Rural FMCG sales outrun towns

C.K.Prahlad's vision of serving the Bottom of the Pyramid is actually happening. Shampoo, Chyavanprash, soaps, hair color, all the teeny-weenie sales articles that we traditionally used to think villagers would never use, are actually very much in use! The problem so far had been that of reachability of retail services into the villages, and appropriate pricing and packaging of the items. But the HLL Shakti initiative solved the reachability problem to a big extent, and the realization that sachet packaging was more appealing to the rural people solved the pricing problem. But this is only the beginning. New products developed especially by keeping the rural environment and culture in mind will be the next growth area.

As C.K.Prahlad puts it, rural people are very brand concious, they are connected and word of mouth advertising is of fundamental importance, and they accept advanced technology readily if it is easily usable. Companies have to keep these principles in mind when they develop new products for the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid market. But the rural market should not be viewed entirely as a cash cow. The philosophies of Amul should be followed, who are trying to market pizza to the villagers that not only has funk value but is also protein enriched, and icecream which is not just tasty, but has a high calcium content.