Marketing strategies for rural market

Over the past few years rural India has witnessed an increase in the buying power of consumers, accompanied by their desire to upgrade their standard of living. Host of projects, such as NREGA, ITC’s echaupal, HLL’s project Shakti, retail hubs like Kisan Sansar (Tata), Haryali Kisan Bazar (DMC), both from the government and the private companies, have changed the rules of the marketing game in rural India. The paper discusses the profile of the rural Indian customer and analyses the characteristics of the diverse and scattered rural market. The paper goes on to explore how companies can influence in the rural segment through effective marketing strategies. The research done is basically the descriptive research in which special emphasis has been put on describing the strategies. This study is purely through secondary data supported by charts, graphs and tables. The paper studies the changing paradigm of the Indian rural markets and suggests some ways in overcoming the roadblocks in rural selling.