For long, marketers across the world have been ignoring con-sumers lying at the bottom of the economic pyramid. They focused mainly on customers in developed countries, and at the most, the top and upper middle-class consumers from the developing countries. Now, since the developed markets have become saturated, companies are left with no choice but to move towards those consumers in the untapped segment. Moreover, the onus is on marketers to target those consumers lying at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). Experts and industry s from all parts of the world are predicting that this BOP is going to be the next big thing, i.e., it serves as a huge lucrative market. Hence, companies need to have a keen look at this gigantic market to stay ahead in the competition.
Till now, marketers have neglected the BOP consumers across the globe, under the illusion that they do not have the spending power and are highly cost-conscious. In the year 2004, CK Prahalad (Prahalad), the world foremost management guru and strategy expert, along with his fellow professor Stuart L Hart, through their book Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, enlightened the marketers about the importance of BOP consumers in this globalized world. They argued that companies have missed out on the opportunity to benefit from the BOP market. All this led to a sudden drastic change in the way companies used to market their products to the consumers in the BOP market. It seems they have learnt the lessons for not having identified the potential of these markets and serving them earlier. Several companies across the world, ranging from various segments and industries are vying to reach and serve these consumers. The change is mostly visible in industries like consumer electronics and telecommunications.
Therefore, it's high time that marketers shed the false beliefs and assumptions and realize the importance of this huge untapped market potential. They need to create the BOP into a consumer market, for which they have to create the "capacity to consume". Capacity to consume is based on three principles known as the three "A"s: Affordability, Accessibility, and Availability. The private sector needs to enter this market in order to develop new products and services for them. Companies need to develop trust in the BOP consumers, and see that they are valued. To what extent marketers will be successful in benefiting from this market depends on their ability to study the market, and respond to the requirements of the market.
|
