The Hindu Business Line : ‘Reaching rural markets at low cost, a major challenge’

New Delhi, Aug. 22 Distribution and reaching the rural markets at low cost is a major challenge and it is a business that has to be looked at from the income generating perspective of the farmers, , Mr S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive Officer, Agri Business Division, ITC Ltd, said.

Technology, real-time knowledge, local representation and transparent farm input transaction through collaborative efforts create architecture for profitability to the farmers as well as marketers, he said while addressing a session on ‘Integrating the rural consumer – Challenges ahead for the Indian Marketers’, at the Marketing Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

There is an opportunity of value creation in the rural segment which can be met by building appropriate channels, he added.

Buoyancy, fragmentation and convergence are creating an impact on the changing media habits of the consumers, said Mr Gowthaman Ragothama, Managing Director, Mindshare. Media is yet to reach the masses as penetration is very low as compared to other emerging economies, he added.

The country can be divided into global, aspiring, destitute and struggling socio-economic strata to create varying reach options for the media, he suggested.

Ms Punitha Arumugam, Group CEO, Madison Media, said though consumers had not changed over the last few years, they had become elusive.

She said that word-of-mouth, technology, common sense and dialogue with consumers are the simple elements of creating media attention, while focus and insights into communication are also important factors in creating distinctive brand identity in an otherwise cluttered medium.

“The television channels and print publications have grown considerably in the last seven years but consumers spend less time on each of them,” said Mr Madhukar Kamath, Managing Director and CEO, Mudra Group.

He said the basic tenet of creativity still exists in media and the advertiser should focus on interesting, entertaining and creative media usage to capitalise on the current opportunities.

Retail and in-shop advertising will play a major role in the near future, he added.

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