prices for purely lifestyle products. They feel it a wasteful expenditure. Hence, there has to be relevance between product price and utility value.