Rural marketing - opportunities and challenges with reference to Davangere district

Rural marketing is having special place in the marketing of FMCG and durable goods. With the expansion of rural marketing tends to the growth of economic development of India. The villagers have accepted the modern way of living style due to their increase in the income and purchasing ability. Impact of globalization has made rural market higher than the urban market because of stiff competition. Due to increase in population and increase in purchasing power of rural people, the companies are realizing the importance of reaching the consumers with alternative channels such as direct marketing and haat's. Government is giving the benefit for the companies which are trying to penetrate the rural market. As rural people live in rural area which is far away from cities and towns. So they prefer to purchase at local kirana shops and they won't discriminate about local or branded products. Authorized dealers and distributors feel that transportation is the major problem, where the profit will go down and it's very difficult for them to make available product directly in rural areas. This paper is descriptive in nature. Primary data has been collected from the 60 dealers and 120 kirana shop owners and 120 rural consumers through Close ended questionnaire (structured questionnaire) in the different villages of Davangere district, Secondary data has been collected from the various Journals, Magazines, News Papers and Internet source. Appropriate statistical tools used to analyse the available data.