Attitudes and Behavior of Rural Consumer

Made by:Alisha Bajpai Sakshi Pawariya MBA(Business Economics), 3rdsem.

Session - 2011-2013
Institute of Business Management CSJM University,kanpur

Contents
Some facts about Rural India
Characteristics of the Rural Consumer

Some facts about Rural India

Some facts about Rural India

About of 70% India's population lives in rural areas. There are more than 6,00,000 villages in the country as against about 300 cities and 4600 towns. Rural consumers are different from urban consumers.

Some facts about Rural India

Rural consumers of India are vastly diverse in terms of religious, social, cultural and linguistic factors.

Characteristics of the Rural

Consumer
Age and stages of the life cycle Occupation and Income Economic Circumstances Lifestyle and Culture Personality and Self concept Psychological factors Information search and Pre purchase evaluation

Age and Stages of Life cycle

The purchase of products and services is influenced by age and life cycle stage of the consumer. In India 85% of the population is below the age of 45 and 55% of its population is below 25 years of age. 70% of this potential lies in rural India.

Consumption by age and life cycle stages : rural vs urban

Product and services Age Below 12 13-19 20-40 Life cycle stage Child Teenage Young Urban Video games , chocolates , beverages/health drinks Cell phones , motor cycles , internet Car , personal computer ,branded clothing , alcohol , stores/malls Luxury car , credit cards , insurance , holiday trips Clubs , theatre , parks Rural Toys , ice candy , daliya. Bicycle , television , cinema Motor cycle , telephone , tailored/unbranded clothes , local liquor , haat Tractor , kisan credit card , postal savings , mela Chaupal , playing cards , pilgrimage

40-60

Middle aged

Above 60

Old

Occupation and Income

Occupation and Income

In rural sector, Products beyond the very basic ones are bought by a consumer influenced by his occupation and income. Occupation leads to the income which effects the consumption pattern.

Occupation and Income

Rural occupation and consumption pattern
Occupation Contribution to TV ownership (%) 33 Contribution to 2- Contribution to wheeler ownership refrigerators (%) (%) 33 31

Owner farmers

Shopkeeper/trader
Salary earner Agri worker Unskilled non-agri labourer

14
31 6 9

16
39 3 4

20
40 2 5

Artisans
Rest(livestock, fishery, milkman)

6
2

4
1

2
1

Source: NCAER data analysed by Bijapurkar and Murthy 1999

Economic Circumstances

Economic Circumstances
Purchasing power of an individual plays an important role in choice of product. The fact that majority rural sector are self employed increases the risk of stability of income. His urban counter part enjoys a stable monthly inflow of income.

Economic Circumstances
The saving habits in the rural sector include fixed deposits and small savings in the bank and post office. Villagers are still reluctant to go for credit purchase as is hampers their reputation in village. In a very real terms, a rural consumer has more buying power than urban counterpart.

Life Style and Culture

Life Style and Culture

Activities work, hobbies, social events Interests food ,fashion, family, recreation Demographics Age, education, geography

Personality and Self Concept

Personality and Self Concept

Personality is the sum total of unique individual characteristics that reflect how a person respond to his environment. There is a natural tendency to buy those products which we think match with our personality.

Psychological Factors

Psychological Factors
Rural consumer is quite content to satisfy his basic needs.
Self

actualization needs
Esteem needs

Social needs
Security needs

Basic needs

Psychological Factors
He is less adventurous to take risk. He is not driven by Status symbols, in order to upgrade a better lifestyle.

Information search and Pre purchase Evaluation

Information search and Pre purchase Evaluation

Rural consumer gets his information from opinion leaders and influencer, rather than media. In the case of high involvement products, this needs to b supplemented by an out of village visit to a company outlet.

References
Rural marketing by Pradeep Kashyap and Siddhartha Raut www.wikipedia.org

Thank you