What are the differences between marketing in a developing and a developed market?

One of the sharpest distinctions in global marketing is between developed and developing markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (often called “BRIC” )

The unmet needs of the developing world represent huge potential markets for food, clothing, shelter, consumer electronics, appliances, and many other goods.

Developed nations account for about 20 percent of the world’s population.Can marketers serve the other 80 percent,

Successfully entering developing markets requires a special set of skills and plans.Consider how these companies pioneered ways to serve “invisible”consumers:20

. •. • Corporación GEO builds low-income housing in Mexico.The two-bedroom homes are modular and expandable.

Grameenphone marketed cell phones to 35,000 villages in Bangladesh by hiring village women as agents who leased phone time to other villagers,one call at a time

Colgate-Palmolive rolled into Indian villages with video vans that showed the benefits of toothbrushing

Getting the marketing equation right in developing markets can pay big dividends

Smaller packaging and lower sales prices are often critical when incomes and housing spaces are limited.

Unilever’s 2 rupee sachets of detergent and shampoo were a big hit in rural India,where 70 percent of the population still live

Eighty percent of consumers in emerging markets buy their products from tiny bodegas,stalls, kiosks,and mom-and-pop stores not much bigger than a closet,which Procter & Gamble calls “high-frequency stores.” In India, 98 percent of food is still purchased from the 12 million neighborhood mom-and-pop outfits called kirana stores.25

Nokia sends marketing,sales,and engineering staff from its entry-level phone group to spend a week in people’s homes in rural China,Thailand,and Kenya to observe how they use phones. By developing rock-bottom-priced phones with just the right functionality,Nokia has become the market-share leader in Africa and Asia.26 • A Western image can be helpful. Coca-Cola’s success against local cola brand Jianlibao in China was partly due to its symbolic values of modernity and affluence