Rural Market Case Study

SOME FACTS

* As per the 2001 census, 72.2 per cent of the population lives in about 6,38,000 villages.

* Of the 6 lakh-plus villages, roughly only 13 per cent (75,000 villages) of them have a population above 2,000. Most of the rural audience in the smaller villages come to shop at a nearby ‘haat’ or travel to a nearby bigger village. Hence, if the marketer is focussing on those 75,000 villages, he can cover almost all of the Indian rural audience

* There are hardly any shops in around 2.3 lakh villages

* 17 per cent of Indian villages account for 50 per cent of rural population in India and 60 per cent of rural wealth

* Rural Population- 742 million people

IMPACT OF MACROENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

* Political-Legal

* Over the years, rural areas have been amalgamated in the national mainstream politics

* Urban intrusions such as SEZs and urban reverse migration through farmhouses and real estate into rural space.

* NGOs educating and organizing the villagers, and playing a major role in creating political and legal awareness.

* Economic

* Income levels and per capita expenditure have increased over the years

* Rural consumers who have same income levels of urban consumers, have a higher level of disposable income.

* Increase in spending on non-food items over the years

* Rural income is seasonal as it is mostly agriculture driven.

* Social-Cultural

* Caste system has implications on individual and social behaviour.

* In rural areas, people belonging to some castesare prohibited from accessing the common facilities demarcated for another caste group.

* Violation of these norms can lead to social tensions.

* Technological

* Green and White revolutions in rural India

* Infusion of mobile and information technology into rural markets

* Demographic

* Rural population is unorganized and highly scattered in 630,000 plus villages

* Most of...