ABSTRACT

The market scenario in the rural areas today is changing very rapidly. Rural consumers demand branded products mainly because of increase in disposable income and literacy level. In the present paper we tried to indentify the opportunities, challenges and marketing strategies to overcome these challenges. The present study is based on secondary data collected from various sources such as websites, case studies, academic journals, and business magazines and reviewed various research papers on rural market in order to understand the role and characteristics of rural market, characteristics and purchasing behaviour of rural consumer and various marketing strategies that can be used to capture the untapped potential of rural market. After analyzing the challenges and opportunities in rural market we found that there are vast untapped opportunities are available in rural India. But marketers are unable to tap these opportunities because of lack of infrastructure facilities. Literacy rate is low in rural area so people are unable to identify brand difference. Language differences, culture, believes, traditional outlook, seasonal demands, socio-economic backwardness, inadequate media coverage etc. creates problems for marketers.

Keyword:  Rural Market, Brand, opportunities, Literacy