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ROLE OF IT IN RURAL MARKETING.

In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance, as the overall growth of the economyhas resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communitiesRural areas are evolving into strategic market for companies which include not only domestic but

MNCs too. There is great potential that lies in rural market. More and more stress is thereforebeing given on marketing products. It is very interesting to notice that the rural markets are at parwith the urban markets. The credit for this scenario goes to the marketing policies.

ITC e-Choupal is the greatest example of information technology in rural marketing. Launched inJune 2000, 'e-Choupal', has already become the largest initiative in all internet-based interventionsin rural India. ITC followed a different media/communication strategy which is more elaborate and

extensive in rural marketing so far, which benefits both the farmers and the organization. Thestrategy use the Information Technology and bridge the information and service gap in rural Indiawhich gives an edge to market its products like seeds, fertilizers and pesticides and other productslike consumer goods etc.

They use the e-Choupal to order seed, fertilizer, and other products such as consumer good from

ITC or its partners, at prices lower than those available from village traders. In this Paper wediscuss about the role of IT in rural market, e-Chou pal, different strategy, vision and planningbehind the e-Chou pal.

Significance

In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as theoverall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the

rural communities. On account of the green revolution in India, the rural areas are consuming a

large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketingstrategy, namely, rural marketing has taken shape. Sometimes, rural marketing is confused withagricultural marketing the later denotes marketing of produce of the rural areas to the urban

consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured orprocessed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers. Also, when we consider the scenarioof India and China, there is a picture that comes out, huge market for the developed products as

well as the labor support. This has led to the change in the mindset of the marketers to move tothese parts of the world.

Also rural market is getting an importance because of the saturation of the urban market. As dueto the competition in the urban market, the market is more or so saturated as most of the capacityof the purchasers have been targeted by the marketers. So the marketers are looking for

extending their product categories to an unexplored market i.e. the rural market. This has also led

to the CSR activities being done by the corporate to help the poor people attain some wealth tospend on their product categories. Here we can think of HLL (now, HUL) initiatives in the rural

India. One of such project is the Project Shakti, which is not only helping their company attainsome revenue but also helping the poor women of the village to attain some money which is surelygoing to increase their purchasing power. Also this will increase their brand loyalty as well asrecognition in that area. Similarly we can think of the ITC E-Chou pal, which is helping the poor

farmers get all the information about the weather as well as the market price of the food grainsthey are producing. In other view these activities are also helping the companies increase theirbrand value. So as it is given above the significance of the rural market has increased due to the

saturation of the urban market as well as in such conditions the company which will lead the waywill be benefited as shown by the success of HUL and ITC initiatives.

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Strategies

Dynamics of rural markets differ from other market types, and similarly rural marketing strategiesare also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial

consumer. This, along with several other related issues, have been subject matter of intensediscussions and debate in countries like India and China and focus of even international symposiaorganized in these countries.

Rural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include:

Client and location specific promotion Joint or cooperative promotion.. Bundling of inputs Management of demand Developmental marketing Unique selling proposition (USP) Extension services Business ethics Partnership for sustainability

Client and Location specific promotion- involves a strategy designed to be suitable to thelocation and the client.

Joint or co-operative promotion- strategy involves participation between the marketingagencies and the client.

'Bundling of inputs'- denote a marketing strategy, in which several related items are sold to thetarget client, including arrangements of credit, after-sale service, and so on.

Management of demand- Involves continuous market research of buyer's needs and problems at

various levels so that continuous improvements and innovations can be undertaken for a

sustainable market performance.

Developmental marketing- refer to taking up marketing programmers keeping the development

objective in mind and using various managerial and other inputs of marketing to achieve theseobjectives.

Media- both traditional as well as the modern media, is used as a marketing strategy.

Unique Selling Propositions (USP)- involves presenting a theme with the product to attract theclient to buy that particular product. For examples, some of famous Indian Farm equipmentmanufactures have coined catchy themes, which they display along with the products, to attract

the target client that is the farmers. English version of some of such themes would read like:

The heartbeats of rural India With new technique for a life time of company For the sake of progress and prosperity

Extension Services- denote, in short, a system of attending to the missing links and providingthe required know-how.

Ethics in Business- form, as usual, an important plank for rural markets and rural marketing.

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Partnership for sustainability- involves laying and building a foundation for continuous and longlasting relationship.

''' Building sustainable market linkages for rural products: Industry's role, scope,

opportunities and challenges'''

E-Chou pal Concept-ITC Limited is one of India's leading diversified conglomerates. Traditionally a tobacco and cigarette

producer, it has grown into a conglomerate dealing in hotels, packaging, agribusiness, information

technology, and fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs). ITC initiated its e-Chou pal project in 2000to streamline its dealings with Indian farmers. This is a project on a massive scale that ultimatelyaims to cover every sixth Indian village. Each Chou pal covers around six villages and 36,000

villages have been covered to date in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.

Objectives and Goals-

E-Chou pal aims to provide Indian farmers ready access to crop-specific real-time information and

customized knowledge in their native language. By doing so, ITC wants to improves the farmers'decision-making ability, thereby helping them to better align their farm output to the projected

demand in Indian and international markets.Technologies-

Typically, the Chou pals use Pentium computers along with a dot matrix printer and a UPS(500VA). ITC had initially upgraded telephone exchanges by using RNS (RAX Network

Synchronization) kits, but eventually in most of the e- Chou pals, wireless VSAT links have beeninstalled by bypassing the exchanges. Even with these improvements, the bandwidth often remains

limited. Hence, e-Chou pals have started compensating by caching static content locally. ITC also

uses a specially designed template for managing data combined with new imaging techniques in

order to speed up downloads and to optimize bandwidth use. To overcome the problem of sporadicelectricity, several kiosk computers use back-up batteries recharged with solarpanels

Conclusion-

E-Chou pals deliver relevant technology in the hands of the farmers, which can improve theeconomic condition of the entire village. E-Chou pal is one of the very few ICT projects in India that

has effectively utilized e-commerce transactions for poverty alleviation. One of the key lessons is

that ICT can reduce the number of middlemen involved between agriculture commodity producersand final consumers. Another key factor is that very simple technology solutions are available tocreate networks in rural areas, which can function as virtual agricultural commodity market places.