Rural Marketing

Bu kitapta; Dünyada ve Türkiye'de kırsal kalkınma yaklaşımları incelenmiş, kırsalda ulaşım, enerji, iletişim, eğitim ve sağlık sorunlarının çözülmesi, yaşam alanlarının (evlerin) iyileştirmesi, istihdamın çeşitlendirilmesi, turizmin geliştirilmesi, doğal çevrenin korunması, ormancılığın geliştirilmesi, sulamanın tamamlanması, tarım havzalarında sulama yatırımlarının tamamlanması, basınçlı sulama sistemlerinin yaygınlaştırılması, rekabetçi tarımsal işletmelerin kurulması, parçalı tarımsal parsellerin toplulaştırılması, organize tarım bölgelerinin kurulması ve tarımda pazarlama sorununun çözülmesi konuları işlenmiştir. Bu kapsamda mevcut durum değerlendirilmiş ve politika yapıcılara ve karar vericilere öneriler sunulmuştur.

There remains little academic consensus on a definition of rural marketing, and as a concept, rural marketing has therefore struggled to establish its own vocabulary and ideas. Modi (2009) argues that rural marketing should be defined in terms of the impact it has on the developmental of rural people.

This paper builds on this developmental concept of rural marketing by exploring the touring theatre sector and illustrating how theatre spaces and audiences differ fundamentally in urban and rural communities.

The paper reviews the literature on rural touring theatre and applies it to rural marketing. It also analyses the results of audience questionnaires and a series of audience interviews carried out with rural theatre-goers in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. The paper illustrates how the definition of rural marketing can be further developed by analysing audience reactions to rural theatre and reviewing case studies of best practice for marketing touring theatre productions. This primary and secondary research reveals the tangible benefits of authentic rural marketing and confirms Modi’s (2009) contention that successful rural marketing should have a positive impact on rural people.

The paper concludes that touring arts organizations and rural marketers working in other sectors should adjust their marketing strategies and activities to communicate more authentically and effectively with rural audiences. Finally, it uses the insights gained from touring theatre to propose a new definition of rural marketing.

Keywords: rural marketing; rural touring; arts marketing; theatre; audiences.

ÖZET Dünyada birçok ülke kırsal kalkınmanın bir aracı olarak yerel ve kültürel ürünlerin gelişmesine yardımcı olmayı hedefleyen programlar uygulamaktadır. Uzak doğu ülkelerinde Bir Köy Bir Ürün hareketi olarak ortaya çıkan bu programlar başarı ile uygulanmaktadır. Türkiye'nin Kırsal kalkınma Stratejisi benzeri programların uygulanmasına imkan vermektedir. AB Katılım Öncesi Mali Aracı olan IPARD Programı da kırsal alanda ekonomik faaliyetlerin çeşitlendirilmesini sağlayacak projelere destek vermektedir. Türkiye zengin bir kültürel miras ile çok farklı ürünler yetiştirilebilen ekolojik havzaya sahiptir. Coğrafi işaret tescili veya tescil başvurusu yapılan ürün sayısından da bu zenginliği görmek mümkündür. Bu ürünlerin tanıtılması ve pazarlanması ile yerel ekonomilere büyük katkı sağlayacaktır. Bütün paydaşların katılımı ile istikrarlı çalışmalar gerektiren bu projelere bir kez destek verilmesi yeterli olmamaktadır. Bazı illerde yerel yöneticiler tarafından uygulamaya konulan benzeri projeler, merkezi hükümetçe verilen desteklerle entegre edilemediğinden başarıya ulaşamamaktadır. Dünyadaki farklı uygulamalar incelenerek Türkiye'nin kendine özgü merkezi bir program oluşturması ve en az 10 yıl süreyle uygulaması gerektiği düşünülmektedir. Tanıtıcı araştırma niteliğindeki bu çalışmada, belirli bir konuda elde edilen bilgilerin bazı özelliklerinin ortaya konulması, gerçek niteliklerinin belirlenmesi ve pratik ihtiyaçların karşılanması amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem olarak olay ve olgular olduğu gibi tanıtılmaya, neden sonuç ilişkilerini yanında, olayın genel nitelikleri verilmeye çalışılmıştır (Arslanoğlu, 2015).Çalışmada konuyla ilgili Tayvan'da yapılan bir çalıştaya katılım sağlanmış, mevcut kaynaklar değerlendirilmiş, ikincil veriler taranmış, Uzakdoğu ülke deneyimleri ve kamu kurumlarının uygulamaları incelenmiştir. ABSTRACT Many countries in the world are implementing programs targeted to help the development of local and cultural products as a tool of rural development. Emerged as the One-Village One-Product movement in far Asia, these programs have been implemented with success. Rural Development Strategy of Turkey allows the implementation of similar programs in Turkey. 993

In India ever since independence, marketing acquired a largely urban bias. Hence, there were very few attempts on the part of marketers to distribute products to satisfy rural needs. An apathetic attitude is also due to the assumption that the rural consumer is poor and had no purchasing power to buy expensive branded products. Besides such, lacks of transportation and communication links were also responsible for the neglect of the rural consumer by the business firms.

The intensity of much publicised cola wars are often explicit mostly in the urban markets of developed countries and do not look into the rural areas where distribution is complex than cities. The objective of the paper is to analyse the effect of distribution efficiency in the rural marketing efforts of the Cola giants, Pepsi and Coke. The research covered the rural hamlets in Coimbatore region of Tamilnadu in South India where both the cola majors have a prominent distribution network owing to the hot weather conditions. The data was collected mainly from the owners of 356 retail outlets and their customers spreading over 76 villages. Analysis was done region wise as well as outlet wise to know the distribution efficiency of these companies and identified the gaps in servicing the rural pockets .Pepsi is better off in rural distribution mainly due to its efficient line servicing in rural areas when compared to Coke.

In the era of digitalization and globalization, E-entrepreneurship development in the rural areas is still a challenge. According to 2011 Census 68.84% people are living in rural areas of India. People in rural areas suffer with unemployment, poor infrastructure facilities which may be solved with the development of the rural E-entrepreneurs. E-entrepreneurship is defined as entrepreneurship based on the digitisation of business processes and procedures that were previously performed manually in conventional businesses. India is undoubtedly adopting e-commerce rapidly and is also setting the benchmark for retail growth in the coming times, with increasing internet penetration and mobilebased consumer behaviour and the advent of e-commerce and improving digital payments infrastructure.Rural E-entrepreneurs increase the standard of living and purchasing power of the people by offering employment opportunity to the people in villages. This paper is an attempt to understand the problems,challenges and opportunities for rural E-entrepreneurship in the context of development in Indian rural market and suggestions to overcome the problems.

Purpose The present world is crippled with the pandemic coronavirus (Covid-19). The pandemic that originated in Wuhan city of China has sent every country in the world in an unprecedented situation that has social and economic impacts. This paper aims to explore whether epidemics and pandemics have any impact on consumption patterns among rural and urban consumers in India. Taking pandemic Covid-19 as a case study, it was explored how this pandemic impacted the consumption pattern of consumers in India; what are the similarities and/or differences between rural and urban consumers that are found in their consumption habits in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The required data was collected through questionnaires sent to respondents. Approximately 500 respondents were contacted through the mail to fill in the survey questionnaire. Despite the sincere efforts, a total of 175 complete survey questionnaires were filled in by respondents. The study used SPSS Sta...

ABSTRACT:
Definition and domain related issues of ‘rural marketing’ need further clarification and revision. Often times, rural marketing is equated with marketing by multinationals in rural India. The extant literature in rural marketing has uncritically used the theories, models, concepts, and frameworks of the mainstream marketing discipline. So far, rural marketing has failed to create its proprietary theories, concepts, frameworks, and distinct vocabulary. As a result, rural marketing cannot claim the status of a separate subdiscipline within the broader marketing discipline. I provide a critique of the extant work in rural marketing and its dependence on the mainstream business marketing literature. I argue that rural marketing must find its own distinct perspective before theory construction can begin in the field. After reviewing the literature on marketing and economic development, I propose that development of rural people should be the perspective of rural marketing. In this paper, I propose a domain and definition of rural marketing, and suggest several potential areas for theory construction to begin in the subject.

Everybody of us is a consumer. We need a variety of goods and services right from our birth to death. Because of marketing, we can have what we need. Marketing is a process through which both the buyer and seller give something (e.g. goods, services, money etc.) to each other for maximum possible satisfaction. Nowadays Rural Marketing is gaining importance. All the FMCG companies viz HLL, Pepsi, Coca cola, Britannia, Colgate, Palmolive, Samsung etc. are concentrating their marketing activities in rural markets. Why?  Because of socio-economic changes and huge market of more than 80 million households which will increase to 111 million households by 2007 (NCEAR Report). Rural consumer has become enough aware about his needs and up gradation of his standard of living. Information technology, Govt. Policies, Corporate strategies and satellite communication are the factors responsible for development of Rural Marketing. Let us look at the potential of rural markets. Rural consumption share in popular soaps is 48%, tooth pastes-24%, talcum powder-17%, cold medicines-42%, Battries-52% etc. The market for packaged food items of Rs. 20,000 crores, is growing at 2.5% per year.1 It is interesting to understand the various aspects of the rural markets and consumption patterns.

Background: Rural marketing is a process of developing, pricing, promoting, assessing products and exchanging the products between rural and urban markets which satisfy consumers. As there is more competition in the urban market, the companies are looking for extending their products to the rural market. In recent years, rural markets have acquired the overall growth of the economy which resulted in a significant increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of the Green Revolution in India, the rural areas are consuming more manufactured products. The market scenario in the rural areas today is changing very rapidly. Rural families have their own set of aspirations and are willing to pay the right price for the right product. It is very difficult for the companies to overlook the opportunities they could have from rural markets. The companies have to overcome certain challenges. Aim: To review the literature related to Rural Marketing in India. Objectives: The present study attempts to examine the following aspects related to Rural Marketing in India: Nature and characteristics, strategies adopted, opportunities and challenges. Discussion: If any company wants to capture the rural market, they must first carry on the detailed evaluation of the countryside goal market, aiming at particular characteristics of the rural market, and utilizing different marketing strategies according to situations. Conclusion: With the changing economic conditions in the country, and also the better purchasing power of the rural population, the newly emerging rural markets are bound to yield rich dividends. The rural marketing strategies have to be appropriate and the need for a different communication mix on account of less literacy rate and environmental differences.

Rural market is the most happening market for all the FMCG companies to penetrate and increase volume. As urban market is getting saturated and FMCG companies are seeing rural market as their potential market to sell products. But to tap rural market is not that easy task because of various obstacles and challenges. One of the most crucial challenges for every FMCG company is the presence of spurious products. Selling of spurious products does not only create negative impact on the business of the branded FMCGs but also lessen the value of the brand. Many studies have been taken in this regard but most of the studies were in the form of project report to collect the relevant data only. This study will focus on the strategies to counter fake products in the rural market to get better results.

Advertising is one of the most important and basic ingredients in today's business environment. Without advertising, neither the industry nor the consumer can survive. Comparison and search for a better product is possible only through advertisements. The present study has an objective to study the demographic profile of the respondents and their exposure to different media, to examine the effect of advertisement on awareness and purchase of consumer durable products, to identify the most effective medium of advertising for consumer durables, and to study the important factors affecting the customers while purchasing consumer durables. The study has considered descriptive research technique; It aims to find out the effect of advertisement on consumer behaviour and brand preference in the consumer durables market of rural market of Shivamogga district. Four hypotheses were tested with the help of the SPSS 20 version. The overall outcome of the study states that rural consumers too have a habit of watching advertisements in different media, television is the most preferred medium of advertising, and there is not much difference in the opinion of male and female respondents towards advertisements.

Rural India is giving huge opportunity to the corporate world to explore new markets for their products. FMCG sector specially is completely banking upon the potential of rural India for their next big growth opportunities. FMCG companies are looking and working upon strategies for rural India, as due to various government initiatives income and general awareness level have increased and people in rural India also are wanting products which are popular in Urban India.

Buku ini disusun berdasarkan hasil kegiatan KKN-PpMM di Desa Kalongsawah selama 32 hari. Ada 11 orang mahasiswa yang terlibat di kelompok ini, yang berasal dari 7 Fakultas yang berbeda. Kami namai kelompok ini dengan SECURAH, dengan nomor kelompok 067. Kami dibimbing oleh Bapak Dedy Nursamsi, S.H. M.Hum., beliau adalah dosen di Fakultas Syariah dan Hukum. Tidak kurang dari 11 kegiatan yang kami lakukan di desa tersebut, yang sebagian besar merupakan pelayanan kepada masyarakat dan sebagian kecilnya adalah pemberdayaan. Dengan fokus pada satu kampung, yaitu Kampung Kalongdagul, kegiatan-kegiatan yang kami lakukan menghabiskan dana sekitar Rp16.700.000,-. Dana tersebut kami dapatkan dari iuran anggota kelompok KKN sebesar Rp1.000.000,- per orang, dana penyertaan Program Pengabdian pada Masyarakat oleh Dosen (PpMD) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Rp5.000.000,-, dan dari hasil pengumpulan dana sebesar Rp700.000,-.
Dari hasil kegiatan yang kami lakukan, terdapat sejumlah keberhasilan yang telah kami raih, yaitu:
1. Meningkatnya peran masyarakat dalam pembangunan desa.
2. Bertambahnya motivasi peserta didik SD, SMP, untuk melanjutkan kuliah.
3. Bertambahnya pengetahuan masyarakat mengenai UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.
4. Bertambahnya pembangunan fisik atau rehabilitasi bangunan, antara lain: Pembangunan Fasilitas Mandi, Cuci dan Kakus (MCK) Umum, Pembangunan Tempat Pembuangan Sampah Sementara (TPS), dan Pengadaan Tiang Penerangan Jalan.
Saat merencanakan dan implementasi kegiatan, terdapat sejumlah kendala yang kami hadapi, antara lain:
1. Kurangnya waktu untuk melakukan konsolidasi dan koordinasi dengan berbagai pihak, baik internal anggota kelompok, dosen pembimbing, pihak sponsor, maupun aparatur desa.
2. Kurangnya dana yang bisa terkumpul untuk memaksimalkan rencana kegiatan yang telah disusun.
3. Sejumlah masyarakat kurang merespons kegiatan kami karena antara satu RT dan yang lainnya tidak kompak dan saling mendukung.
xviii | Kelompok KKN SECURAH 2016
Namun demikian, kami pada akhirnya bisa merampungkan sebagian besar rencana kegiatan kami. Adapun kekurangan-kekurangannya tersebut di antaranya:
1. Ketiadaan tempat pembuangan sementara untuk sampah warga desa yang seharusnya diteruskan ke tempat pembuangan akhir.
2. Kurangnya kesadaran masyarakat desa akan pentingnya menjaga kebersihan lingkungan.
3. Kurangnya fasilitas mandi, cuci, dan kakus yang memadai bagi seluruh masyarakat desa.

India lives in villages! Rural India is a significant market as 68-70% of India lives in villages. Starting from the Father of Nation to industrialists, it has been predicted and noticed that the future of India lies in its villages. Many marketers (HUL, Dabur, LG, Chik Shampoo, Hero Honda, Mahindra, etc.) have made revenue of 35-45% from rural market 1. Today, mobile phones are more than voice communication and have become most important and integral part of life due to various advantages in one product such as-alarm, radio, watching movie/videos, speaking, Whatsapp, access to Facebook, mails, information search, video call, etc. India being big in population and growing economy, with greater population living in villages with improved literacy rates, TV penetration, improved infrastructure, governments and industrialists schemes to improve and tap rural market, is thus a potential market for mobiles too. Rural market being a significant part of Indian economy, and telecom being a fastest growing sector, this paper focuses on understanding the buying behaviour of rural consumers towards mobile phones from the rural consumers of two villages of Mandya district in Karnataka.

In the recent times, the rural market has grown in leaps and bounds in terms of size, demand, change in lifestyle of rural consumers, change in consumer preferences, and higher income. As the sales in the urban markets have reached a saturation point, MNCs are looking to penetrate deeper into the rural markets to serve the consumers. The strategies adopted in urban markets vary drastically to the strategies used in the rural markets. Marketers have to conduct a thorough research before entering the rural markets so that they are able to design the right marketing mix. This paper attempts to study the 4 'A's of the rural marketing mix as a model to be successful in the rural markets. The 4 'A's model includes all the elements of the 4 'P's model. However the 4 'A's model is customer oriented as to the 4 'P's model that is seen from an organization's point of view but cannot be ignored. The 4 'P's are tools that have to be fine-tuned to the rural market and used along with the 4 'A's model to be successful in the rural markets.

Indian feed industry is about 50 years old and it primarily consists of cattle feed and poultry feed segments.
Cattle feed industry in India is gradually evolving into an organized sector and the feed manufactures are increasingly
using modern and sophisticated methods that seek to incorporate best global practices. Indian cattle feed industry has got
high growth potential, given the country’ stop position among the world nations in respect of livestock population and also
the high expected growth rate of about 4 per cent. Compounded Cattle Feed (CCF) products, particularly the branded ones
is fast gaining popularity India, including in rural areas. The major drivers for the growing demand for cattle feed are the
factors like (i) shrinkage of open land for cattle grazing, urbanization and resultant shortage of conventionally used cattle
feeds, and (ii) introduction of high yield cattle requires specialized feeds. Earlier research studies by the present authors
based on the feedback from the farmers have revealed the good growth prospects of the branded cattle feed industry, the
feed consumption pattern and the relatively high share of branded feeds, feed consumption pattern based on product types
(like, pellet and mash), composition of cattle feed market and the relatives hares of major brands, the major factors
influencing the purchasing decisions etc. As a continuation of the earlier studies, this study makes a closer look into the
exact nature of the growth potential of the market from a macro perspective, feedback from the field study with dealers and
industry experts and relative significance of factors influencing buying decisions.

Multinational Companies in a bid to increase their revenue and profit are now eyeing the emerging markets. Considering the saturation in the urban market they are now targeting the consumers in rural markets of emerging economies.  Lowering price by reducing the volume, customization, mass production are the strategies of the past, these companies have now come up with innovative strategies wherein they involve the rural population so that they help them in reaching to the customers in the remotest part of the country.
This case study is an attempt to study the strategies used by the companies to reach the rural population and arrive at a framework used by the companies in India and Indonesia. The information is collected from the secondary sources to compile and analyze the strategies of leading MNCs to increasing their share in the emerging economies.

Indian retail is a mix, or organized as well as unorganized, in retail stores. Shopping experience plays an important determinant factor of consumer's loyalty, irrespective of type of retail store (organized or unorganized). Favorable shopping experience leads to positive propensity towards consumers' loyalty, whereas unfavorable shopping experience leads to dis-loyalty. This paper is an attempt to know the impact of shopping experience on consumer's loyalty in an organized as well as unorganized retails setup. SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) technique was applied on a sample of 706 consumers to know the impact of various factors of shopping experience on consumer loyalty. The results indicate that all the three factors of shopping experience, considered for the study, have positive impact on consumer loyalty, namely: ERE (Executional Related Excellence), E (Expediting), and PR (Problem Recovery). The ERE, which means patiently explanation and advice, checking stock, helping fi nd products, having product knowledge, and providing unexpected product quality, has the least impact on consumer loyalty. The E, which connotes being sensitive to customers' time and long check-out lines, and being pro-active in helping speed up the shopping process, has the highest impact on consumer loyalty. While the PR, which means helping resolve and compensate for problems, upgrading quality, and ensuring complete shopper satisfaction, has the least impact on consumer loyalty. KEY WORD: Shopping experience, consumer loyalty, organized and unorganized retailers, executional related excellence, expediting, and problem recovery. RESUME: "Dampak Pengalaman Belanja atas Loyalitas Konsumen: Sebuah Studi Empiris tentang Pengecer Terorganisir dan Tak Terorganisir di India". Pengecer India adalah campuran, atau baik terorganisir (modern) maupun tak terorganisir (tradisional), dalam toko-toko eceran. Pengalaman belanja merupakan faktor penentu dan penting bagi loyalitas konsumen, terlepas dari jenis toko eceran (terorganisir atau tak terorganisir). Pengalaman belanja yang menguntungkan menyebabkan kecenderungan positif terhadap loyalitas konsumen, sedangkan pengalaman belanja yang tidak menguntungkan menyebabkan ketidakloyalan konsumen. Makalah ini merupakan upaya untuk mengetahui dampak dari pengalaman belanja terhadap loyalitas konsumen yang dirancang dalam toko-toko eceran teorganisir dan tak terorganisasir. Teknik-teknik SME (Model Kesamaan Struktural) diterapkan pada sampel sebanyak 706 konsumen untuk mengetahui dampak dari berbagai faktor pengalaman berbelanja terhadap loyalitas konsumen. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa semua tiga faktor pengalaman belanja, yang dipertimbangkan dalam penelitian ini, berdampak positif terhadap loyalitas konsumen, yaitu: ERE (Pelaksanaan Terkait Keunggulan), E (Kecepatan), dan PR (Pemulihan Masalah). Faktor ERE, yang berarti dengan sabar memberikan penjelasan dan saran, memeriksa stok, membantu menemukan produk, memiliki pengetahuan produk, dan menyediakan kualitas produk yang tak terduga, memiliki dampak paling sedikit pada loyalitas konsumen. Faktor E, yang berkonotasi sensitif terhadap waktu pelanggan dan panjang garis untuk keluar, serta menjadi pro-aktif dalam membantu mempercepat proses belanja, memiliki pengaruh paling tinggi terhadap loyalitas konsumen. Sementara faktor PR, yang berarti membantu menyelesaikan dan mengkompensasi masalah, meningkatkan kualitas, dan menjamin kepuasan pembeli, memiliki dampak paling sedikit pada loyalitas konsumen. KATA KUNCI: Pengalaman belanja, loyalitas konsumen, pengecer terorganisir dan tak terorganisir, pelaksanaan terkait keunggulan, kecepatan, dan pemulihan masalah.

Fast pace of technology advanced every sphere of social, economic, political cultural life, produce, reduce costs, distribute, and expect higher profits. The focus is on tapping the rural markets. Urban markets have saturated lied to look rural markets. This paper presents a review of rural markets " environment, Problems and strategies in India. Rural marketing has become the latest mantra of most corporate even MNCs are eyeing rural markets to capture the large Indian market. The rural market consist 70 percent population, twice as entire market of USA and would become bigger than total consume r market in countries like South Korea/Canada in another 20 years. Using primary and secondary data collected from various market segments. It exhibits linguistic, regional and cultural diversities and economic disparities. Increase in purchasing power fuelled lot of interest, several companies are exploring cost effective channels like HUL/ITC/Colgate/Godrej/Nokia/BPCL.

The Indian rural market has an untapped potential to contribute in the growth of national income. It has a huge labour, capital and demand-base. Around 65 percent of the population lives in rural areas, making it significant for corporate sectors to concentrate on rural markets in order to generate a high return. It has gone through a massive transformation in recent years. There have been many improvements in rural marketing. Rural marketing used to be done to cater to a small rural audience, with consumers-producers limited to rural areas, but it has evolved into a place from where even multinational corporations are looking to gain profit. It is flourishing with the infrastructural, technological and financial development. This paper explores the evolving patterns in Indian rural marketing and markets, taking into account factors such as consumer behaviour, product availability, public and private sector participation, technical and infrastructural development, and economic growth, among others. It reviews how rural markets have switched from a purely agricultural market to an ICT processed large market with diversified amount of goods and services. Many literatures from different journal/magazine/books were reviewed to find out the evolution and changes of rural marketing and markets. It was later concluded that rural marketing has a future prospect but it comes with several challenges as well. The limitations of rural marketing is also remarked in this review paper.

In this research paper an attempt has been made to know the impact of promotional activities, after sales services and resale value of electronic product on the purchase decision of rural consumers. The data for the research has been collected through questionnaire. In this grim battle for snatching the most share of the market, only those producers will win the battle, who are able to study the behaviour of the consumers. Here an attempt has been made that how and to what extent promotional activities, after sales services and resale value effects the consumer behaviour of electronic products in rural areas. It is revealed from the research that it is very necessary for the manufacturers of electronic products to know the behaviour of rural consumers. So, that they can increase their sales and capture the most of the market share. It has been observed from the study that promotional activities, after sales services and resale value influenced the consumer behaviour while purchasing electronic product. It was also discovered that how consumers rate the promotional activities, after sales services and resale value of the product. This study will definitely help the manufacturers of electronic products to take strategic decisions on the related activities.

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. Rural Markets are defined as those segments of overall market of any economy, which are distinct from the other types of markets like stock market, commodity markets or Labor economics. Typically, a rural market will represent a community in a rural area with a population of 2500 to 30000. 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 to satisfy the needs of rural consumers. Hence, it is proposed to undertake this study to find out various ways to tap the potential rural markets. The main aim of this study is to observe the potentiality of Indian Rural Markets and finding out various problems are being faced by rural markets. This paper attempts to provide a brief literature on rural marketing and finally offers policy recommendations for better performance of rural markets by adopting SWOT analysis matrix to rural markets.

Edited by:
Pratik Modi, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

“These unhappy times call for the building of plans that rest upon the forgotten, the unorganized but the indispensable units of economic power...that build from the bottom up and not from the top down, that put their faith once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt in his April 7, 1932 radio address.

Most of the emerging economies of the world are predominantly rural in characteristics. This rural context poses several challenges, such as low-income, absence of basic marketing infrastructure, subsistence living, irregular income and demand patterns, dependence on agriculture, high social stratification, lack of social mobility, and traditional value orientation, to marketers. These challenges may require new marketing thinking to deal with the issues and to realize vast potential of thus far ignored rural markets. This is an emerging area and studies that try to understand the challenges and issues involved in marketing to rural are far and few.

In this special issue, we invite contributions from scholars and practitioners on the issues pertaining to rural marketing. The indicative list of topics is mentioned below; however, they are by no means exhaustive or restrictive.

• The scope, domain, definition, or interpretations of rural marketing.
• Research or methodological innovations related to rural marketing.
• Theoretical contributions related the various aspects of rural marketing
• Consumer behaviour in rural markets.
• Adaptation of the 4Ps of marketing in rural markets.
• Rural distribution including public distribution system (PDS).
• Rural retailing.
• Communication strategies for rural markets.
• Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning issues in rural markets.
• Branding decisions in rural markets.
• Impact of marketing activities on the lives of the rural poor.
• New product development and innovations for rural markets.
• New product development and Innovations from rural markets.
• Rural tourism.
• Case studies on marketing to or its impact on rural, poor, or disadvantaged consumers.
• Developmental aspects of rural marketing.

Submit your contributions via email to the special issue editor by 31 December 2011 (Email: [email protected] Alt Email: [email protected]). All papers will be subject to double-blind peer review. The selected papers shall be published in the first issue of 2012. Your manuscript and all editorial correspondence should be addressed to: Pratik Modi, The Special Issue Editor, International Journal of Rural Management, IRMA Campus, Anand – 388001, India. Email: [email protected] Alt Email: [email protected]. Mention clearly in the subject field that the submission be considered for the special issue. The author guidelines can be requested from the special issue editor or can be accessed on the journal website (http://irm.sagepub.com/).


Special Issue Editor
Pratik Modi
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Institute of Rural Management Anand
Anand – 388001 India.
E-mail: [email protected]
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According to the Webster's dictionary, culture is the ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc. of a given people in a given period. Astute managers have realized that any organization also has its own corporate culture. Organizational culture is shaped by and overlaps with other cultures — especially the broader culture of the societies in which it operates. The unique personality of an organization is referred to as its culture. In groups of people who work together, organizational culture is an invisible but powerful force that influences the behavior of the members of that group. Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. There are 2 major contributions to the aspect of the dimensions of organizational culture by Geert Hofstede and Chatman, J. A., & Jehn, K. A. (1991). This being a vast topic there are segregated levels for better understanding. These levels may be viewed like an iceberg, with the most immediately visible level at the top, while the others are generally submerged or implicit. The effects of organizational culture are many and varied. Obviously the affects of organizational culture varies depending on whether the company has a strong culture or a weak culture, but there are some generalities that apply. No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it.

The explosive growth in technology has made a significant impact on every aspect of the tourism
industry. Sustainable Heritage tourism strategies have the potential to assist the conservation of local
identities embedded in their respective cultural heritage, while supporting economic growth. The
engagement between heritage tourism and ICT (information and communication technologies)
represents an opportunity to preserve culture, create partnership and enhance destinations value in
information society. The Internet is the most important innovation since the development of the printing
press (Hoffman, 2000). Aim of this paper is to suggest that adequate tourism growth can be executed by
the use of intelligent ICT solutions in the development of heritage tourism that would help to achieve a
more globally responsible paradigm for the tourism industry and facilitate the management of
destinations and the coordination of the local suppliers in India. The high number of visitors to heritage
sites usually attracts by the issues of accessibility, transportation, and accommodation and information
so these issues must be elucidated by management system. However, a conflict of interests is most
likely to emerge but a proper management system should correlate the new technologies and
information for creating a better image of heritage site. Different stakeholders are acquiring information
and communication technology and working as catalyst in heritage marketing. This research illustrates
the differences of opinion between respondents, and the implications that their preferences might have
in shaping heritage tourism marketing strategies. There are a number of projects worldwide focused on
the assessment of current e-services in tourism as well as the development of new ones. Over the last
few decades, tourism has become one of the main sectors of the global economy, not only because of
its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of different countries, but also because of the
employment it generates. Although e-services have been widely used in the tourism industry, there are
still some technological issues that need to be solved in order to make cultural heritage resources more
readily accessible.
Key words: Tourism Marketing, Accessibility, Connectivity, Heritage.

The Indian rural market has an untapped potential to contribute in the growth of national income. It has a huge labour, capital and demand-base. Around 65 percent of the population lives in rural areas, making it significant for corporate sectors to concentrate on rural markets in order to generate a high return. It has gone through a massive transformation in recent years. There have been many improvements in rural marketing. Rural marketing used to be done to cater to a small rural audience, with consumers-producers limited to rural areas, but it has evolved into a place from where even multinational corporations are looking to gain profit. It is flourishing with the infrastructural, technological and financial development. This paper explores the evolving patterns in Indian rural marketing and markets, taking into account factors such as consumer behaviour, product availability, public and private sector participation, technical and infrastructural development, and economic growth, among others. It reviews how rural markets have switched from a purely agricultural market to an ICT processed large market with diversified amount of goods and services. Many literatures from different journal/magazine/books were reviewed to find out the evolution and changes of rural marketing and markets. It was later concluded that rural marketing has a future prospect but it comes with several challenges as well. The limitations of rural marketing is also remarked in this review paper.

Desde mediados del siglo XX, paulatinamente, se han ido introduciendo novedades en el
proceso de valoración, reconocimiento y ampliación del concepto de patrimonio cultural. En este
proceso han intervenido decisivamente las disposiciones jurídico-administrativas y las políticas
culturales, la incorporación de nuevas disciplinas y profesionales, y la sensibilización y demandas
sociales en la protección y gestión del patrimonio cultural.
En este contexto, la aprobación de la Convención de la UNESCO para la Salvaguardia del
Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial (2003) ha impulsado las iniciativas estatales encaminadas a
reconocer conocimientos, técnicas, representaciones, ritos festivos y expresiones culturales. Y ha
logrado impulsar desde los colectivos sociales una autoestima y un deseo por mostrar las
peculiaridades de sus prácticas culturales. Además, este marco normativo-jurídico y sociocultural
favorece la realización de inventarios, estudios, programas y proyectos de promoción, que están
favoreciendo una visión más real de la pluralidad y la diversidad cultural.
En el caso del presente trabajo, su autor, por propia iniciativa, ha emprendido acciones de
documentación y estudio del patrimonio cultural inmaterial local, como primera medida para, a
partir de su conocimiento, poder establecer otras intervenciones que favorezcan el reconocimiento
interno y externo, y posibiliten su transmisión y continuidad, de acuerdo con los intereses de los
colectivos sociales que lo detentan.
Ahora bien, si a este tipo de inestimables manifestaciones socioculturales/socioambientales
/ecoculturales no se le facilitan las vías para su salvaguarda y para su respeto, desaparecerán en
breve, ya que muchas de las prácticas sociales como los conocimientos y vivencias son más
vulnerables, al no cumplir ya las funciones tradicionales que justificaban su perpetuación.
Así, esta investigación ha constatado que en el caso del valioso patrimonio etnológico que
constituyen los Ramos Cantados, en los pequeños pueblos de la Tierra de Valdebecedas, en la
comarca abulense de El Barco (Castilla y León, España), se encuentra actualmente en trance de
extinción ante la virulencia del proceso de despoblación rural, el cual ha dejado a este envejecido
territorio rural y montañoso castellano y leonés al borde del despoblamiento y el agotamiento
demográfico definitivo.

Livelihood generation is one of the major potentials of sericulture and silk industry. Sericulture with its high employment potentiality and more income generation in the households itself has been identified as one of the major sources of rural development by empowering women through the financial self-dependent. Men and women have been contributing in all the stages starting from on-farm activities such as Mulberry plantation, indoor rearing of silk worm, feeding the silk worm, processing the cocoons etc. to off-farm activities. This takes one to inspect the proportion of labour in the total labour absorption in the process of sericulture operation to maintain the balance between input and output. Present study has investigated the rate of work participation between men and women in different age groups and earning from sericulture as a livelihood in the Alomtola village of Kaliachak-II Block of Malda District. A structured schedule was designed based on existing literature and used as an instrument for data collection. Collected data had been analysed using standard statistical methods and final conclusion was drawn based on it. Over all work participation rate in sericulture by male workers is 76.15% while the female workers is 84.51%. Exceptionally the difference between male and female participation in the age group bellow 14 years is higher (26.22%) than the any other age groups. But the difference in participation rate between male and female is below 20 in all the age group of 14-19, 19-30 and above 30 years. In case of income generation from sericulture production, most of the households earn 5,000- 15,000 in a particular season leading to an annual income of 20,000 to 60,000.

Keywords: sericulture, livelihood, income, women empowerment, rural development, Malda District

Everybody of us is a consumer. We need a variety of goods and services right from our birth to death. Because of marketing, we can have what we need. Marketing is a process through which both the buyer and seller give something (e.g. goods, services, money etc.) to each other for maximum possible satisfaction. Nowadays Rural Marketing is gaining importance. All the FMCG companies viz HLL, Pepsi, Coca cola, Britannia, Colgate, Palmolive, Samsung etc. are concentrating their marketing activities in rural markets. Why? Because of socio-economic changes and huge market of more than 80 million households which will increase to 111 million households by 2007 (NCEAR Report). Rural consumer has become enough aware about his needs and up gradation of his standard of living. Information technology, Govt. Policies, Corporate strategies and satellite communication are the factors responsible for development of Rural Marketing. Let us look at the potential of rural markets. Rural consumption sha...

The Rural Marketing refers to the activities undertaken by the marketers to encourage the people, living in rural areas to convert their purchasing power into an effective demand for the goods and services and making these available in the rural areas, with the intention to improve their standard of living and achieving the company’s objective, as a whole. Rural marketing strategy is based on AAAA – Availability, Acceptability, Affordability and Awareness. Availability tells about the status of distribution channels, accessibility focuses on the pricing techniques based on the consumers’ standard of living; affordability lays emphasis on the consumers’ willingness to buy that product or service; Awareness depends upon the concern about product to consumers. Rural marketing implies applying marketing theory and directing marketing efforts to create and satisfy needs and wants of rural market (customers). Importance of marketing indicates the contribution of rural as well urban marketing. The focus of this report is to analyze the “Rural marketing mix of Gonoshathya Kendra”. This study is conducted to know the rural marketing condition in surroundings. Here, all sorts of human behavior about any rural product are concerned. Secondary data are used to analyze the health care aspects. In order to conduct the study, the report is categorized into six parts. Introduction, methodology, and instruments used for analysis of making report First Part. In the second to fifth Part, the overall rural marketing concern discussed. The report is concluded on the basis of these analyses in sixth part.

"According to Bartel’s (1968) proposition, absence of efficient markets may be due to one or more of the following market separations: Spatial separation or the physical distances between producers and consumers; Temporal separation or the time difference between production and consumption; Informational separation or the informational asymmetry between producers and consumers related to products and market conditions; and Financial separation or the lack of consumers’ purchasing power when they are willingness to fulfill their needs. The presence of one or more of the above market separations often leads to absence of efficient markets, especially in the bottom of the pyramid (BOP).

According to Prahalad and Hammond (2002), the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) refers to that part of the untapped markets of the world that has people living on incomes as low as $2 a day. Constituting the BOP are almost 4 billion people living primarily in Asia, Africa, and South America. In recent years, many management scholars have championed the BOP as a market for firms to sell, or source their products and services from. Prahalad (2005) notes that although poverty alleviation and developmental assistance has been traditionally a domain of the government and its developmental agencies the time has now come for the private sector to play a dominant role.

Using the context of market development at BOP, we have studied the Digital Empowerment Foundation’s Chanderiyaan Project as a case study to understand how the project has been able to reduce  the four market separations to develop market for Chanderi weavers in Handloom products. We used a case study approach to understand DEF’s Chanderiyaan initiative. Our methodology primarily involved collecting and analyzing secondary data, followed by site visit/s to Chanderi, and conducting in-depth interviews of weavers, master weavers, customers, and employees of DEF, along with non-participant observations.

We find that DEF along with MLA has been successful in reducing market separations, specially those dealing with knowledge and skills enhancement, across all the stages of the supply chain including, sourcing, manufacturing, and retailing. In the larger context, our study throws light on how non-profit organizations like DEF can create an ecosystem of partnerships with other NGOs such as Media Lab Asia (MLA), by working closely with Government of India’s Ministry of ICT, weavers, and other stakeholders, for successfully developing markets at BOP."

This is a 2019-2024 strategic plan for a town with a population of 1,000 located near Wawa, Ontario, Canada, on . Challenges include quality of digital connections, retaining young people, attracting workers, and managing the potential influx of additional residents given the potential opening of a second gold mine. Eco-tourism and other types of year-round activities are part of the potential of the area.

Around the world, four billion people live in poverty. And marketing firms are still struggling to turn them into customers. For the past decade, business visionaries have argued that these people, dubbed the " Base of the Pyramid " , make up an enormous, untapped market. Some of the world's biggest, savviest corporations have aimed to address their basic needs—by selling them everything from clean water to electricity and from FMCG to consumer durables. " Improving the lives of billions of people at the bottom of the economic pyramid is a noble endeavour. It can also be a lucrative one. " C.K. Prahlad. The paper studies the changing scenario of Indian rural markets and implies some suggestions in improving the marketing strategy in rural selling and market promotion. An improved marketing mix is the call of hour, with strategies framed by deeply considering the dynamic rural buying behaviour. This is in context of Indian rural market which is stands tall due to its cultural diversity. This throws an open ground challenge to the marketers in a country with multi-cultural, multilingual varsity. This paper is an attempt to provide some mettle solutions to these challenges as it studies and follows some successful rural marketing strategies of modern times. This is particular in context of rural sales strategies rural promotion mix.

Purpose The present world is crippled with the pandemic coronavirus (Covid-19). The pandemic that originated in Wuhan city of China has sent every country in the world in an unprecedented situation that has social and economic impacts. This paper aims to explore whether epidemics and pandemics have any impact on consumption patterns among rural and urban consumers in India. Taking pandemic Covid-19 as a case study, it was explored how this pandemic impacted the consumption pattern of consumers in India; what are the similarities and/or differences between rural and urban consumers that are found in their consumption habits in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The required data was collected through questionnaires sent to respondents. Approximately 500 respondents were contacted through the mail to fill in the survey questionnaire. Despite the sincere efforts, a total of 175 complete survey questionnaires were filled in by respondents. The study used SPSS Sta...

Overview: This case showcase the efforts of micro entrepreneurs of Bagh village in western MP involved in production of very specialized handicraft art known as hand block print. It also showcases the marketing done by entrepreneurs themselves to develop their client base in urban areas. There are many problems faced by these micro entrepreneurs who get solved by themselves with creativity and experiment in developing new products. Still they are facing problem of new market development and searching for the alternatives.

Comparative effect of rural road transportation on cassava production among rural farmers in Abia State was conducted in Abia State, Nigeria. A sample size of 144 respondents was realized, using multi-stage purposive and randomized methods. Data generated using questionnaire and participant observations were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Result revealed mean ages of 31.9, 32.7 and 33.1 years for Ohafia, Umuahia, and Aba Zones respectively. About 88.3, 70.8, and 87.5 % respectively of the respondents were married and 58.3, 37.5, and 54.2 % respectively were males. A mean farm- size of 1.87, 0.9, and 1.25 hectares respectively were recorded in the three zones. A monthly mean income of ₦30,208.33, ₦23,645.80, and ₦30,687.50 respectively were also recorded in the three Zones. Result equally revealed that trekking (100%) pick – up van (73.6 %), motor cycle (72.2%), cycling (66.7%), and bus (56.6%) respectively were the dominant modes of rural road transportation. Rural road tran...