At least 40% of world population is rural and for India this figure is about 70% i.e. more than 85 crore people in India alone is part of rural India. Rural markets have been traditionally ignored by most multinationals as well as by local large scale manufactures of packaged branded products, for several reasons.

But before diving deep into reasons let us try to understand what is rural? Is it defined on basis of population (below 5000 census 2011) or population density or wages one earns. As a marketer it is very important to define what is rural and what is urban because it is going to define the course of your strategy (LG Electronics, for instance, defines any population centre other than the seven  metros as rural or semi-urban).

One of the definition that I think is most suitable for current context of rural India is that “Rural is a Mindset” yes this four words probably defines what rural is all about. Today when there is rapid urbanization the rural consumer migrated to urban areas in search of work, education and also many young entrepreneurs and companies are looking at rural India to gain from previously untapped large rural market but one thing that remain constant with consumer during this journey is their mind-set and if you can understand their mind-set your product can win hearts of rural consumer.

As the mindset of rural consumer is different from that of urban, the traditional 4Ps of marketing – Price, Place, Product and promotion will not be that effective in developing a marketing strategy and something distinctive is required. Thus 4 As of marketing – Affordability, Availability, Awareness, and Acceptability has evolved as a more customer oriented solution for designing an appropriate marketing strategy for rural markets.

Affordability – It simply means that product should be within their purchasing capacity. Here it should be clearly understood that affordable product or service does not mean low-cot-low-quality version of urban counterpart. It is vital to design product or service that caters to the needs of rural consumers in their unique environment and provide value as perceived by them. Thus branded personal care items have been successful in rural areas through ‘Sachet packaging’ by increasing affordability.

Availability – Availability remains the single largest challenge for marketers. India’s 640,867 villages are spread over 3.2million sq. km (census 2001). Field observations have shown that when products or services reach small towns, there may be no need to develop a distribution strategy to go further as retailers themselves will transport goods to village level.

Awareness – Low level of literacy remains a stumbling block for any communications message for rural consumers. Though with increasing penetration of mass media, especially television has increased demand for typically urban product like fairness cream. Here it should be noted that other means of communication such as wall paintings, vans, road show etc. in local languages help a lot in increasing awareness in rural markets.

Acceptability – Acceptability of a product or service vis a vis rural consumer is critical. Thus a product or service designed for urban market may not be necessarily successful. For example, Chinese mobile phones have been highly successful in rural market because of high durability, low cost, built in torch and long battery thus suiting the rural environment where electricity supply is an issue.

Once this 4 As of rural marketing mix based on rural mindset are taken into consideration the product or service become suitable for rural consumers. Thus it is vital to understand the rural mindset before entering the market and then work on target segment and cost implication to determine whether it has a potential to become a successful product or service.

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