Rural Market

Rural Market

For the last five days I was out for a market visit to some of the districts in south Tamil Nadu. I opted to travel by car covering thousands of kilometers through rural areas of Tamil Nadu. It was truly an experience to travel through the villages and my mind was stuck at the rural market - the so called untapped markets !

Each & every small shop I passed through reminded me the two books I have read on rural Indian markets, " The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" By C.K. Prahalad and " We are Like that Only " by Rama Bijapurkar. My eyes were surfing through the leading brands hanging at almost every shop in the villages which include products like Mineral Water, Cola's, Shampoo, Detergent Powder, Tooth Paste and even Packed Snacks.

There was a time when the whole world thought that the rural India was a land of snakes and holy men with magical powers, maybe its time to re-acquaint ourselves with the true identity of the rural side of our country.Coke / Pepsi or Chic / Pantene or Colgate / Close Up or Ariel / Surf or Lays / Cheetos are house hold brand names in rural markets today!

"The future lies with those companies who see the poor as their customers" says C. K. Prahalad in his book " The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid " . He clearly pinpoints on the raw fact that there is vast potential for profits in the rural markets. He says, globally the bottom of the (economic) pyramid consists of 4 billion people living on less than $2 per day. If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up. Prahalad suggests that four billion poor can be the engine of the next round of global trade and prosperity, and can be a source of innovations.

He cites numerous examples of companies that have generated wealth for the poor and profits for themselves by focusing on underserved rural markets. As urban markets become saturated, more businesses are...

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