[Jignesh]

Source & Full Article

32% of Alto's Sales are from Rural India
13.6% of Omni's Sales are from Rural India
12% of WagonR's Sales are from Rural India.

Who's Buying the WagonRs, Swifts, Omnis, Altos and Eecos in Rural India?
Orange farmers in Nagpur
Turmeric growers in Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu
Granite polishers in Hyderabad
Blue pottery makers in Jaipur
Madhubani painters in Madhubani, Bihar
Potato growers in West Bengal
Apple and fruit growers in Himachal Pradesh
Fishermen in Howrah
Alphonso mango growers in Ratnagiri

Maruti's mobile theatre ups sales for company in rural India
It's a balmy Friday, and a throng jostles for front row seats. Only a few make it to the matinee. After 13 quick minutes, there's thunderous applause. A jam-packed, shotgun show becomes a blockbuster! As they say, it happens only in India. Welcome to Amritsar Kalan, a nondescript village some 370 km northwest of Delhi, where scores of goggle-eyed villagers are huddled together to grab a glance of not their favourite star or starlet but the latest sets of wheels from India's No 1 carmaker, Maruti Suzuki. The venue is no swank multiplex but a souped-up Tata truck converted into an 18-seater Mobile Theatre. Flashing on the screen are not just Models of Maruti Cars but dreams that Maruti is selling to an aspiring Bharat.

It is really impressive to see how Maruti is not using India Super Star's or Cricketers but a modified Tata Truck, Samsung LCD TV, Split AC & Push Back Seats to drive its Rural India Sales. And the numbers are really great.

Maruti has once again demonstrated that there's perhaps still some juice left in the tank; enough to drive a canny marketer all the way to the bank.

Thanks,

[anonymous]

Maruti is doing what Vodafone has been doing for some time now. They both are targetting rural market which has immense potential growth in India and so far has not been touched by many.

Good move.

[SwiftSD]

Growth potential in Rural areas is still huge I believe in terms of sales so its a great initiative by MUL.

The other day I was sitting in the customer lounge at one of the MS showrooms and these short series/films/ads what ever they may be called were on display, nothing flashy, had a rural backdrop and looked very appealing. I have not seen those ads on TV and I guess these are the ones that are shown through these mobile theaters.

SD

[Jignesh]

Marketing & Selling Cars in India has always been a challenge for Manufacturers. For that matter Marketing any Products in India requires a different strategy than the Company is using in other countries.

India is a huge Country with different Languages & cultures. Infact each State can bring-out a different set of challenges for marketers. Say for example the reason for buying a Car in Punjab would be totally different from the reason why a person buys car in Kerela or in West Bengal.

And then we have cases where World's Number 1 products are lagging behind in India & World number 2 & 3 Products are doing very well here. Best example would be Pepsi & Coke.

Coming back to the point, I feel it will take a long time for other Car Manufacturers in India to tap Rural Market. Maruti with its brand recall & "kitna deti hai" propositions will give tough time to competitors in Rural india Market.

Thanks,

[volkman10]

In a gloomy auto market, rural India rescues manufacturers - Maruti leads the way!





source:ET

[RSR]

Kudos to Maruti Suzuki for researching the market well and reaching out to rural buyers. It's commendable of them to come up with initiatives like the threatre-on-wheels and rural sales agents, as much of the current marketing and advertising for cars is aimed at urban buyers.

In half-a-decade, the rural contribution to their overall sales has shot up from 3% to 30%. That should explain how they are able to increase total sales year-on-year and hold on to their marketshare in the face of extremely stiff competition from a multitude of new brands which (as of now) are limited to urban areas, and the larger ones at that.

With their extremely large and well spread service network, they are positioned to serve the rural markets better than anyone else. Their cars are also known to score high on reliability, fuel efficiency and the ability to take abuse. All three are very important, in addition to the value for money factor.

[wilful]

Most car majors are seeking to aggressively expand their reach into rural India to beat the slowdown in sales, says a report on TOI today.
To quote a relevant extract from the report -
"Smaller towns and rural areas are a gold mine that foreign automakers are yet to tap efficiently," IHS Automotive analyst Anil Sharma said.

"One of the prerequisites for any automaker to be successful in rural areas would be availability of after-market services. Since the population is more dispersed in rural areas, what we probably need is services like mobile workshops."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/29805210.cms

This is very good news for the Indian customer since, in the coming days, one can expect to find service centers for brands that have hitherto been absent in the smaller towns/rural India.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by wilful

This is very good news for the Indian customer since, in the coming days, one can expect to find service centers for brands that have hitherto been absent in the smaller towns/rural India.

Hello,

The real growth for mass market Car lies in Rural India. The real estate boom has created a large number of people living in rural India with lacs or millions of Rupees. These people are eagerly waiting to live the luxury life that once that could only dream of.
Also after good harvest farmers are cash rich & open to buy new cars.

But yes as pointed by you, the service network especially of new Car manufacturers should improve in rural areas. The sales in rural areas will grow even further if service network is expands.

Thanks,