Urban - the Spotlight is here again!
for long rural has caught imagination among brands , be it in marketing or distribution , true rural will still hold potential . while we are still at driving the great rural forays , we sense the time to focus more on Urban is now here again , here is why ....
- Current trends indicate that most consumer spends of urban categories like high end shampoos ,diapers , sanitary napkins ,high end razors etc are up !
- The monsoon led hit on rural continues to bogg down rural spends
- Rural advantage of distribution is gone from brands ,as most strong brands in relevant categories have made their presence in deep rural now .
- Interestingly cars seem to be outperforming motorcycles sales if one were to believe media reports , indicating more urban spends .
- Urban spends per customer is much higher than a rural consumer , which is a known fact
- Multiple channels ( general trade , speciality stores, modern trade , non traditional channels )are emerging in urban, add to all of this the impulsive "online channels"mode too
In the current scenario , we are recommending a 70% of resource spends on urban, 30% of resource spends on rural approach (it depends on the category though), as growths rates and yield per consumer will be much much higher in urban ,this is also accentuated due to the complexity of multiple channels( with online adding to the chaos) in urban and intense competition for the consumer wallet in urban .
Urban is the place for the bang for your buck !and its returning with force !
Comments
Rural was always enticing due to this being untapped and the sheer volume but the value as you mention has always been in urban. I don't see this changing in the next couple of decades. Continue writing...