short answer questions 1.what is brand loyalty? 2.define rural market. 3.mention two reasons for slow down in rural development. 4.what is opinion marketing? 5.mention two most popular brands in FMCG in rural India. 6.What do you mean by product differentiation.


Oct 23, 2013 (4 years and 6 months ago)


short answer questions

1.what is brand loyalty?

2.define rural market.

3.mention two reasons for slow down in rural development.

4.what is opinion marketing?



do you mean by product differentiation.

7.what is unique selling proposition?

8.define market segmentation.

9.Expand NABARD.

10. what is cooperative marketing?

11.what do you understand by GDP?

12.Give two objectives of market research.

13.Define Marketin
g infformation systems.

14.Give two socio
cultural factors affecting rural consumer buying behavior.

15.Mention four criteria for rural market segmentation.

16.what are the main reasons for growing attractiveness of rural markets?

17.what is NAFED?


is a regulated market?

19.what is a commodity market?

20.Mention two agricultural credit institutions in India.

Descriptive questions

1. Discuss the problems in rural marketing.

2. Give an account of Indian companies specialising in rural marketing.

3. Write a note on market segmentation.

4. Describe the role of prices in competitive economy.

5. What are the constraints of communication in

rural marketing?

6. Explain the importance of personal selling in rural markets.

7. Describe the functions of ce
ntral and state warehousing corporations.

8. Describe the role of any four Commodities Board.

9. Explain in detail the factors contributing the change of demand in rural market.

10. Explain the role of Government in pricing for rural markets.

11. Will the
market targeting strategy differ from positioning between the rural and urban markets?

12. Describe the various methods marketing communication in rural marketing.

13. Discuss the objectives and advantages and limitations of co
operative marketing.

14. Exp
lain the problems in physical distribution of products in rural markets.

15. Explain in detail ‘Cotton and Textile Marketing’.

16.Explain the "opinion leaders" with reference to rural marketing.

17. What are the different types of fake products available i
n the rural market?

18. Explain Captive
Product Pricing v/s Product
Bundle Pricing.

19. Draw a diagram to explain any one distribution model that has succeeded in rural markets.

20. How can Product Positioning be done in rural markets?

21. What are the pol
itical factors that influence in rural consumer behavior?

22. Differentiate a mandi from a Mela.

23.Why do marketers find rural India one of the most difficult markets in the world?

24. Explain how companies have used demographic and geographic segmentatio
n in rural India.

25. Explain some new distribution strategies and distribution models being used by companies to
counter the problems

of distribution in rural areas.

26. What are the common misperceptions about BoP markets?

27. HUL is reputed to be among
the best rural marketers in the country. Discuss reasons for its success.

any 2 government scheme for rural reform.

28.Explain Consumer Behavior model.

29.Write a note Marketing Information systems.


the Indian Agricultural scenario, and how far the cooperatives contributed for the economic
development of India.

Analytical questions

1. What are the components of rural environments that you would need to consider while planning the
physical distri
bution of fast moving consumer goods? How do political environment and the structure of
the rural society affect the consumption behavior of rural consumers? Explain by taking examples.

2. By talking to 5
10 rural consumers around your city or to people
with a rural background, collect
information on what are the most influential reference groups for the following products and services
purchase decision for the rural consumers. How is this influence exercised?

Purchase of a tractor

Decision to send a ch
ild to high school outside the village

Purchase of insurance

Purchase of household detergent

3. You have been retained by an FMCG company to assess the market potential of their well
brand of toothpaste in the rural market in a part of Cent
ral India. Knowing that the awareness of oral
hygiene products in the belt is low, the company would also like you to assess the prevailing consumer
perceptions about toothpaste in general and their brand in particular:

What type of research design would

you select and why? Justify.

What are the data collection instruments you would use and why? Justify

4. A leading marketer of personal hygiene product like toilet soaps, shampoos, fairness creams and hair
oil wants to make his entry into the rural mark
ets. For each of the product categories, what are the
possible product, package and pricing adaptation that be he may have to make? Advise him, giving
reasons to justify your suggestions.

5. Most FMCG companies are today battling with the menace of spuri
ous products. A nationally
established manufacturer of shaving blades and safety razors has sought your advice to enable him to
overcome the problem of spurious brands eating into his rural market share. How would you advise
him? Give justification for the

advice proposed by you.

6. You have been retained by a company producing a complete range of consumer durables goods. The
company has decided to promote the following products in the rural market.

sewing machines


mini generation sets

What ar
e the advertising media options that would you suggest to the company, in each case and why?

6. On the basis of your understanding of the rural buyer behavior, what sales promotional programmes
would be most successful for

bio fertilizers


of a brand of cold drinks for the rural markets

How would you plan the sales promotion effort in each case?

7. One of the key determinants of distribution efforts in the rural markets is the relative market
potential of different villages. You have stud
ied several measures like the Thompson Rural Market Index,
MISH and MRMR. How can marketers use these measures to assess their inventory and warehousing
requirements? Respond with respect to the following products.

Cooking oil

Battery cells

8.Study car
efully the behavioral dimension in rural distribution covered in Unit 12 in your material. As a
marketer, explain clearly the implication of these variables in planning the distribution of the following

Black and White TV sets



9. Collect detailed information on the ITC experiment of e
choupal . Write a note on

the present coverage of e choupal

the current activities being undertaken by e choupal

what is the role of choupal sanchalak.

10.Just a mention of Chik Shampoo
gives rise to varied perceptions. To the rural and semi urban
population of

India, it is the preferred daily use shampoo. To the market and its players, the second largest selling
shampoo in the


Chik Shampoo was launched in the late 1980s. In a hi
ghly competitive FMCG category that seemed

impenetrable to most marketers, Beauty Cosmetics (a company that later changed its name to

identified an opportunity in rural and semi urban India. Combining innovative sachet packing, strategic


Re.l and 50p) and a strong and motivated distribution network, Chik Shampoo transformed the very
nature of

shampoo packaging and usage.

With a tropical climate round the year, it is a difficult task to maintain hair softness and shine in rural


company developed unique formula

Active Double Conditioners that cut across age, sex and loyalists of

shampoos and made them adopt Chik Shampoo.

The company developed a highly successful communication campaign to build its brand. It was target
at the

rural and semi urban masses and showcased the possibility of soft and manageable hair. The iconic Chik
Girl in

every Chik Shampoo commercial treated her hair with the shampoo and demonstrated with almost ease

confidence her ability to untangl
e her hair with just a single motion of running her fingers through her
hair. Her

testimonial signature Yun Kiya Ho Gayal became a popular phrase amongst both girls and women. The

company also went to the rural areas of South India where people hardly used

shampoo or saw TV. Here

used personal demonstrations. They showed customers how to use shampoo. They did live
demonstrations on

young village boys. After the wash they would ask villagers assembled to feel and smell his hair.

CavinKare held Chik Sham
sponsored shows of Rajniknath's films. They showed their advertisements

between, followed by live demonstrations. They also distributed free sachets among the audience after

shows. This worked wonders in rural Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Af
ter every show, our shampoo

went up three to four times.

In 2003, Chik Shampoo was declared the winner of the best performing brand in 2003 by AAAI, amongst
the top

ten brands in household availability. However after that the brand has begun coming u
nder intense
pressure from

competitors . The shampoo market has been changing in the last 5 years and has become very cluttered

company is facing intense competition from other brands like Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Pantene, Ayush, Dabur

Nyle etc.

(a) Set new objectives for Chik Shampoo and design a new Promotion Strategy for the brand so that it

mating its leadership position


(b) Considering the rural shampoo market today what will be the key internal and external factors
affecting the


of Chik Shampoo. Also suggest some Product strategies that Cavinkare can use to help develop the

Chik brand further


Introduction: The bio
agri market in India

India, the largest democracy in the world, is highly dependent on agriculture which generate
s almost
one quarter of

its GDP and provides two thirds of its people with their means of survival. India is a nation of small

farmers, most of whom do not make enough income to cover their meager basic needs and
expenditures. Sixty


of the farming households own less than 1 hectare of land and only 5% own more than 4

Marketing of seeds to this rural population is thus an important activity in the Indian market. Biotech
crops are

being touted to hold some quick fix solutions

to the problems of Indian agriculture. The are being seen
as having the

potential to play a role in food, feed and fiber security, contributing to poverty alleviation and hunger,

environmental footprints in agriculture, mitigating climate change
and contributing to cost
effective bio

Seed companies have aggressively begun marketing seeds for the only transgenic crop1 approved in
India so far, BT 2

cotton. They are also lobbying with the government to ensure approval of BT seeds for food and


These companies are offering farmers' customer service, technical knowledge and innovative products
that are

constantly updated and improved. These services were previously unheard of in the Indian market.

Companies are beginning to invest v
ast amounts in state of the art facilities for the collection,
processing, string,

testing and breeding of seeds in different climatic zones across the nation to match the climate, soil and
land of

different segments of framers.

Most of these seed companie
s use technology developed by Monsanto. These companies have to pay
Monsanto a

royalty per packet of seeds sold.

While BT seeds accounted for a bulk of the bio
agri market, bio pesticides, bio fertilizers and markers
accounted for

the rest. International p
anacea, Multiplex Biotech and Biotech international are some of the other major

companies in the bio pesticides and bio fertilizers category. International panacea reported sales of Rs.

crore in 2006 compared to Rs. 17 crore in the previous year.

A s
hort history of biotechnology in India Agriculture

Agriculture biotechnology is making disease resistant grains, fruits, oilseeds and vegetables, and cash
crops like

cotton through genetic modification. India has so far approved a single transgenic crop, B
T cotton for

commercial cultivation, while a number of other transgenic crops, including some genetically modified

food crops are in the pipeline for approval. Amidst the raging row over use of genetically modified crops,
the area

covered under BT Cot
ton has surged . BT cotton, which confers resistance to important insect pests of

was first adopted in India as hybrids in 2002. "There has been 125
fold rise in area under biotech crop in
India in the

last six years, while globally it is only 67

fold increase in 12 years," says International Service for the

of Agri
biotech Applications, Chairman Clive James. The study conducted by his organisation shows that


Indian farmers opted for BT cotton in 2007 compared to 2.3 million in 2006. The study also
shows that

India has overtaken the US to become the second largest cotton producing country in the world after
China. India,

which had one of the lowest cotton yiel
ds in the world, has become a net cotton exporter, with
potentially five

million bales available for export in 2007
08. BT cotton was a major factor contributing to higher rate of

from 15.8 million bales in 2001
02 to 31 million bales in 2007
, it said. The income of the cotton
growers in India

has also increased up to Rs. 10,000 or more per hectare over a period of 3 years. The study claimed that

farmer confidence in the crops with nine of 10 Indian farmers replanting biotech cotton yea
r on year.

The major states growing BT cotton in India are Maharashtra followed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,

Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The study also said that the GM technology alone will not be sufficient to meet the global food demand

stressed on adopting an integrated approach to increase the crop yield. The report suggested that seed

companies should promote a crop improvement strategy which will integrate both the crops in its
approach to

optimize productivity.

The Major P

Monsanto's technology is still the dominant BT technology used in India. Each of the seed marketing
companies paid

Monsanto Biotech about Rs. 1200 per packet of seeds as royalty. Today approvals have been given to 16

seed companies in India to

market GM seeds i.e. Mahyco, Rasi, Ankur Seeds, Nuziveedu Seeds, JK Seeds,

Nath Seeds, Ganaga Kaveri seeds, Tulasi seeds, Ajeet seeds, Emergent genetics Vikki Agrotech, Vikram

Pravardhan Seeds, Krishidhan, Prabhat and Vikram Seeds.

The Genetic Engi
neering Approval Committee of the government of India has approved 38 new varieties
of BT

cotton hybrids for commercial cultivation in the 2006 season in addition to the 20 BT cotton hybrids
approved for

sale in the 2005 season.

Future plans

India first al
lowed commercial cultivation BT cotton, the country's first GM crop in 2002, leading to

from activists, who say GM crops are a health hazard. This delayed approval of GM food crops.

India's first expected GM food crop is brinjal. Field trials of
GM brinjal started in August 2007 and is
expected to

be commercialized by 2009, said C.D Mayee, a senior scientist, and chairman Agricultural Scientists

Recruitment Board.

Among food crops the biggest opportunity is perhaps in rice. India, second largest

producer in the world, is field testing GM rice, and expects commercialization by 2011, Mayee said. In

India is competing with China, the largest producer. China

is in final stages of commercializing GM rice,
James said.


Biotech can solve bio
fuel needs of the world. India, the second biggest producer of sugar, is likely to

India is working towards getting technology for developing GM su
garcane with better ethanol output


India is sitting on a stock pile of sugar with output of about 27.5 million tones and a carryover stock of
over 6

million tones against an annual consumption of about 20 million tones.

Discuss the basic obje
ctives of the seed marketing companies. AK Seeds wishes to enter this market and

obtained approval to market 3 varieties of BT cotton. Develop a marketing strategy that will be
beneficial to the

company as well as to the farmers.


1 Transgenic


acquiring the

gene(s) through pollination.

2 BT cotton

BT cotton seeds are genetically engineered to carry the gene from the soil bacterium
Bacillus thuringiensis

These seeds have an in
built pest control mechanism created in the cotton plant to fight against certain