Around the world, four billion people live in poverty. And marketing firms are still struggling to turn them into customers. For the past decade, business visionaries have argued that these people, dubbed the “Base of the Pyramid”, make up an enormous, untapped market. Some of the world's biggest, savviest corporations have aimed to address their basic needs — by selling them everything from clean water to electricity and from FMCG to consumer durables. “Improving the lives of billions of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid is a noble endeavour. It can also be a lucrative one.” C.K. Prahlad. The paper studies the changing scenario of Indian rural markets and implies some suggestions in improving the marketing strategy in rural selling and market promotion. An improved marketing mix is the call of hour, with strategies framed by deeply considering the dynamic rural buying behaviour. This is in context of Indian rural market which is stands tall due to its cultural diversity. This throws an open ground challenge to the marketers in a country with multi-cultural, multi-lingual varsity. This paper is an attempt to provide some mettle solutions to these challenges as it studies and follows some successful rural marketing strategies of modern times. This is particular in context of rural sales strategies rural promotion mix.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2352405_code1847003.pdf?abstractid=2352405&mirid=1

Rural Marketing in India – Challenges and Opportunities

Rural markets offer a great scope for a concentrated marketing effort because of the recent increase in the rural incomes and the likelihood that such incomes will increase faster because of better production and higher prices for agricultural commodities. Rural Marketing is a developing concept, and as a part of any economy has untapped potential; marketers have realized the opportunity recently. Improvement in infrastructure and reach promise a bright future for those intending to go rural. Any macro-level strategy for these markets should focus on availability, accessibility and affordability. Focused attention needs to be paid to market research that goes on to reduce the uncertainly in dealing with these markets. More specifically, in relation to rural areas, demand is seen to a very highly price elastic. There is no doubt that divides do exist between urban India and rural India. This paper discuss the rural marketing and its strategies and also focus on opportunities and challenges in rural marketing.

Rural Marketing in India

Villages constitute the integral part of any nation. They are even more important in the Asian and African context, where majority of the population lives in villages. A marketing innovation is all about introducing significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing. It involves leveraging on the marketing mix namely product, price, place and promotion to bring positive changes. Rural marketing is all about planning and implementing marketing function for the rural areas. The key to succeed in rural market always depends on how efficiently you can comprehend the psychology of rural consumers and their needs. The rural market in India is vast and scattered. It offers a plethora of opportunities in comparison to the urban sector. Primary aim of the study is to assist the marketers who are interested in rural markets. The researcher has studied the emergence of rural markets in India context and the possible challenges and issues that will be faced by the companies trying to enter Indian rural markets. The study has also looked in to the innovative and successful marketing practices of the existing players in rural India and their by evolving some successful strategies that can be adopted. Developing a model to encourage successful rural marketing is also an objective of this research. In Indian perspective innovations in rural markets should be based on 4 As namely: Awareness, Acceptability, Affordability and most importantly Availability. Exploiting new ideas should always lead to creation of new product or service which lowers the cost at the same time has the potential to meet the demand.

Innovative Practices in Rural Marketing: An Indian Perspective.

Background: Unlike other organized retailbusinesses agro retail business does not have any territorial rights to avoid competition. There are many new agro retailers who have entered the market and also the agromanufacturers by themselves have direct connect with these retailers to monitor the sales and movement of goods these days. 
Purpose:  The purpose of this study is to explore the promotional methods and strategies carried out by the agro retailers to influence farmers which results in repeat purchases. 
Theoretical framework:‘The repeat purchase by a customer is due to the benefits that he or she seeks from the retailer and how the purchasing behavior of the consumer changes over the time’ by Jacob, Frank. (2014).‘Customer retention is concerned with the relationship between the customer and the retailer on a long term and a main outcome of it is customer making repeat purchases from the same retailer’ according to Sohail M.S. (2012).Thus a repeat purchase by a customer can be the benefits they get from the retailer or the relationship that the retailer maintains. So this study will compare the monetary benefits like credits, discounts and offers provided by the retailer with the relationship factor between the farmer and the retailer. 
Objectives: To find out the various promotional factors by agro retailers to make farmers to revisit their shop for purchase. Secondly, to measures the effective promotional methods by agro retailers which results in more number of repeat purchases by the farmers 
Methodology: TargetTheni district has 94 villages. In which 120 farmers were selected through cluster random sampling.A questionnaire is developed to collect the primary data and also secondary data is collected to augment the information acquired through primary data for counsel 
Findings: The study discovers the effective promotional methods adopted by the agro retailers which make the farmers to do repeat purchases from their retail shop. This paper also deliberates the inference of the research discoveries and also provides few directions for future research with some limitations 
Research, Practical & Social implications:This study suggests the managers of agro manufacturers to design a marketing plan with effective road map of strategies and the findings of the study will be helpful for agro retailers to frame their marketing plan and budget accordingly in order to increase the customer loyalty. If all agro manufacturers, retailers and farmers go hand in hand then it might support the growth of agricultural sector in India 
Originality/Value: The study contributes to the research in rural marketing in two ways: At first, the methodological contribution, which is the introduction of monetary and non-monetary promotional approach in agro retail industry and secondly the theoretical contribution, which is uncovering of invisible value formation in the farmer retailer relationship.  

https://www.openaccessojs.com/JBReview/article/download/607/278

A Study on the Promotional Methods Carried out by the Agro Retailers from Farmer’s Perspective: Theni District, Tamil Nadu

Agri-food marketing in developing countries is usually seen from a micromarketing perspective, and to a relatively lesser degree, from a macromarketing perspective. However, there is also another perspective within agri-food marketing that is mesomarketing. In this regard, the research attempted to further research the realm of agri-food mesomarketing and attempt to better ascertain, assess and diagnose mesomarketing in agri-food marketing in developing economies. The findings from the research provided that agri-food mesomarketing has an important role to play, not only as per its conduit between micromarketing and macromarketing, but for its importance per se. In fact, the research findings provided that a more holistic approach to agri-food marketing is important i.e. the combination and integration of micromarketing, mesomarketing and macromarketing. The research also found the importance of agri-food mesomarketing in terms of, for example, further developing regional and/or provincial agri-food marketing systems within a country; developing city, town and village agri-food marketing systems; developing networks of local vertical, horizontal and facilitating marketing systems; developing markets in both rural and urban areas; facilitating and enhancing community agri-food marketing systems, community and non- autochthonous community-based enterprise marketing practices and group collective marketing practices ; fostering growth poles and economic corridors as well as in-country regional and rural development policies. However what also emerged from the research findings was the evident lack of research specifically on agri-food mesomarketing, a lack of research conducted taking a specific agri-food mesomarketing perspective in particular and also a lack of research on agri-food mesomarketing practices.

/pdf/agri-food-marketing-in-developing-countries-the-3ujb58jd.pdf

Agri-Food Marketing in Developing Countries: The Micromarketing and Macromarketing Perspectives, but What about the Mesomarketing Perspective?

The aim of this research is to study the current scenario of Rural Marketing in India, the rural market presents with its various opportunities and challenges, given how diversely populated the rural consumers in India are. The rural market consists of 83.3 crore people and this is what attracts marketers to enter in this market. To market in the territory of rural marketing corporations must understand the rural consumer. There is a shift incoming from urban to the rural marketing as the development and levels of literacy and awareness among the rural consumers is rising and these consumers want value for their money. Marketers when catering to rural consumers need to connect with them and also undertake demonstrations for the better understanding of the rural people. Many innovations in the strategy to market into the rural markets have been undertaken in the past years. This paper aims to understand these innovations and strategies and to understand the rural consumer of India. The future of rural marketing and the development in rural areas is promising in development of rural economies and for the people living in these rural areas a better life.

Bhavika Pandita Hakhroo

Papers

Review of Rural Marketing in India and Innovations in Rural Marketing