Village Marketing Retail Audit

INTRODUCTION

A research was conducted with the objective to learn about the spending habits of the people living in rural section of society compared to the people of the urban poor section of society.

The Rural sector offers a sizeable market of more than 1,00,000 crores. Moreover, it accounts for one third of the national CPG sales, although the Compounded Annual Growth rate is 1.2 times higher in comparison to national average. In comparison to other population strata, this is a fast growing market. The urban poor market seems to face a similar scenario as the mentality observed while spending for utilities were approximately the same.

OBSERVATIONS

STANDARD OF LIVING: The major difference observed was the standard of living the Majority of the people in the villages lived in more hygienic and open spaces compared to the cramped up and unhygienic space occupied by the people in the urban poor.

SHARE OF WALLET: The share of wallet was observed to be starkly similar in both cases. Majority of the expenditure was reserved for food(reserves) and necessary utilities. In both cases luxury items was a rarity. Most houses had the necessary white and brown goods.

INCOME & SAVINGS: Majority of the income comes from labor services dominantly based on per day charges. The income in the rural area ranged from a minimum ₹6,000 for the low income families with daily wages to  ₹ 30,000 a month for families with jobs. Individuals and family’s attitude towards money vary greatly. People have different behavior towards savings and disparities in income levels. There are people who believe that money obtained today must be used to meet present needs and the future will care for itself (spenders). There are others who also hold the view that no matter how little one’s income is there is the need to save part of that income (savers). Community based savings took place in both the rural and urban poor locations. The people in the city had salaried accounts and few had a savings account as well

TELE-COMMUNICATION: In both cases the use of mobile devices was very evident. In order for the mobile operators to succeed they should focus on exploring ways of reducing the costs being borne by the customer after being connected. Rural consumers are cost and value-conscious, and do look for a tariff plan that reduces their call charges. Business models will therefore have to focus on providing various packages of voice/VAS-services that are appealing to rural consumers. Rural consumers want good, solid but simple service and a device that is easy and cheap to operate. Voice and not VAS continues to top the priority of customers. A MAJOR REASON FOR THE MAJOR PLAYERS TO BE MISSING THIS OPPORTUNITY IS Because THEY SEEM