Rural Marketing Project Report

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RURAL INDIA…a new dawn India needs creative solutions to start a revolution which can take its villages fast forward in time – converting them into economically viable units and growth engines, harnessing the power of the villagers, and opening up new horizons with the promise of a better tomorrow.

Contents Sr No 1 2 3 4 5 6 6

Topic Introduction Rural Marketing - Concept What makes rural markets attractive? Rural Consumer Insight Some Myths about Rural Market Why Different Strategies? Opportunities

Page No. 5 10 11 12 13 14 15

Company 1 – TATA Tea 7 8 9

Company Profile Products & Brands 4P’s of Marketing

17 18 20

Company 2 – Society Tea 10 11 12 13 14

Introduction Company profile Mission Statement Benefits of Society Tea 4P’s of Marketing

25 26 26 27 29

New Company Launched Parivar Tea Limited 15 16 17 18 19

Company Profile Why Go Rural 4P’s of Marketing STP of Parivar Tea Cases & Conclusion

32 32 34 35 36,37

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Introduction Before gamboling into issues like where the Indian rural market stands and the opportunities for corporate’s to explore there... let's look at the definition of urban and rural India. The Census defined urban India as - "All the places that fall within the administrative limits of a municipal corporation, municipality, cantonment board etc or have a population of at least 5,000 and have at least 75 per cent male working population in outside the primary sector and have a population density of at least 400 per square kilometer. Rural India, on the other hand, comprises all places that are not urban!" Now for some facts and figures The Indian rural market today accounts for only about Rs 8 billion (53 per cent - FMCG sector, 59 per cent durables sale, 100 per cent agricultural products) of the total ad pie of Rs 120 billion, thus claiming 6.6 per cent of the total share. So clearly there seems to be a long way ahead. Time and again marketing practitioners have waxed eloquent about the potential of the rural market. But when one zeroes in on the companies that focus on the rural market, a mere handful names come to mind. Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is top of the mind with their successful rural marketing projects like 'Project Shakti' and 'Operation Bharat'. The lynchpin of HLL's strategy has been to focus on penetrating the market down the line and focusing on price point. Furthermore, activating the brand in the rural market through activities, which are in line with the brand itself, is what sums up HLL's agenda as far as the rural market is concerned informs MindShare Fulcrum general manager R Gowthaman. Amul is another case in point of aggressive rural marketing. Some of the other corporates that are slowly making headway in this area are Coca Cola India, Colgate, Eveready Batteries, LG Electronics, Philips, BSNL, Life Insurance Corporation, Cavin Kare, Britannia and Hero Honda to name a few.

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Khaitan fans' ad on a horse cart

Wheel's wall painting

We can safely say that until some years ago, the rural market was being given a step-motherly treatment by many companies and advertising to rural consumers was usually a hit and miss affair. More often than not, the agenda being to take a short-cut route by pushing urban communication to the rural market by merely transliterating the ad copy. Hence advertising that is rooted in urban sensitivities didn't touch the hearts and minds of the rural consumer. While, this is definitely changing, the process is slow. The greatest challenge for advertisers and marketers continues to be in finding the right mix that will have a pan-Indian rural appeal. Coca Cola, with their Aamir Khan ad campaign succeeded in providing just that. Corporates are still apprehensive to "Go Rural." A few agencies that are trying to create awareness about the rural market and its importance are Anugrah Madison, Sampark Marketing and Advertising Solutions Pvt Ltd, MART, Rural Relations, O&M Outreach, Linterland and RC&M, to name a few. Also, the first four agencies mentioned above have come together to form The Rural Network. The paramount objective of the Lifebuoy's wall Network is to get clients who are looking for a painting in rural national strategy in rural marketing and help them India in executing it across different regions. Interestingly, the rural market is growing at a far greater speed than its urban counterpart. "All the data provided by various agencies like 4

NCAER, Francis Kanoi etc shows that rural markets are growing faster than urban markets in certain product categories at least. The share of FMCG products in rural markets is 53 per cent, durables boasts of 59 per cent market share. Therefore one can claim that rural markets are growing faster than urban markets," says Sampark Marketing and Advertising Solutions Pvt Ltd managing director R A Patankar. Coca-Cola India tapped the rural market in a big way when it introduced bottles priced at Rs 5 and backed it with the Aamir Khan ads. The company, on its "Yaara da Tashan..." McCann behalf, has also been investing Erickson's ads with Aamir Khan steadily to build their created universal appeal for infrastructure to meet the growing Coca Cola needs of the rural market, which reiterates the fact that this multinational has realised the potential of the rural market is going strength to strength to tap the same. Clearly the main challenge that one faces while dealing with rural marketing is the basic understanding of the rural consumer who is very different from his urban counterpart. Also distribution remains to be the single largest problem marketers face today when it comes to going rural. In 2000, ITC took an "Reaching your product to remote locations initiative to develop spread over 600,000 villages and poor direct contact with infrastructure - roads, telecommunication etc farmers who lived in and lower levels of literacy are a few hinges far-flung villages in that come in the way of marketers to reach Madhya Pradesh. ITC's the rural market," says MART managing E-choupal was the director Pradeep Kashyap. result of this initiative. Citing other challenges in rural marketing, Patankar says, "Campaigns have to be tailor made for each product category and each of the regions where the campaign is to be executed. Therefore a thorough knowledge of the nuances of 5

language, dialects and familiarity with prevailing customs in the regions that you want to work for is essential. The other challenge is the reach and the available means of reaching out to these markets, hence the video van is one of the very effective means of reaching out physically to the rural consumers." The fact of the matter remains that when compared to the Indian urban society, which is turning into a consumerism society; the rural consumer will always remain driven by his needs first and will therefore be cost conscious and thrifty in his spending habits. "Decision-making is still conscious and deliberated among the rural community. But nevertheless, the future no doubt lies in the rural markets, since the size of the rural market is growing at a good pace. There was a time when market predictions were made on the basis of the state of the monsoon but this trend has changed over the years; there is a large non farming sector, which generates almost 40 per cent of the rural wealth. Hence the growth in the rural markets will be sustained to a large extent by this class in addition to the farmer who will always be the mainstay of the rural economy," affirms Patankar. "Although the melting of the urban - rural divide will take a while, this is not for want of the availability of the means but for want of the rural consumer's mindset to change; which has its own logic, which is driven by tradition, custom and values that are difficult to shed," he points out. Fulcrum's Gowthaman says, "The biggest impending factor or deterrent on rural monies going up is that there is a general sense of trying to benchmark cost per contact (CPC). The television Satellite dish antennas reach CPC is going to anyways be rural India cheaper to rural CPC and unless and until the volume - value equation turns the other way round, you will not be able to spend disproportionate monies in the rural market."

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For HLL, a one rupee or a five rupee sachet or the Kutti Hamam (the small Hamam) helps in giving the consumers a trial opportunity. While it does help in generate volume but not in terms of values. "Till the time that volume - value equation is managed better, the CPC is preventing anybody to look at rural at a large scale activation programme," reiterates Typical shop in rural Gowthaman. India stocked with Ultimately, the ball lies in the court of rural sachets, etc marketers. It's all about how one approaches the market, takes up the challenge of selling products and concepts through innovative media design and more importantly interactivity. Anugrah Madison's chairman and managing director RV Rajan sums up, "There is better scope for language writers who understands the rural and regional pulse better. I also see great scope for regional specialists in the areas of rural marketing - specialists like Event Managers, Wall painters, folk artists, audio visual production houses. In fact all those people who have specialised knowledge of a region are bound to do well, thanks to the demands of the rural marketers." So the fact remains that the rural market in India has great potential, which is just waiting to be tapped. Progress has been made in this area by some, but there seems to be a long way for marketers to go in order to derive and reap maximum benefits. Moreover, rural India is not so poor as it used to be a decade or so back. Things are sure a changing!

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Rural Marketing - Concept In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of green revolution, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy, namely, rural marketing has emerged. But often, rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing – the latter denotes marketing of produce of the rural areas to the urban consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers.

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What makes Rural Market Attractive? Rural market has following arrived and the following facts substantiate this:  742 million people  Estimated annual size of the rural market o FMCG Rs 65,000 Crore o Durables Rs 5,000 Crore o Agri-inputs (incl. tractors) Rs 45,000 Crore o 2 / 4 wheelers Rs 8,000 Crore  In 2001-02, LIC sold 55 % of its policies in rural India.  Of two million BSNL mobile connections, 50% in small towns/villages  Of the six lakh villages, 5.22 lakh have a Village Public Telephone (VPT)  41 million Kisan Credit Cards issued (against 22 million creditplus-debit cards in urban) with cumulative credit of Rs 977 billion resulting in tremendous liquidity.  Of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60 % are from small towns. 50% transactions from these towns on Rediff online shopping site  42 million rural HHs availing banking services in comparison to 27 million urban HHs.  Investment in formal savings instruments: 6.6 million HHs in rural and 6.7 million in urban

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Rural Consumer Insight  Rural India buys:

 

 

o Products more often (mostly weekly) o Buys small packs, low unit price more important than economy In rural India, brands rarely fight with each other; they just have to be present at the right place Many brands are building strong rural base without much advertising support o Chik shampoo, second largest shampoo brand o Ghadi detergent, third largest brand Fewer brand choices in rural: number of FMCG brand in rural is half that of urban Buy value for money, not cheap products

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Some Myths about Rural Markets I. Myth-1: Rural Market Is a Homogeneous Mass Reality: It’s a heterogeneous population. Various Tiers are present depending on the incomes like Big Landlords; Traders, small farmers; Marginal farmers: Labors, artisans. State wise variations in rural demographics are present viz. Literacy (Kerala 90%, Bihar 44%) and Population below poverty line (Orissa 48%, Punjab 6%) II. Myth-2: Disposable Income Is Low Reality: Number of middle class HHs (annual income Rs 45,000- 2, 15,000) for rural sector is 27.4 million as compared to the figure of 29.5 million for urban sector. Rural incomes CAGR was 10.95% compared to 10.74% in urban between 1970-71 and 1993-94. III. Myth-3: Individuals Decide About Purchases Reality: Decision making process is collective. Purchase processinfluencer, decider, buyer, one who pays can all be different. So marketers must address brand message at several levels.Rural youth brings brand knowledge to Households (HH).

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Why Different Strategies? Rural markets, as part of any economy, have untapped potential. There are several difficulties confronting the effort to fully explore rural markets. The concept of rural markets in India is still in evolving shape, and the sector poses a variety of challenges. Distribution costs and non availability of retail outlets are major problems faced by the marketers. The success of a brand in the Indian rural market is as unpredictable as rain. Many brands, which should have been successful, have failed miserably. This is because, most firms try to extend marketing plans that they use in urban areas to the rural markets. The unique consumption patterns, tastes, and needs of the rural consumers should be analyzed at the product planning stage so that they match the needs of the rural people. Therefore, marketers need to understand the social dynamics and attitude variations within each village though nationally it follows a consistent pattern. The main problems in rural marketing are:     

Understanding the rural consumer Poor infrastructure Physical Distribution Channel Management Promotion and Marketing Communication

Dynamics of rural markets differ from other market types, and similarly rural marketing strategies are also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial consumer.

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Opportunities  Infrastructure is improving rapidly. o In 50 years only 40% villages connected by road, in next 10 years another 30% o More than 90 % villages electrified, though only 44% rural homes have electric connections o Rural telephone density has gone up by 300% in the last 10 years; every 1000+ pop is connected by STD  Social Indicators have improved a lot between 1981 and 2001 o Number of “pucca” houses doubled from 22% to 41% and “kuccha” houses halved (41% to 23%) o Percentage of BPL(Below Poverty Line) families declined from 46% to 27% o Rural Literacy level improved from 36% to 59%  Low penetration rates in rural so there are many marketing opportunities Durables Urban Rural Total (% of rural HH) CTV 30.4 4.8 12.1 Refrigerator 33.5 3.5 12.0 FMCGs Shampoo 66.3 35.2 44.2 Toothpaste 82.2 44.9 55.6  Marketers can make effective use of the large available infrastructure o Post offices 1,38,000 o Haats (periodic markets) 42,000 o Melas (exhibitions) 25,000 o Mandis (agri markets) 7,000 o Public distribution shops 3,80,000 o Bank branches 32,000

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 Proliferation of large format rural retail stores which have been successful also. o DSCL Haryali stores o M & M Shubh Labh stores o TATA/Rallis Kisan Kendras o Escorts rural stores o Warnabazaar, Maharashtra (annual sale Rs 40 crore)

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Company Profile Set up in 1964 as a joint venture with UK-based James Finlay and Company to develop value-added tea, the Tata Tea Group of Companies, which includes Tata Tea and the UK-based Tetley Group, today represent the world's second largest global branded tea operation with product and brand presence in 40 countries. Among India's first multinational companies, the operations of Tata Tea and its subsidiaries focus on branded product offerings in tea but with a significant presence in plantation activity in India and Sri Lanka. The consolidated worldwide branded tea business of the Tata Tea Group contributes to around 86 per cent of its consolidated turnover with the remaining 14 per cent coming from Bulk Tea, Coffee, and Investment Income. The Company is headquartered in Kolkata and owns 27 tea estates in the states of Assam and West Bengal in eastern India, and Kerala in the south.

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Products & Brands The company has five major brands in the Indian market - Tata Tea, Tetley, Kanan Devan, Chakra Gold and Gemini -- catering to all major consumer segments for tea. The Tata Tea brand leads market share in terms of value and volume in India and the Tata Tea brand is accorded "Super Brand" recognition in the country. Tata Tea's distribution network in the country with 38 C&F agents and 2500 stockists caters to over 1.7 million retail outlets (ORG Marg Retail Audit) in India. The company has a 100% export-oriented unit (KOSHER & HACCP certified) manufacturing Instant Tea in Munnar, Kerala, which is the largest such facility outside the United States. The unit's product is made from a unique process, developed in-house, of extraction from tea leaves, giving it a distinctive liquoring and taste profile. Instant Tea is used for light density 100% Teas, Iced Tea Mixes and in the preparation of Ready-todrink (RTD) beverages. With an area of approx 15,900 hectares under tea cultivation, Tata Tea produces around 30 million kg of Black Tea annually.

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4P’s of Marketing of TATA TEA

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1#

Product: Bulk Tea All grades of CTC Teas All grades of Orthodox Teas Organic Tea - Orthodox grades Teas are supplied in packaging as per ISO norms as well as customer requirements viz. 4-ply Kraft Paper Sacks, Multiwall Paper Sacks, Rigid T--Sacks, Polywoven Sacks, Currugated Fibre Carlons, Polylined Jute Bags etc.

Instant Tea Instant Tea Division caters to customer specific product and are used for light density 100% Teas, Iced Tea Mixes and in the preparation of Ready to Drink (RTD) beverages. Instant Tea powder is packed in bulk packages of 20/25/35 kg each.

Intant tea powder - heavy density Instant tea powder - institutional density 18

Instant tea powder - grocery density Micro milled instant tea powder 2#

Price: Marketers need to understand the psyche of the rural consumers and then act accordingly. Rural marketing involves more intensive personal selling efforts compared to urban marketing. Firms should refrain from designing goods for the urban markets and subsequently pushing them in the rural areas. To effectively tap the rural market a brand must associate it with the same things the rural folks do. This can be done by utilizing the various rural folk media to reach them in their own language and in large numbers so that the brand can be associated with the myriad rituals, celebrations, festivals, “melas” and other activities where they assemble. All the prices of the products depend upon the package ie 50gms or 100gms. Normally a Penetrating Strategy is used frequently

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3#

Place: (Distribution) One of the ways could be using company delivery vans which can serve two purposes- it can take the products to the customers in every nook and corner of the market and it also enables the firm to establish direct contact with them and thereby facilitate sales promotion. However, only the bigwigs can adopt this channel. The companies with relatively fewer resources can go in for syndicated distribution where a tie-up between non-competitive marketers can be established to facilitate distribution. Annual “melas” organized are quite popular and provide a very good platform for distribution because people visit them to make several purchases. According to the India n Market Research Bureau, around 8000 such melas are held in rural India every year. Rural markets have the practice of fixing specific days in a week as Market Days (often called “Haats’) when exchange of goods and services are carried out. This is another potential low cost distribution channel available to the marketers. Also, every region consisting of several villages is generally served by one satellite town (termed as “Mandis” or Agri-markets) where people prefer to go to buy their durable commodities. If marketing managers use these feeder towns they will easily be able to cover a large section of the rural population.

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4#

Promotion: Firms must be very careful in choosing the vehicle to be used for communication. Only 16% of the rural population has access to a vernacular newspaper. So, the audio visuals must be planned to convey a right message to the rural folk. The rich, traditional media forms like folk dances, puppet shows, etc with which the rural consumers are familiar and comfortable, can be used for high impact product campaigns.

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SOCIETY TEA "Time for you and time for me, And time yet for a hundred in decisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions, Before the taking of a cup of tea"

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An aromatic story It's happening slowly, surely and smoothly. People of the world are now waking up To the pleasures of SOCIETY TEA It comes from the people who have been giving the World some of the finest blends of tea, since 1933 - Hasmukhrai & Co. The Company launched Society Tea to meet the ever-increasing demands from distant shores such as yours. Wherever tea is a tradition, Society Tea Is always welcome, because here is a blend Of such fine flavour, freshness and consistency, That meets your expectations. It's everything your cup of tea should be.

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Company Profile Tea is a tradition in our country. As, no doubt, it is in yours as well. But slowly, surely, people all over are being a little more conscious about the tea that they drink. Slowly but surely, tea is being referred to as SOCIETY TEA. Surely, one more delightful indication of the world growing smaller. And in a way, of people coming closer. Now let's raise our cups, to this cheerful tradition and to our little world of big-tasting teas.

Mission Statement The objective is to create new blends for the world. Teas of a superlative quality that taste buds had never known To extend its reach, cross geographical and cultural boundaries and reaching the hearts of the people.

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Benefits of Society Tea – Health Benefits Want the least expensive answer to memory problem? Drink tea, every few hours a day, say recent findings by Unilever Research Laboratories. After much experiment with combinations of various kinds of drugs that supposedly enhanced memory power, the findings seek to subtly suggest that the most affordable remedy, without medical expenses involved, was already available and yet ignored. Findings by Unilever point to a strong link between tea and an increase in mental alertness and other mental and physical attributes. Drinking tea every few hours can help prevent a decline in mental alertness and performance throughout the day. Tea is a rich source of flavonoids. The flavonoids in tea are found to be effective in improving blood circulation and skin health. Research in Japan and Netherlands also indicate that tea prevents strokes and heart attacks, certain cancers, check cholesterol levels and inhibit formation of dental plaque. Studies have shown that black tea consumption reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke. It maintains a healthy circulatory system of arteries and veins. Today researchers are finding that a steaming cup of tea can relieve more than just the stress of a harried day. Drinking the brew has been linked with a lowered risk of everything from tooth decay to heart disease to stroke. In a study of more than 1000 Japanese men, the more green tea they drank, the lower their concentrations of blood cholesterol dropped. And recently, University of Minnesota researchers found a link between tea consumption and a decreased risk for cancers of 25

digestive and urinary tract organs in women. Study on humans on tea and heart health, revealed that drinking more than five cups of black tea had the lowest risk of severe atherosclerosis.

SOCIETY TEA

4P’s of Marketing of SOCIETY TEA

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1#

Product:

SOCIETY TEA

SOCIETY TEA - PET JAR

SOCIETY TEA BAGS

SOCIETY PREMIUM

T - TOWN TEA

Available in 50, 100, 250 & 500 grams respectively.

Available in 250, 500 grams and 1 Kg. only.

In Packs of 25, 50 & 100 respectively.

Available in 250 grams Jars on Request. only.

Available in 250 & 500 grams Jar only.

Available on request only. SOCIETY PURE DARJEELING TEA

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2#

Price: The Pricing strategy used by Society Tea is somewhere in between penetrating and skimming, but the major part is occupied by Penetrating. Prices of Tea are as per the product packages. Eg;- 100 gms are @ Rs.20/-

3#

Place: (Distribution) Rural markets have the practice of fixing specific days in a week as Market Days (often called “Haats’) when exchange of goods and services are carried out. This is another potential low cost distribution channel available to the marketers. Also, every region consisting of several villages is generally served by one satellite town (termed as “Mandis” or Agri-markets) where people prefer to go to buy their durable commodities. If marketing managers use these feeder towns they will easily be able to cover a large section of the rural population. Distribution of Society is all around the Urban and Rural Market. The Manufacturer gives it to the wholesaler, wholesaler in turn gives it to the retailer and then finally to the customers.

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4#

Promotion: They arrested the eyes. There was something different about them. Something fresh. Something elegant. Little wonder then, that tealovers felt persuaded to pick them up and take them home. Yes, we're talking about the package. As a matter of fact, everything was designed to appeal to the senses. From the packaging to the point-of-sales attractions. From the press advertisements to the posters. From radio jingles to TV commercials. The jingle "Tea. Tea. Tea…………." caught on so much that people we heard humming it, while walking into stores, waiting for trains, watching a cricket-match or generally to ease out their boredom. Even children were heard singing it. One felt a freshness, a newness, a sense of contentment similar to the feeling one gets after each sip of Hasmukhrai & Co.'s teas. You couldn't expect any less from them. After all, they take so much trouble to create such exquisite blends of tea. Each of these pieces of communication was an invitation in every sense of the word. In fact, the first ad for SOCIETY Tea said "Welcome to the Society….". It was an invitation well accepted, for the society of tea lovers is growing larger, day by day. We're tempted to say " Tea cheers for the design."

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Parivar Tea Limited Company Profile: • A newly established company in the tea & coffee industry • Board of Directors are the group members and is a partnership firm • Manufacturing Plant is at Vashi and head office is at Malad

Why go Rural? Little has changed in the villages of India in the past decades. Schools have been built, but many still lack teachers and appropriate teaching methods. There are phone lines in many villages, but getting a dial tone is still a challenge. Electricity supply is at best intermittent. Health care is still limited in its availability. India’s villages are dependent on agriculture for much of their sustenance. Drought is a common occurrence across much of India. As a result, villagers, for the most part, remain a poor lot - the per capita income of India’s villages is perhaps no more than Rs 1218,000 (USD 240-360, USD1 = INR50) per annum, as compared to the national average of Rs 25,000 (USD 500). Perhaps, most importantly, the opportunities available to villagers are not dramatically different from what they were many years ago. Villages in India are where you live if you have no other option. And yet, India is in its villages. 70% of Indians live there. Even as one India races ahead with optimism towards the future, there is another India which seems to be stuck in the past. If India as a nation has to 30

progress, there is little doubt that India’s villages too have to progress.

Parivar Tea Limited

4P’s of Marketing of PARIVAR TEA

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1#

Product: There are 2 types of tea: • General Tea • Herbal Tea 2#

Price: Prices are set according to the rural market / village. Prices are set after considering whether it is a general tea or a herbal tea. Prices will be a bit high for herbal tea, as It contains herbs which are costlier. Also as per the packages of tea 3#

Place: 32

The distribution pattern of our product will be different form the usual pattern. The first this is that the company will have a company outlet in each and every village which will eliminate the problem releting with middlemen. Along with this tea pouches will be available at every shop in villages. 4#

Promotion: Initially we will be giving free sampling for the first user, thereby promoting the brand    

Wall painting at different places Mouth to Mouth Publicity Mobile Publicity with the use of vans and bicycles Free tea at festivals and other occasion and also at our outlets

S T P of Parivar Tea Limited Segmenting / Targeting / Positioning 1. Segmenting: Buyers behavioral segmentation All variables are in some way or the other related to buyers behavior, which vary often confuses marketers. There is a difference between the buyers characteristics reflected in there geographic, demographics and psychographic profiles, and there buying behavior. Buyer behavior involves many elements like purchasing occasion benefits, user status, rate of product usage, loyalty rate, and attitude towards the product 2. Targeting: The company targets the whole family ie anyone in the family can drink the tea. Also special for farmers as it also contains herbs which will refresh farmers 3. Positioning

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A Marketer can position his product in various ways to develop or enhance it’s value to the consumer. He also do it according to : • • • • • • •

Product Characteristics / Consumer Benefits Price Quality Use or Application Product User Product Class Culture Symbols Competitors

Your company positions it’s products as a Quality product at fare prices and consumer benefits which is a herbal tea

Some Live Examples One very fine example can be quoted of Escorts where they focused on deeper penetration. They did not rely on T.V or press advertisements rather concentrated on focused approach depending on geographical and market parameters like fares, melas etc. Looking at the ‘kuchha’ roads of village they positioned their bike as tough vehicle. Their advertisements showed Dharmendra riding Escort with the punch line ‘Jandar Sawari, Shandar Sawari’. Thus, they achieved whopping sales of 95000 vehicles annually. 1.

2. HLL started ‘Operation Bharat’ to tap the rural markets. Under this operation it passed out low–priced sample packets of its toothpaste, fairness cream, Clinic plus shampoo, and Ponds cream to twenty million households.

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3. ITC is setting up e-Choupals which offers the farmers all the information, products and services they need to enhance farm productivity, improve farm-gate price realization and cut transaction costs. Farmers can access latest local and global information on weather, scientific farming practices as well as market prices at the village itself through this web portal - all in Hindi. It also facilitates supply of high quality farm inputs as well as purchase of commodities at their doorstep.

4. BPCL Introduced Rural Marketing Vehicle (RMV) as their strategy for rural marketing. It moves from village to village and fills cylinders on the spot for the rural customers. BPCL considered low-income of rural population and therefore introduced a smaller size cylinder to reduce both the initial deposit cost as well as the recurring refill cost.

Conclusion: Thus looking at the challenges and the opportunities which rural markets offer to the marketers it can be said that the future is very promising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and exploit them to their best advantage. A radical change in attitudes of marketers towards the vibrant and burgeoning rural markets is called for, so they can successfully impress on the 230 million rural consumers spread over approximately six hundred thousand villages in rural India.

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