Ruralization of Indian marketing is an unavoidable phenomenon and the trend has already set in. Rural markets are no more rural from the viewpoint of the taste and choice of consumers, especially after the introduction of global brands. As far as consumption is concerned, rural markets have a vast potential compared to their urban counterparts. Thus, the rural markets are all set to become the future markets of India. This article discusses some problems of rural markets as future markets of India.

Talking in terms of population and number of households, rural markets are much larger than urban markets. With the saturation of the urban markets, rural markets are attracting marketers and global brands. The situation has been further fueled by the rapid information, media and technological developments. The current trend began in the 1990s when India opened its gates and permitted international trade. This gave a golden opportunity to the MNCs to set up shop in the country. Gradually, the MNCs and local brands began to eye the rural markets which had about 740 million rural consumers who began to express an interest to try using these brands just like their urban counterparts.

Today, the rural markets are proving to be vital for the growth of many marketers. However, there are significant differences between urban and rural markets as discussed in subsequent paragraphs. Indian rural markets pose specific set of problems. Without addressing those problems, marketers cannot achieve success in these markets.

Statistically, rural markets provide numerous advantages to the marketers. They are characterized by a vast consumer base and have an enormous potential. These are the markets of the future as they provide numerous opportunities for the marketers. These markets will prove larger in dimension compared to the urban markets in the near future. Another feature of the rural markets is that they are heterogeneous in nature. There are variations in the needs and requirements of the customers in different rural markets. There are many small subsegments within one segment, which makes these markets heterogeneous. Another feature which differentiates the rural markets from urban markets is the dependency of the purchasing power of rural consumers on agricultural output, which ultimately again depends on the monsoon. If the monsoon is good, the purchasing power of the rural consumers is proportionately increased. One important thing about rural markets is that they are geographically widespread. While this feature helps in implementing strategies like price discrimination, it, however, poses challenges on various fronts like logistics, channel and distribution management and customer relation management. The rural consumer is still influenced by his society. He is heavily influenced by the opinion of his family members, friends and other elders for any purchase decision. Urban consumers today make independent decisions and are not very influenced by the society but rural consumers do exhibit social impact in buying behavior. These features make rural marketing different from urban marketing, where it is easier to understand the consumer and product development can be carried out on the basis of identifiable segments.

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