Patanjali: Whether a Dark horse in the race of rural market?

Varsha Yashwant Ingale. Dr. Sarang Shankar Bhola.

Research Scholar, RIRD, Satara. Associate Professor, KBPIMSR, Satara

Abstract:
Nowadays “Patanjali Products” is being a focus of attention in Indian consumer market.
Influence of Baba Ramdev is producing sky rocket sales. The magical, somewhat hypnotic
direct communication of Baba Ramdev with masses through advertisement, smartly
chosen product categories, penetration pricing strategy, spirituality are the keys of
popularity of ‘Patanjali Product’. Additionally cleverly used differentiation strategy not
with the product but with ‘concept of Swadeshi’ does wonders in very short span. Natural
Indian products under ‘Patanjali ayurveda’ are served in front of Indian consumers. Result
is “Patanjali Products” a very popular feather is in the consumer basket now.
This paper is an effort to know either all these strategies are pulling rural consumers or
any other factors. The researcher also attempted to identify the 4 ‘A’s of ‘rural marketing’
of Patanjali Pvt. Ltd as well as the loopholes in it. The data is collected with help of
structured schedule and unstructured interview with 250 samples from different villages of
11 Talukas of Satara district. The collected data is analyzed with frequency distribution
and its percentage and rank method.
The penetration pricing strategy (comparatively less price) of firm works in rural area very
well. Affordable quality Patanjali products with proper quantity are popular and very
much in demand by rural consumers.
Keywords: Patanjali Products, rural marketing, rural consumers, Swadeshi, Ayurvedic,
Penetration pricing.

Introduction:
Baba Ramdev never said that his brand is best , instead he impressed on minds of masses
the cancerous effects of chemicals in fertilizers, about exploitation of farmers by MNCs
and existing companies, the virtues of ‘Make in India’ products, the corruption in
corporate world. He was creating favorable environment in all over India during his ‘Yoga
shivirs’, on his own channel ‘Aastha’, to pick up better alternatives for harmful products
consumed by India and then he put the choice in front of us i.e. “Patanjali Products”.
Baba Ramdev used strategy “Pull” rather than “Push”. Patanjali Products entered in
market in ‘right time and at right place’. And now it’s a phase of Patanjali.
Patanjali banks on product cost leadership and in reflection many MNCs have been forced
to reduce the prices of their products. Baba Ramdev has millions of followers within India
and in abroad have ‘trust’ on him and his words. Their word of mouth publicity, in
addition wide use of social media like ‘Whatsapp’ makes Patanjali very popular and in
turn the amazing increase in sales in urban and rural India. The study revealed the factors
behind popularity of Patanjali in rural and the lagging strategies of PAL which are
affecting the consumption of rural consumers.

Research Methodology:
The present study is descriptive in nature and focuses on Patanjali’s current marketing
strategies and their effects in rural areas of Satara district.
Study has undertaken with objectives as, to study awareness and availability of all
Patanjali Products in rural, to study the product penetration in rural and to examine the
contributed factors in popularity of Patanjali Products.
The data is collected with structured schedule as well as unstructured face to face
interview with rural consumers, with the shop owners of kirana shops, medical shops,
general stores, mom n pop shops and Swadeshi Kendra owners of Patanjali to know
awareness about Patanjali products, about its availability, about the factor make them
purchase the products, the products they like to buy and the products they do not like with
causes behind it. The secondary data is collected through internet websites.

Discussion: Ayurveda and Yoga: One and half decade ago Baba Ramdev started
demystifying and popularizing Patanjali’s Yoga and inaugurated “Patanjali Yogapeeth” in
2006. At the same time ‘Acharya Balkrishna’ a close associate of Baba Ramdev who is the
scholar of ayurveda and was performing task of restoring people’s faith on effectiveness of
Ayurvedic medicine to cure all kinds of disorders related to human health. And the
establishment of “Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra” is outcome of it to make the concept
operative.

Business: At Swayambhu , Kathmandu, Nepal in 2006-07 the Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra

Pvt. Ltd. was founded and registered by swami Baba Ramdev and ayurveda Acharya
Shree Balakrishna . It’s a sole distributor of various units of Divya Yog Mandir (Trust)
Haridwar, India. On 23rd April 2012 PAL had announced its entry into retail sector by
launching 100 products. Presently Patanjali’s products are categorized into 5 main ranges:

1. FMCG: Tooth paste, hair oils, face wash, biscuits, noodles etc
2. Home care: Dish wash bar, detergent, detergent liquid, detergent cake etc
3. Ayurvedic Medicines: digestives, eye drops and lots more like different churns,
tablets, syrups etc.
4. Groceries: Besan, wheat aata , rice, pulses, salt etc
5. Agro Products: Bio fertilizers, seeds and pesticides etc.

Patanjali has many future plans to expand their business to wider the product line and
width e.g. baby products, milk and milk products, textile etc.

Motives behind business: PAL’s motive motives behind business are quite good. Such
as,

 Promoting Indian products.

 Proving reasonable prices to Indian farmers for their produce.
 Creating demand for ‘Swadeshi’ products in Indian market.
 Fulfilling consumer demands with reasonable prices.
 To generate employment for Indians.
 To circulate Indian money within India to strengthen Indian economy.
 The money generated through sales would be used for health care, for social
welfare and for rural economy.

From 2012 thus Indian market started facing stiff competition from home-grown by
Swadeshi competitor. Many tough rivals are existed in India from 3-4 decades such as
Colgate, Dabur, Nestle, Emami, Britannia, HUL, P&G, Marico industries, Himalaya,
Godrej and many. With own marketing strategies the competition is going on in urban as
well as rural areas of India. PAL is trying to grab customers from abroad also with
“Amazon” but to match up with their motives company should focus on Indian consumers
and especially rural consumers.

So to identify the reason behind popularity of Patanjali products in rural consumers, 250
samples were selected from different villages of 11 talukas of Satara district to ask the
most appealing factor as shown in Table 1.
Table 1

Sr. Factors contributed in popularity of Patanjali Products Percentage Rank

(%)
1 Quality of the products 62 2
2 Comparatively less price of products 91 1
3 Swadeshi (Indian) Products 19 5
4 Natural Packaging of products 11 7
5 Curiosity to use new products 42 3
6 Ayurvedic (natural) products 38 4
7 Brand is associated with health and Baba Ramdev 15 6
Source: (Field data)

Above table 1 show that rural is price sensitive market, 91% rural consumers are
purchasing and consuming Patanjali Products as their prices are comparatively less than
the prices of the existing products in rural market. PAL’s penetration pricing strategy is
working very well in rural. While 62% of the rural consumers are satisfied with the quality
of Patanjali products. They like to consume because of the quality of products. Rural
people do not like to purchase only cheap products, they seek for quality and prefer ‘value
for money’ products.
42% rural consumers like to buy Patanjali Products out of curiosity to use new product
arrived in market. The pattern of daily product consumption is now changing in rural.
Many products are readily available anytime and anywhere in rural market from 3-4
decades but now the rural consumers want to try something new and better alternatives.
The Patanjali Products are popular in 38% rural consumers as they are Ayurvedic
(natural). ‘Ayurvedic’ positioning of firm has less impact on rural consumers as awareness
and importance of Ayurveda seems comparatively less in rural consumers. Ayurvedic
firms with their well known brands are available and serving in rural Satara market from
many years. Medicinal firms such as Sandu, Baidyanath, Dabur, Charak, Arkashala, Ras-
shala, Indu, Abhay, Yakasa, Vaidya Sane, Sharangdhar, Agasti, Sai pharma, Zandu,
Himalaya, Omkar, Kalptaru and many. In beauty and heath care range many Ayurvedic
products from Balaji Tambe, Jiyo fresh, Nisha herbal, Asaram bapu products, Vimohan
herbal, Datta’s, Tanvi herbal, VLCC, Himalaya, Lotus, Emami, Ayur, Aroma, Annex,
Sitaram, Nagarjun, Kerala herbals and so many are available in rural market. Many of
them have best quality but are not affordable for rural consumers. Many of them are
affordable quality products but firms are lagging in promotion.
PAL’s ‘Swadeshi’ strategy touches only 19% of the rural consumers. According to them
fulfilling daily requirements of family is prioritized than this. While purchasing products
the Patriotism factor doesn’t work in case of rural consumers.
Image of Baba Ramdev has less influence on rural consumers as only 15% of them are
buying Patanjali Products because brand is associated with Baba Ramdev. In rural
consumers there is very less awareness of Yoga and very less concern about preventions
and care for health. So Baba boom is not seen in rural areas.
Very less rural consumers i.e.11% are purchasing Patanjali products as they are packed in
natural and simple packaging. As rural consumers are only concerned with quality contain.
With unstructured face-to-face interview data is collected from samples to find out which
Patanjali Products are available and popularly accepted in rural market (Shown in Table
2.) as well as the products which are not accepted by rural consumers and causes behind it.
Patanjali’s Popular Products in rural market:

Popular Patanjali Quantity Price Popular Patanjali Quantity Price

Products (Rs) Products (Rs)
FMCG: Kid’s product category:
Dant kanti Tooth 40gms 15 Biscuits: Milk 50gms 5
paste
100 gms 40 Orange delite 75gms 10
200 gms 75 Choco 75gms 10
Tooth brush regular 1pc 10 Elaichi 75gms 10
Nutty 100gms 15
Amla Hair Oil 100 ml 40 Marie 120gms 15
Kesh Kanti Hair Oil 120ml 130
Almond Oil 100ml 50
Tejas coconut jar 200ml 62 Corn Flex:Choco 125gms 55
Borosafe 50gms 40 Mix 250gms 85
Haldi-chandan Soap 75gms 13 Paanjali Energy bar 5gms 2
Kanti aloe vera 75gms 13 10gms 5
Kanti neem 75gms 15
Kanti almond kesar 75gms 19 Power vita 20gms 10
Kanti Rose 75gms 19
Kanti lemon honey 75gms 19 Patanjali atta Noodles 60gms 10
Kesh kanti natural 8ml 2
regular sachet
Kesh kanti hair 8ml 3 Pinaple Jam 500gms 70
cleanser milk protein
sachet
Kesh kanti anti 8ml 3 Mix Friut Jam 500gms 70
dandruff sachet
Tomato Ketchup 500gms 70
Dant kanti junior 100gms 40
Tooth brush junior 1pc 15

Home Care: Grocery:

Dish wash bar 175gms 10 Ayodin salt 1kg 10
Detergent 1kg 46 Maduram gud 1kg 60
Phenyl floor cleaner 1lit 48

Health Care and Health Care and

Medicines: Medicines:
Honey 250gms 75 Shwasari Pravahi(cough) 250ml 50
500 gms 135 Divya pidantak oil(joint 100ml 80
pains)
Gulkand 400 gms 55 Patanjali Crack 50gms 60
creame(foot cream)
Pachak Shodhit 100gms 35
Harad
Pachak Hing Goli 100gms 50
Amla juice 500ml 55
65ml 5
Source: (Collected and compiled by researcher)

Products like Patanjali Besan, Atta, Pulses, Rice, cow milk powder, rasagulla sonpapdi,
hand wash, face wash, shaving cream, eye drops, pickles, wellness and health booster
products for men and women, most of the medicines(except basic disorders like cough and
cold, indigestion, joint pain etc) are not accepted by rural consumers so not in demand.
Masale are not produced by firm in economy 5 and 10 rupees pack so not in demand as
quality options with such packs are available in rural market. The migrated people and
workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar are asking for 250ml and 500ml pouches of Patanjali
mustered oil and its price also increasing day by day so very less in demand. Amrut
rasayan, Badam pak and Chyawanprash are costly products so not in demand. Agarbatti of
Patanjali 25-28gms is for 20 rupees while quality alternatives are available of 25-35gms
for 10 rupees, so not at all in demand. According to rural consumers, all type of soaps has
good in quality but they should lasts for some more days.
So it is noticeable that while purchasing products the psyche of rural consumers is
different and they are smart enough to buy those products which have proper blend of
“Quality, Quantity and Price”.
4‘P’s and 4‘A’s of Patanjali Product’s of Rural Marketing

 Product capability of satisfying the needs and wants is Acceptability. Product

acceptability is a big challenge in front of firm because catering to the 70 crore
rural customers residing in the 6 lakh villages, where the habits, demographics,
custom and culture changes at every 100 kms so the customization of products
suits to the requirements of rural need is difficult.
 Price the amount the customer has to pay for acquiring the product is
Affordability. The price of any product is a major element of marketing mix
which earns revenue and which is a prioritized determinant of market demand for
product. The Patanjali products are very popular and very much in demand because
of the penetration pricing strategy of firm but to keep it up with growing demand
would be hard task for firm.
 Place is the point where sale is made and customer can avail the product is
Availability. At present to make all products available is a greatest task for firm. If
advertised product is available in market then only the firm will sustain and grow
in rural market.
 Promotion is an activity to make products known to targeted customers is
Awareness. The firm is very good at this but affordable and advertised product
should available too in the market to get rural consumer’s brand loyalty.

SWOT of Patanjali Products in rural

Strength:

 Patanjali Products are very popular in rural.

 Penetration pricing strategy working well in rural.
 Many of the products are good in quality.
 Products related to kids are very much in demand such as energy bar, jam, ketchup
etc.
 Downsides of Single brand strategy of PAL will not affect in rural.
 In case image of Baba Ramdev would get spoiled by media in future, it will not
affect the sales of Patanjali Product in rural.

Weakness:
  Unavailability of many popular products
 Absence of proper established distribution network in rural areas.
 Packaging is not good enough so in rural transporting get damaged
 Small affordable sachets, packs, refill packs and pouches are not produced by firm
for all the popular products, which is a rural need.
 No replacement for breakage and leakage and importantly no replacement for
expired products from firm lead losses to shopkeepers.
 Products like pickles and jam are not sealed properly, it will cause health issues.
 Firm is not offering margins (equally with existing firms) to distributor as well as
retailers. It will not work for long run.
 Feed back is not taken as well as complains are not entertained by the firm from
retailers and consumers.
 Only 5 to 6% margin is offered to the retailers. It should increase with the increase
in sales but no availability of popular products.
 Not all Patanjali products are accepted by rural consumers because of the different
reasons.

Opportunity:

 Rural market has great future prospects for the firm.

 Rural people spend much more on consumer products than urban area.
 Seventy percent of the Indian population resides in rural, which can bring in the
much-needed volumes to the firm for long run growth.
 With altered marketing strategies according to the needs and wants of rural
consumers should boost the sales of firm.

Threat:

 It’s hard to keep pace between demand and supply with growing popularity of the
products.
 Bigger the brand name, bigger the expenses with more and more popularity might
hamper the pricing strategy and in turn the growth in rural.
 Presently distribution network is lagging far behind that of major competitors
which is harmful for the firm.
  Shifting loyalty of rural consumers is quite possible because of the unavailability
of popular products.
 MNCs and other rival Indian companies are ready and planning for new offerings
for rural consumers.
 Higher possibility of entrance of fake products, mimics with Patanjali products in
rural market.
 Many Patanjali products including food products are produced by outsource so
consistency in quality of the Patanjali products is doubtful.
 There are chances of price war nearby so rural consumers might switch if products
with similar benefits are available easily in rural market.

Conclusion:

For the consistent growth, long term success and to have tough fight with MNCs which is
main motto of their ‘Swadeshi Andolan’, Patanjali (PAL) has to serve quality products
with affordable prices and with easy availability of all popular products in rural market
because rural consumers are utility oriented and wisely choose the match up products with
sure supplies.

At present popularity of the Patanjali products knows no bounds. Motives of PAL are pure
and quite good, but no one knows about the facts that where from the capital of firm for its
venture comes and at present where the earned profit goes. According to the news
announced by media, Acharya Balkrishna hold 97% shares in PAL and is in Forbes list of
Billionaires, in this way all Indians are contributing to concentrate wealth in one person by
purchasing ‘Patanjali Products’. All Indian consumers are in the same dilemma. But here
in rural, consumers believe only in benefits they get and the products which provides them
the “value for money”. No matter which brand it is….not even “Patanjali”. Because
brands are owned by consumers and not the companies!

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