Name: Bajrang Singh (2008 – 2010)

Title: Buying Behavior of FMCG Products in Rural Area

Summary

In this research, I have put an effort to understand the buying behavior of the

consumers towards FMCG products in rural market.

1. In this report, I have first of all given a brief review about FMCG sector as a

whole.

2. Then I have given a review of the findings of some of the researches that has

already been conducted by various researchers.

3. Then enumerated research objectives.

4. Then given the panoramic view regarding the topic.

5. Then described research methodology i.e., the sample unit, sample size,

sampling region, sampling procedure that I have used in my report.

6. I have used stratified random sampling as sampling procedure.

7. Then I have analyzed the data which was collected by a questionnaire.

8. Then I have concluded the findings of the survey.

9. Then finally, I have given few suggestions & recommendations regarding the

topic.

Research Objectives:

To understand the demand pattern of FMCG products in the rural market.

To understand the image of products in the eyes of the consumers.

Conclusion:

In this report, it can very easily be concluded that HUL, holds major portion of the

FMCG market. It holds major shares in the soap & shampoo’s category. HUL’s products

are mainly in demand, because they provide these products in different packs. They

consider the fact that rural consumers do not have that much money to be spent on

these products. So, they prefer buying the small or the medium packs. However, large

or family packs are still been bought by few consumers, who are from a well – off

families.

After HUL local brands have majority in rural market, villagers are not aware about

MNC’s and they don’t want to invest more in branded products excepts products of

HUL. According to them quality of branded products and their local brand having a

alight difference but the price of branded product is much higher than local product, so

they prefer local brands like Neeraj tea.

If we see the data of Biscuits and detergent most of them prefer Parle-g coz of it’s

packaging and of its price same in case of detergent they prefer Nirma coz of it’s

familiarity and it’s price.

In the case of TEA, Neeraj holds a major share. Rural consumers favor Neeraj because

it is an old organization & it has gained a lot of BRAND EQUITY which finally creates

BRAND LOYALTY. In these products, consumers do get brand loyal, because they do

not want to take a risk with their tastes. So they prefer sticking to one brand. These

organizations supply their products in various packs (small, medium & large),

considering the buying capacity of their consumers.

As in the case of BISCUITS, Parle-g holds the major market share. Rural consumers

favor Parle-g because it is an old organization & it has gained a lot of BRAND EQUITY

which finally creates BRAND LOYALTY. In case of BISCUITS, consumers do get brand

loyal, because they do not want to take a risk with their tastes. So they prefer sticking to

one brand. These organizations supply their products in various packs (small, medium

& large), considering the buying capacity of their consumers with affordable price.

In the case of TOOTH PASTES, Neem holds a major market share. Consumers are

very concerned about their health, so if any product suits them they prefer sticking to

that product and price. And this product is also available in various packs, so rural

consumers can use it according to their buying capacity.

Suggestions & Recommendations:

I would like to suggest the following points, so that the organizations can easily sell their

products to their consumers:

1. However, the demand of a product is also affected by its life cycle. If the product

is in the introduction stage, then it will definitely take some time to capture the

market, because in the introduction stage, consumers are not much aware about

the product. Therefore, it’s the responsibility of the organization to create

awareness amongst the consumers.

2. They should adapt rigorous marketing strategies, in order to sustain in the

market.

3. There is immense competition in this sector. Therefore, the organizations should

try to gain competitive advantage against their competitor’s.

4. They should try to reach as many people as possible.

5. For the organizations that are not much popular amongst the consumers, should

adopt Sales Promotion, as their marketing strategies.

6. Application of 4A’s has also become an important task for all the organizations.

(*4A= Availability, Affordability, Acceptability, Awareness)

Limitation of Study:

1 Sample size- I have choosen only 200 sample size for my study

2 Accuracy- To understand the real facts and data, I have to do this study through all

educated people for accurate observation

3 Inadequate information- Uneducated people were do not have proper knowledge

about a product

4 Area of study- Area of my study is very limited having only 3 nearby villages.

The above article was extracted from dissertations by the students of Skyline College. Skyline

College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR)