September 1999
It is perhaps time to take stock of all that we have learnt in these past six or seven years about the nature of the Indian market, now that it has emerged from its shackles of socialism, monopolies and hardly visible income growths. Lesson 1: First and foremost, a generic model of market structure has emerged, with five tiers of demand, ranging from “anywhere in the world consumers who just happen to be in India” to “just escaped from poverty and entering the arena of consumption”. In order to fully exploit the potential of this multi tiered consumer base, there is no escape from a multi pronged product strategy, ranging from “as good as anywhere in the world quality at world prices”, all the way to “adequate quality at affordable prices”. The slight diversion that we took in the recent past, in believing that there was a huge and homogenous […]
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The Economic Times - August 1999
Consumer Durables In The Villages: Who’s Buying?The Economic Times – August 1999 Rural India’s recently discovered predilection to enthusiastically consume everything from shampoo to motorcycles has been the subject of much discussion. However the dominant view of the market is as seen through the product window (i.e. from the perspective of “how much of what is being bought”). To gain a better insight into the structure and drivers of consumer demand in Rural India, we need to also develop a view of the market by looking at it through the consumer or ‘people’ window (i.e. from the perspective of “how many of what kind of people are buying”). We need to enlarge the discussion from ‘the market’ to also include ‘the consumers’; from not just what is being bought, but also who is buying; and from thinking ‘product segments’ to also thinking consumer segments. This article presents one vignette of […]
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