Role of IT in Rural Marketing

By

Surbhi Khosla Komal Tyagi

IntroductionIn 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 areas are evolving into strategic market for companies which include not only domestic but MNCs too. There is great potential that lies in rural market. More and more stress is therefore being given on marketing products. It is very interesting to notice that the rural markets are at par with the urban markets. The credit for this scenario goes to the marketing policies. ITC e-Choupal is the greatest example of information technology in rural marketing. Launched in June 2000, 'e-Choupal', has already become the largest initiative in all internet-based interventions in rural India. ITC followed a different media/communication strategy which is more elaborate and extensive in rural marketing so far, which benefits both the farmers and the organization. The strategy use the Information Technology and bridge the information and service gap in rural India which gives an edge to market its products like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and other products like consumer goods etc. They use the e-Choupal to order seed, fertilizer, and other products such as consumer good from ITC or its partners, at prices lower than those available from village traders. In this Paper we discuss about the role of IT in rural market, e-Chou pal, different strategy, vision and planning behind the e-Chou pal. Significance In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of the green revolution in India, 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 taken shape. Sometimes, rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing the later 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. Also, when we consider the scenario of India and China, there is a picture that comes out, huge market for the developed products as well as the labor support. This has led to the change in the mindset of the marketers to move to these parts of the world. Also rural market is getting an importance because of the saturation of the urban market. As due to the competition in the urban market, the market is more or so saturated as most of the capacity of the purchasers have been targeted by the marketers. So the marketers are looking for extending their product categories to an unexplored market i.e. the rural market. This has also led to the CSR activities

being done by the corporate to help the poor people attain some wealth to spend on their product categories. Here we can think of HLL (now, HUL) initiatives in the rural India. One of such project is the Project Shakti, which is not only helping their company attain some revenue but also helping the poor women of the village to attain some money which is surely going to increase their purchasing power. Also this will increase their brand loyalty as well as recognition in that area. Similarly we can think of the ITC E-Chou pal, which is helping the poor farmers get all the information about the weather as well as the market price of the food grains they are producing. In other view these activities are also helping the companies increase their brand value. So as it is given above the significance of the rural market has increased due to the saturation of the urban market as well as in such conditions the company which will lead the way will be benefited as shown by the success of HUL and ITC initiatives. Strategies 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. This, along with several other related issues, have been subject matter of intense discussions and debate in countries like India and China and focus of even international symposia organized in these countries. Rural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include: Client and location specific promotion Joint or cooperative promotion.. Bundling of inputs Management of demand Developmental marketing Unique selling proposition (USP) Extension services Business ethics Partnership for sustainability

Client and Location specific promotion- involves a strategy designed to be suitable to the location and the client. Joint or co-operative promotion- strategy involves participation between the marketing agencies and the client. 'Bundling of inputs'- denote a marketing strategy, in which several related items are sold to the target client, including arrangements of credit, after-sale service, and so on. Management of demand- Involves continuous market research of buyer's needs and problems at various levels so that continuous improvements and innovations can be undertaken for a sustainable market performance. Developmental marketing- refer to taking up marketing programmers keeping the development objective in mind and using various managerial and other inputs of marketing to achieve these objectives. Media- both traditional as well as the modern media, is used as a marketing strategy. Unique Selling Propositions (USP)- involves presenting a theme with the product to attract the client to buy that particular product. For examples, some of famous Indian Farm equipment manufactures have coined catchy themes, which they display along with the products, to attract the target client that is the

farmers. English version of some of such themes would read like: The heartbeats of rural India With new technique for a life time of company For the sake of progress and prosperity

Extension Services- denote, in short, a system of attending to the missing links and providing the required know-how. Ethics in Business- form, as usual, an important plank for rural markets and rural marketing. Partnership for sustainability- involves laying and building a foundation for continuous and long lasting relationship. ''' Building sustainable market linkages for rural products: Industry's role, scope, opportunities and challenges''' E-Chou pal ConceptITC Limited is one of India's leading diversified conglomerates. Traditionally a tobacco and cigarette producer, it has grown into a conglomerate dealing in hotels, packaging, agribusiness, information technology, and fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs). ITC initiated its e-Chou pal project in 2000 to streamline its dealings with Indian farmers. This is a project on a massive scale that ultimately aims to cover every sixth Indian village. Each Chou pal covers around six villages and 36,000 villages have been covered to date in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Objectives and GoalsE-Chou pal aims to provide Indian farmers ready access to crop-specific real-time information and customized knowledge in their native language. By doing so, ITC wants to improves the farmers' decision-making ability, thereby helping them to better align their farm output to the projected demand in Indian and international markets. TechnologiesTypically, the Chou pals use Pentium computers along with a dot matrix printer and a UPS (500VA). ITC had initially upgraded telephone exchanges by using RNS (RAX Network Synchronization) kits, but eventually in most of the e- Chou pals, wireless VSAT links have been installed by bypassing the exchanges. Even with these improvements, the bandwidth often remains limited. Hence, e-Chou pals have started compensating by caching static content locally. ITC also uses a specially designed template for managing data combined with new imaging techniques in order to speed up downloads and to optimize bandwidth use. To overcome the problem of sporadic electricity, several kiosk computers use back-up batteries recharged with solar panels ConclusionE-Chou pals deliver relevant technology in the hands of the farmers, which can improve the economic condition of the entire village. E-Chou pal is one of the very few ICT projects in India that has effectively utilized e-commerce transactions for poverty alleviation. One of the key lessons is that ICT can reduce the number of middlemen involved between agriculture commodity producers and final consumers. Another

key factor is that very simple technology solutions are available to create networks in rural areas, which can function as virtual agricultural commodity market places.

Surbhi Khosla Komal Tyagi