Rural Marketing
Challenges and Opportunities
- Dinesh Kumar - former Associate Professor (Marketing), Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Greater Noida
- Punam Gupta - Associate Professor, Dev Samaj College for Women, Chandigarh
With 700 million prospective consumers including about 40 per cent of the country middle-income group, the sheer size of India rural market itself speaks of its huge
This new textbook discusses how the application of traditional marketing theories transforms when the ‘fourth sector’, or the emergence of social business, comes into play. Drawing from latest research, Rural Marketing: Challenges and Opportunities closely analyses two crucial components of the rural market—marketing to rural areas and empowering the ‘bottom-of-pyramid’ (BoP) markets to create successful business ventures. Written as per the prescribed curriculum of rural management and rural marketing courses offered by the major universities in India, this book goes beyond discussing just the strategies to sell products to village economies. Infused with numerous real-life case studies of companies that have ventured into the field, this book will prove to be an extremely useful resource in understanding the uniqueness, dynamics and challenges of marketing in rural areas.
Key Features:
· Rich pedagogy including opening and closing case studies, mini case studies, engaging chapter-end exercises and project assignments
· Inclusion of references to recent research data, important journal articles and videos for classroom teaching· Comprehensive overview of the future of rural marketing through BoP approach, social enterprises and use of big data
Agricultural research has so far concentrated on the supply side. But while a number of research institutes contribute to the science of agricultural production, what happens to the output thereafter has been neglected. Yet, rural marketing is an extremely important area which can benefit from marketing theory and practice to reduce waste and increase efficiency of distribution of farm produce. This is the first book that talks about rural marketing not only in terms of supply of manufactured products to villages but also in terms of reforming and empowering villages through efficiency in agricultural distribution and marketing. The coverage, both in the text and in the huge number of cases, is amazing. I have no hesitation in saying that this is the best book on the subject and will be of immense use for agricultural and rural management institutes.
Marketers since the first decade of the liberalization of the Indian economy have realized the importance of rural markets for growth. This renewed interest on rural markets has led to a number of books on the subject. Most of them create an impression that rural consumers are waiting for the marketers to arrive and to sell them goods. Whereas, the fact is that these markets need to be carefully nurtured before they yield any success. There has always been a need for a book that would provide a holistic and realistic view of the subject and not reduce it to the marketing of ‘soaps and shampoos’ to them. This book takes a fresh look at the subject and provides a rounded view by incorporating the developmental aspects of rural marketing and providing cases of enlightened rural marketing.