By Rahul Nainwal 

This millennium, increasing competition and rising product-penetration in urban markets will force organisations to search for newer markets in order to expand their customer-base. One area that is going to see a lot of action is the real Bharat. This is rural India, a place largely neglected by business and government alike. I believe the millennial customer is the rural customer. Around 70 per cent of Indians live in rural areas.

The rural customer is different from the urban one in terms of his socio-economic background, purchasing-behaviour, attitudes, and beliefs. He looks for value for money. Companies will have to reengineer their marketing mix in terms of products, promotion, pricing, and distribution channels. But they will have to come up with offerings that satisfy the functional requirements of the rural customer, and also meet his aspirational needs.

Marketers will have to closely watch the rural customer in this millennium. They have to understand his wants, needs, and aspirations, and measure his satisfaction-levels over a period of time. This will require focused rural-market research on a regular basis. Companies will have to work towards providing the rural customer with a bundle of products and services. The future will see the emergence of new segments in the rural markets in the form of institutions like co-operatives, which will require special services.

The key to success in the rural markets will be creativity and innovation. For instance, Arvind Mills tried a new strategy when it came to marketing its Ruf-and-Tuf ready-to-stitch jeans in the rural areas. They made the product available to villages having a population of as low as 5,000; and local tailors were trained to stitch jeans from these kits.

Similarly, financial institutions and insurance companies can re-design their services to rural customers using institutions like co-operatives as conduits to reach the customer. Distribution will play a critical part in a company's ability to reach the rural customer. Distribution systems will have to adapt themselves to the seasonal nature of demand in the rural areas.

To meet the growing demands of this diverse rural market, organisations will have to restructure their organisations around markets, not products. Think national, act rural could well be the mantra of successful rural marketers in this millennium. Thus, companies will, increasingly, adopt marketing and selling strategies adapted to the needs of the local market even while pushing a national brand.

Thus, the New Millennium will witness a lot of activity in the rural markets, but the future will depend not only on the quantum, but also on the nature of activity. An economy grows in proportion to its capacity to spend. There is a need for a large number of people who earn enough to be able to spend. Companies will be able to expand their franchise into the rural markets only if the target market manages to attain a certain basic quality of life, and has a sufficient quantum of disposable income.

It is true that, in the last few years of the previous millennium, good monsoons, growing agricultural prosperity, and improved agricultural incomes increased the purchasing power of the rural customer. Still, today, there are millions of potential customers waiting to become part of the market economy. Today, they simply have wants which are not backed by sufficient purchasing power. The challenge for companies is to integrate these customers into the mainstream. Companies should not just focus on offering rural customers choices; they need to develop their capabilities.

One case in point is the Tata Council For Community Initiatives established by the Tata Group. The council's mandate is to evolve a common direction for community-development programmes from diverse activities of various companies belonging to the group. Such initiatives not only improve the image of company among the potential customers, but also benefits it: as the rural economy grows, so does the purchasing power of the rural customer.

Today, India is considered a country of underachievers essentially because its heartland is still underdeveloped. One reason is the low access rural customers have to information. The infotech and telecom revolution of the 1990s was largely an urban phenomenon. Rural India has, so far, been untouched. That will change in this century.

In all probability, the mechanism that will connect the rural customer to the information-mainstream in the New Millennium will be an information-kiosk. Thus, a farmer who wants to experiment with a new crop can find information on which crop he should go in for at the kiosks.

The kiosk will also provide information on access to markets, and existing and future prices for his crop. These information-kiosks will be connected to the Net, and will provide instant access to markets globally to the enterprising farmer.

Connect these information-kiosks to co-operative societies and the District Rural Development Agency, and you have the Net revolution sweeping the real Bharat. These kiosks can even be used to advertise and market goods. Imagine a young farmer in Haryana who has decided to buy a new tractor and has come to the kiosk in order to get information on tractors. Any tractor company would like to take advantage of this opportunity. In effect, these kiosks will create a second information revolution-this time for the rural masses-and will bridge the gap between the market and the masses.

Although the Net revolution is yet to happen in rural India, the telecom revolution one witnessed in the previous century indicates that it will happen. And in the first decade of this millennium.

This millennium will be characterised by organisations which try to better the lot of the rural customer. Not out of any altruistic motives, but from a desire to improve their own lot by doing so. I have no doubt that the countryside will determine tomorrow's winner.

Rahul Nainwal is a second-year student at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand

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