1. Rural Marketing Strategies of
Coca-Cola
By: Parag Dave
Shreyash Duikar
Piyush Anthony
Deepak Kumar
Oliver D'Souza
2. • Geographical Area : 3,287,263 sq.kms
• Population : over 1.21 billion people (2011 census)
• About 68% of India’s population lives in rural areas.
• Rural population has grown by 12% in last decade.
• Rural market, accounts for 40% of Indian economy.
• Rural India has huge, heterogeneous and growing consumer market,
which contributes more than 50% to India’s total consumer market
size.
Some quick facts !
3. • A humiliating loss of 400 Million USD in the 2000 and a flat 2001
made Coca Cola India (CCI) rethink and reinvent its strategies in
India
• The flat sales in the urban areas made it clear for the CCI that they
would have to shift focus to the untapped rural markets.
Reason Behind the thought
5. Affordability
• An average rural worker in India earns Rs. 100 a day whereas the
price of a 300ml coke bottle was Rs.10. due to which it was considered
as a leisurely expense.
• In order to overcome this barrier, In 2002 coke came up with a 200ml
bottle costing Rs.5 only., an affordable amount on the pockets of the
rural audience.
6. Acceptability
• The advertisement with the tag line - ‘ Thanda Matlab Coca-Cola '
was targeted at rural consumers.
• The series of Amir Khan Ads on hill station acting like a nepali and
those in a Punjabi Yaara da Tashan were a great success and an
important aspect focusing on acceptability.
• Except TV ads, CCI also concentrated on 47,000 hatts (weekly
markets) and 25,000 melas ( fairs ) held annually in various parts
of the country.
7. Availability
• Rural India meant reaching 6,27,000 villages spread over 32,87,263
square kms
• It realized that the centralized distribution system used by the
company in the urban areas would not be suitable for rural areas.
• In the centralized distribution system, the product was transported
directly from the bottling plants to retailers.
• However, CCI realized that this distribution system would not work in
rural markets, as taking stock directly from bottling plants to retail
stores would be very costly due to the long distances to be covered.
8. • CCI started making a hit list of the potential villages from various
districts.
• To ensure full loads, large distributors (Hubs) were appointed, and
they were supplied from the company's depot in large towns and
cities.
• On their part, the hubs appointed smaller distributors (Spokes) in
adjoining areas.
• The distributors also hired rickshaws that travelled to villages
daily.
10. TV Commercials
• Between March- September 2003, CCI came
up with different commercials featuring
Aamir Khan.
• In these Ads he played a character that the
target audience could easily associate with.
13. Results
• 37% growth in Rural market
• Rural Market became a great source of income/Profit
• Opportunities were created
14. Conclusion
CCI’s success on India’s vast, rural markets is a lesson on how to grow
an untapped market. It is an indication that if an MNC does its home
work right and gets the right distribution mix, then it need not restrict
itself to India’s urban middle class.
