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RURAL MARKETING- CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

Rajendran ananda krishnan

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TOPICS TO BE COVERED Rural Consumer : Consumer buying behavior

models, Factors affecting consumer behavior, Social Factors, Technological Factors, Economic Factors, Political Factors

Characteristics of Rural Consumer – Age and Stages of the Life Cycle, Occupation and Income, Economic Circumstances, Lifestyle, Personality and Brand Belief, Information Search and pre purchase Evaluation, Rise of Consumerism

Consumer Buying Process, Opinion Leadership Process, Diffusion of Innovation, Brand Loyalty

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MODEL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Marketing stimuli

ProductPrice

Distribution Communication

Other stimuli

EconomicTechnologica

lPoliticalCultural

Consumer Psychology

MotivationPerceptionLearningMemory

Consumer characteristic

s

CulturalSocial

Personal

Buying Decision Process

Problem Recognition

Information search

Evaluation of alternatives

Purchase decision

Post purchase decision

Purchase decision

Product choiceBrand choice

Dealer choice, Purchase amount, Purchase timing, Payment method

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CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR MODELS

Consumer decision making varies with the type of buying decision. Complex and expensive purchases are likely to involve more buyer deliberations and more participants. Henry Assael distinguished four types of consumer buying behavior based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of differences among brands.

Complex buying behavior – Consumers engage in complex buying behavior when they are highly involved in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands.This is usually the case when the product is expensive, bought infrequently, risky and highly self-expressive. The marketer needs to differentiate the brand’s features, use print media to describe the brand’s benefits and motivate store sales personnel and the buyer’s acquaintances to influence the final brand choice.

For eg. Automobile, two-wheeler, consumer durable.

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Complex Buying behaviorEg. Automobile,Two-wheeler, consumer durables

Variety-seeking buying behaviorEg. Chocolates, cookies

Dissonance-reducing buying behaviorEg. Carpet

Habitual buying behaviorEg. Salt

Significant differences between brands

Few differences between brands

High involvement

Low Involvement

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior – Sometimes the consumer is highly involved in a purchase but sees little difference in the brands. The high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent and risky. For example, carpet buying.After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of the carpet or hearing favorable things about other carpets. Thus marketing communication should aim at supplying beliefs and evaluations that help the consumer feel good about his or her brand choice.

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Habitual Buying Behavior – Many products are bought under conditions of low consumer involvement and the absence of significant brand differences. Consider salt.Consumers have little involvement in the product category . They go to the store and reach for the brand.If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit, not strong brand loyalty.It happens with most low-cost, frequently purchased products.Marketers find it effective to use ad repetition, price and sales promotion to stimulate product trial.

Variety-seeking buying behavior – Some buying situations are characterised by low consumer involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Think about cookies. The consumer may reach for another brand out of boredom or a wish for a different taste. The marketer will try to encourage habitual buying behavior by dominating the shelf space, avoiding out of stock conditions, sponsoring frequent reminder advertising, offering lower prices, deals, coupons and free samples.

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FACTORS AFFECTING BUYING BEHAVIOR

Psychological Factors

MotivationPerceptionLearningMemory

Personal factors

Age and Stage in the Life Cycle,

Occupation and Economic

Circumstances,Personality,

Lifestyle

Social factors, Cultural factors

Reference Groups,Family,

Roles and Status

Marketing Mix

Product PricePlace

Promotion

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FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR – CULTURAL FACTORS

Customs are socially acceptable norms that have been in practice over a long period of time. Rural India, being until now largely isolated from new practices and customs, tends to follow the customs of its traditional society. In urban India, however, in the due course of time, many of the customs have changed and continue to change, a change that is accelerated when a new generation adopts new value systems and practices in order to fit into perceived modernity.

Regional influences can be defined as a set of attributes exhibited in clothing, preference for certain types of cereals, food preparations etc.For eg. Tamilians prefer to cook their native idli with sambhar.

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Traditions are long standing beliefs that are believed to be true in nature and are often practised in a ritualistic manner, without knowing the origin or questioning the need to do so.

For eg. A tradition that after washing/shampooing the hair, it should not be left open is based on a belief in some parts of rural India that this gives an opportunity for evil spirits to enter. Shampoo ads showing the bounce in the woman’s hair after a wash may communicate a message quite different from what was intended.

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FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Rural Taste Subject Urban Taste

Bold and Primary Colors

Colors Liked Shades of Colors, Light Hues

Cinema, Nautanki, Dangals, Melas

Entertainment Theme Parks, Internet, Travel

Synthetics, Colourful Clothes Denim, Cottons, Designer

Red – Happiness, Auspicious. Green - Prosperity

Color Relevance Red – DangerGreen - Safety

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SOCIAL FACTORS Touching feet Hair should not be left open after washing. Housing in rural areas based on caste and in

urban areas based on Socio economic class. Influenced by NGOs, Opinion Leaders,

Aanganwadi workers, SHG members. Joint Family in rural areas and Nuclear Family in

urban areas. Role and Status of Sarpanch, retired military

personnel, priests, teachers, medical practioners.

Product choice features Very Social in Rural Areas

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PRODUCTS AND STATUS SYMBOLS

Rural Urban

Social/Political status Educational Degree

Tractor/Jeep/Car Car

Large Pucca House with courtyard

House Locality

Children’s city education / jobs Children’s school / college

Land Airconditioning

Telephone Club membership

Pilgrimage Holiday Abroad

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TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS

Rural India is beginning to experience the impact of technology, leading to major changes that are transforming the countryside. Opportunities, products, services, knowledge, information are all exploding.

Introduced with the purpose and need to create an instant network for good governance, telecommunications has transformed rural India in so many other ways that is of interest to marketers. STD booths and PCOs have emerged as the new community centre in the villages for the exchange of news and views for every age group and therefore an important place fro marketers to display brand communication messages.

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ECONOMIC FACTORS

The entire economic environment of rural India shows a much improved prosperity due to repeated benevolent monsoons, new and improved techniques, higher quality of inputs and increasing awareness and education on agriculture.

Banking is reaching out to the doorstep of more and more farmers. Finance is now more readily available and so is credit.

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POLITICAL FACTORS

Schemes launched by Government has led to the development of rural areas.

The Government of India is empowering the Panchayati Raj and other village institutions by making available developmental funds. This has resulted in major purchases of equipment and materials needed for infrastructure development.

30% compulsory representation of women in local bodies is leading to their empowerment, encouraging women in rural India to explore income generation and entrepreneurial activities.

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FUNDAMENTALS OF RURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Demonstrations, Targeting Opinion Leaders, Employing Trained Sales Persons

Lack of Strong Brand Consciousness Generally ask for the product and not the

brand. Indian consumers, on an average, try about

six brands of same package goods product in one year, compared to two for Americans.

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LIFESTYLE OF RURAL CONSUMER

Rural Consumer is very religious – Dabur developed a religious calendars and gave Hanuman Chalisa along with their products. Ganga made of milk and holy water of Ganga. Govinda as a Brand Ambassador.

Rural Consumers prefer to work Hard themselves – Machines to be sold on the basis of benefits offered and not on the basis of comfort and convenience.

Strong Family ties and respect for Family Values

Likes to play Cards and Hangs out at Choupal.

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RURAL SHOPPING HABITS : CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Preference for small or medium Package – Britannia’s Tiger Biscuits, Cavinkare’s Chik Shampoo, and small Coke for Rs. 5.

Role of Retailer Role of Opinion Leaders for durables –

Opinion Leaders like Sarpanch, village elders and educated Youth of the village.

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CONSUMPTION BY AGE AND STAGES OF THE LIFE CYCLEAge Life-Cycle stage Urban Rural

Below 12 Child Video games, Chocolates, beverages, health drinks

Toys, ice candy, daliya

13-19 Teenage Cell phones, motor cycles, Internet

Bicycle, television, cinema

20-40 Young Car, Personal Computer, branded clothing, alcohol, stores/malls

Motorcycle, telephone, LPG, tailored/unbranded clothes, local liquor, haat

40-60 Middle Aged Luxury Car, Credit Cards, House, health insurance, holiday trips

Tractors, Kissan Credit Card, postal savings, mela

Above 60 Old Clubs, theatre, parks Chaupal, Playing Cards, pilgrimage.

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OCCUPATION AND INCOME

In the rural sector, a range of goods and services beyond the very basic ones are bought by a consumer, influenced by the occupation and income of the individual. Fishermen buy a boat and large nets, whereas a farmer opts first for a tractor and pump set.

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LIFESTYLE – COMPARISON OF RURAL AND URBAN LIFESTYLE

Dimensions

Urban Rural

Demographics

Convent Educated, salary earner, small nuclear family, large dense population, apartments

Govt school, self-employed, large family, small/scattered population, ordinary spacious houses

Activities Office jobs, internet surfing. Health club, shopping, clubs and party

Agriculture, physical sports, gossip, playing cards, cinema, religious congregation.

Interests Chinese, Continental foods, designer clothes, beauty salons, holiday trips

Desi food, milk, bright colored clothes, jewellery, visiting towns, markets/melas

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INFORMATION SEARCH AND PRE-PURCHASE EVALUATION The rural consumer primary seeks and gets his

information from opinion leaders and influencers, rather than the media. However, this information search is fuelled by exhibitions and road shows, because of the opportunity of personal interaction and leisurely pace of absorbing and understanding the information and its relevance.

In the case of high involvement products, this information search needs to be supplemented by an out of village visit to a company outlet with an opportunity for personal interaction. The need to demonstrate individual accessories of the product and their performance also becomes critical.

The ultimate clincher is always the ‘touch and feel’ experience. Anything less will not lead to a purchase.

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STAGES IN BUYING DECISION PROCESSProblem Recognition

Information search

Evaluation of alternatives

Purchase decision

Post-purchase behavior

Problem Recognition – The buying process starts when the buyer recognisesa problem or need. The need can b triggered by internal or external stimuli. In the former case, one of the person’s normal needs – hunger, thirst rises to a threshold level and becomes a drive. In the latter case, a need is aroused by external stimulus. A person passing through a bakery and sees a freshly baked cake which stimulates her hunger. Marketer needs to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need.

Information search - Two levels of involvement with search. The milder search state is called heightened attention. At this level person simply becomes more receptive to information about product.At the next level is active information search. The person looks for reading material, phones friends and engages in other activities to learn more about the product.

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Urban Buying Process Rural

High-involvement product, comfort, status, drive, consumer’s recognition for need

Need Recognition

High involvement product - productivity drives consumer’s recognition for need.

First hand information from TV, Internet, Newspaper Ads/ Consults a fellow owner before dealer visit

Information search

First hand information from a fellow owner and nearby dealer at district town.

Educated/aware understands, analyses technical specifications. At most looks for test drive

Evaluation of alternatives

Lower education and awareness. More importance to fellow owner and illustration of dealer. Consults opinion leader like progressive farmers. Live field demonstration.

Normally buyer makes final decision. Family influences color and looks,. Drives new car home with family.

Purchase decision

Collective decision by buyer, adult son, mechanic and progressive village farmer.

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CONTD.

Higher satisfaction or dissonance because of greater risk factor.Higher risk taking ability, because of wanting experimentation. After sales service no issue

Post-purchase behavior

Higher satisfaction, lower dissonance. Because risk-taking is lower and expectation level is low. Low risk-taking ability becauselife-attached product, lack of technical know how, low confidence on after sales service.

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DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION

Diffusion of Innovations is a theory of how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures.

Elements of diffusion of innovations InnovationRogers defines an innovation as "an idea, practice, or object that is

perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption" . Communication channelsA communication channel is "the means by which messages get

from one individual to another.” Time"The innovation-decision period is the length of time required to

pass through the innovation-decision process" . Rate of adoption is the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system.

Social system"A social system is defined as a set of interrelated units that are

engaged in joint problem solving to accomplish a common goal“.

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CATEGORIES OF INNOVATIVENESS

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Thank you