February 12, 2002

Sanal Kumar Velayudhan writes about the changing socio-cultural patterns in rural India and how they influence marketing techniques

The popular image of a rural consumer is of one who has limited educational background, is exposed to limited products and brands, choosing price over quality and is influenced by word-of-mouth communication. There is also the view that a rural consumer is no different from his urban counterpart. The changing consumption patterns reflect the evolving lifestyle of rural consumers....

The influences on the behaviour of the rural consumer are also changing. The lifestyle of rural consumers is influenced by:

• Increasing incomes and income distribution;
• Marketers’ efforts to reach out and educate potential consumers;
• The situation in which he or she utilizes the product.

This last point is usually an overriding factor. Understanding the product-use situation creates opportunities for marketers. This is because the rural environment does not have the infrastructure facilities available in urban areas which affects the consumption of both durable and non-durable products....

Distribution of households by income
It is short-sighted to view rural markets as an extension of urban markets. The issue facing the rural marketer is not of adequate consumers who can afford what the urban market consumes. The situation instead requires the marketer to identify and reach out to consumers with offers that meet variations in their ability to purchase.

In rural India, more than half the households are in the income category of less than Rs25,000 per annum but about 14 per cent of the households have an annual income that exceeds Rs50,000 per annum.

This distribution pattern is also true for three of the four regions of India. In Western India, there are approximately 45 per cent of households with income levels below Rs25,000 per annum, and approximately 19 per cent of households with income levels over Rs50,000 per annum.

The lack of electricity in many rural households acts as a barrier to consumer durables that require electricity. Re-defining the relevant population as ‘rural households with electricity’ instead of ‘total rural households’, would give a different picture of the ownership pattern of consumer durables. In this case, the average ownership of electrical goods jumps from 0.82 to 2.48 in the rural areas as compared to 3.39 in the urban areas. If only households with electricity are considered for items like black and white televisions and cassette recorders, the rural penetration rate of these items would be higher than that of urban areas....

Expenditure on consumer non-durables
Rural buyers consume certain non-durable products regularly, and this buying behaviour reflects their lifestyles. The rural household spends on an average, Rs3,203 per year for 22 consumer non-durables that include toiletries, cosmetics, packaged foods, washing products, etc. The average expenditure among rural households in the East was the lowest at Rs2,837 and in the West was the highest at Rs3,622 per annum for the 22 consumer non-durables. The rural household in the lowest income group spent Rs2,464 a year and the highest income group spent Rs8,021 a year.

Most rural households buy toilet soap, washing soap bars, edible oil and tea. Some non-durables like lipsticks, nail polish, health beverages and shampoo have very limited acceptance among rural consumers....

Geographic demographic influences and behaviour variations
To understand rural buying behaviour, a marketer must first understand a) the factors that influence buying behaviour and b) the variations in behaviour. These help to generate information upon which a marketer can create bases to segment the rural market, taking the following factors into consideration.

• Environment of the consumer
• Geographical influences
• Influence of occupation
• Place of purchase
• Creative use of products

The behaviour variations that are unique to rural markets are influenced by the place of purchase and occupation and sometimes get reflected in the creative application or use of products.

Influence of the larger environment on rural consumers
A villager’s needs are different from those of an urban consumer. The environment is a critical influence in shaping the needs of rural consumers. Products made to urban specifications may be impractical in rural settings. An excellent example is that of electrical and electronic goods. Virtually all radios, cassette players and television sets are made to urban power supply specifications. In many villages, particularly in power-strapped states, voltages fluctuate wildly making electrical products susceptible to frequent breakdowns. Rural consumers may not mind paying more for products like the television or radio if they can withstand frequent voltage fluctuations....

Cultural social practices and consumer behaviour
Cultural and social practices have a major influence on the behaviour of the rural consumer. The widely dispersed villages and limited communication helped preserve traditions in rural markets. Increasing access to urban areas and information dissemination possibly reduce the influence of traditions.

Till such time that cultural influences persist, the marketer has to:

• Develop products that suit the cultural practices of the rural consumer;
• Identify a suitable target audience and design media message that reflects social behaviour;
• Design the distribution to reach the places or outlets from where the consumer has been traditionally making his purchase.

The influence of culture reveals itself in consumer preferences for product features, product size, shape and colour. For instance, the preference for large audio equipment is a reflection of this influence. The information source is also influenced by social practices. Since villages have a common washing area, purchases like toilet soap and toothpaste, which are usually private in an urban household, are known to all. It provides immense status to brush your teeth with a toothpaste or use a detergent to wash clothes.

An important social and cultural phenomenon is the mela. Melas are a prominent feature of Indian rural life, held periodically or annually to commemorate important events or to honour a diety. Farmers flushed with funds after a harvest frequent melas with their families. Women, who are ordinarily restricted from moving out of the village, have universal social sanction to visit the mela.

A marketer’s response to the influence of cultural and social practices is in the areas of product and of promotion. Marketers design products to reflect social and cultural influences. The message to promote products makes use of the signs and symbols the villager is familiar with.

Is tradition giving way to modernity? In the traditional scenario, decision making on a purchase was limited to the male heads of households. An increase in rural literacy coupled with greater access to information has resulted in the involvement of the other members of the family in purchase decision making. This presents a wider target audience for marketing and wider media options for advertisers.

An increased exposure of rural consumers to urban lifestyles has led to a gradual change in norms and roles prevalent in the social fabric of villages.

• A primary symptom of the change is the shift from collective thought to individual action.
• Another change is in the similarities in perceptions, attitudes and benefits.
Arun Adhikari of HLL says, “The media has taught rural India to learn to decode the advertising structure and has built aspirations...In a commercial’s content, there are more similarities emerging than dissimilarities for broad based products”. An example: Lux runs the same advertising film across markets. As a brand and in its advertising, it promotes a functional benefit of ‘pure and mild’. Its emotional cue of glamour and escape rubs well with consumers who are socially trapped i.e., both city and rural audiences.
• A third change is in the behaviour of the rural consumer. The saving and investment patterns of the rural rich is shifting from gold and land to tractors, harvesters, video cassette recorders and Maruti cars.

Excerpts from
Rural marketing: targeting the non-urban consumer
By Sanal Kumar Velayudhan
Sage Publications, M 32 Market, Greater Kailash 1, New Delhi-110 048 
Email: marketing@indiasage.com
ISBN 0-7619-9566-8
196pp. Indian Rs200

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