A Study on Purchase Behavior of Rural Consumers of Jalandhar

-In the past years, due to the lack of facilities available in the rural areas, the rural consumer headed towards nearby city to buy branded products and services. But today, the marketers have realized the potential in the rural market, which has become critical for them, be it for a branded shampoo or an automobile. Earlier, van campaigns, cinema commercials and a few wall paintings sufficed the purpose of the marketers to entice rural folks under their folds. But today, television has made the customer in a rural area quite literate about countless products that are on offer in the market place. The present study focuses on identifying the role of various advertisements in purchase of the product by rural consumer.


INTRODUCTION
Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) have attracted the Indian villagers.When the urban demands of the goods were getting saturated, the manufacturing companies took this development as an opportunity.Large FMCGs companies including multinational companies are planning their own strategies to enter this large and developing rural market.The marketing strategies have to be tailor made to suit rural conditions.Leading companies in India have taken up a developmental approach to nourish this new market.The companies are Hindustan Levers Ltd, Godrej, Procter and Gamble, Nirma, Reckett and Coleman, Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd.HLL has done pioneer work in developing FMCG products for rural market and initiating collaborative and innovative strategies.The major rural sales promotion tools for FMCG products are: free samples, cash rebates or discounts, gifts, contests, prizes, games, product warranties, free trials, sale counter displays, and trade promotion to stimulate wholesalers, retailers, and field workers with gifts and awards.For advertising of FMCGs to be effective in rural India, it is necessary to set the objectives in advance against which achievements can be compared .The methods of analyzing and evaluating progress towards the objectives can be established.One also needs to view the way in which advertising works, and what it can achieve for a given product.The advertising effectiveness of FMCGs is measured in light of sales and communication effects.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The review of literature reveals that rural markets though have large potential but it is yet to be tapped.Howard and Sheth (1969) Vaish (2006) found aggressive potential in rural markets which corporates cannot afford to ignore.They also talked about the changing lifestyles of Indian rural consumers.In view of above, it can be concluded that though sufficient attention has been given to the effectiveness of advertising in general but relatively little attention has been given to FMCG advertising and that too in rural markets.The purpose of this research is to address the previously noted gaps in our knowledge regarding body of FMCGs advertising.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The specific objectives of the study are: 1. To study the role of advertisements in purchase of the product by rural consumer 2. To identify the most preferred media of advertising in rural markets 3. To list the preference of the various advertising appeals

DATABASE AND METHODOLOGY
The present study is based on primary data and the same has been collected through a non-disguised structured questionnaire consisting of questions of dichotomous type, multiple choice and open ended type.425 rural respondents have been selected from various villages of Jalandhar with different demographic characteristics using simple random sampling method sample selection.Questionnaire was edited to find out incomplete, inconsistent and illegible responses.In the data cleaning process 28 questionnaires were found inappropriate and were excluded from the final analysis, thereby the sample size was finally reduced to 397.The data has been analysed by using statistical tools like median, etc.These mathematical tools were employed using statistical softwares like SPSS meticulously.Tabular analysis was also used

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
In the present section data has been analysed using tabular approach.Rank based questions, multiple choice questions and dichotomous questions were subject to tabular approach where the median score and percentages were computed respectively.The viewers were found to view 12-16 channels at a time.It was found that usually in a programme of 30 minutes duration, there are two commercial breaks of 5 minutes duration each.Television advertisements are a need creating process.The benefits represented in the advertisements create an urge in the viewers to buy and use the product.Moreover the toiletries advertised by the celebrities leave a greater impact on the minds of the viewers.In the present study, keeping in consideration the objectives, the subsequent analysis based on ranks were raised to identify the most significant media and motivational force affecting the purchase of toiletries, to know the importance held by the television in advertisement of toiletries.Respondents were also asked to rank the advertisement appeal they prefer the most.The respondents were asked to rank the various medias of advertising.The respondents considered television as the most important media of advertising, thereby ranking the radio as second important media followed by print media and internet.In the rural Punjab television is the most common media of information and entertainment for the general masses.Moreover, the rural folk also have an easy access to television in comparison to others.Radio is the next in line to get popularity among the rural masses.Internet seems to be the least preferred media, due to low computer literacy levels.Majority of the respondents felt that they got influenced by television advertisements for the purchase of a particular toiletry followed by Hoardings, Radio, own experience and friends correspondingly.To make out the reliability that the respondents lay on the television advertisements, the queries were made asking the opinion regarding the misleading and untruthful advertisements and the price of the advertised toiletries.Majority of the respondents felt that television advertisements are not misleading or false.It may be because the television is the main source of information for the rural consumers about the new products and their features.

CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY
The study conducted on the respondents from rural Punjab reveals that a large number of channels are viewed by them thereby indicating the urge to view more channels in the small time span of time of 2-4 hours.It was also found that the respondents are brand conscious and a big percentage of them use branded toiletries only.The television advertisements are considered to be need creating process by the rural folk, which force them to purchase the toiletries without actually needing the same.Television is judged as the most leading media which insist upon the rural masses to procure the products advertised.Rural consumers want the advertisement appeals to be rational i.e. they want the advertisement to convince them to the purchase the particular brand of toiletry.The findings of the study disclose that the levels of awareness and exposure regarding television advertisements of Toiletries is high among the rural respondents and television advertisements do play a dominant and conspicuous role in their purchase behaviour of toiletries.It can be concluded that effective communication is an important tool to reach out to the rural audience.A rural consumer is brand loyal and understands symbols better.The rural audience has matured enough to understand the communication developed for the urban markets, especially with reference to the toiletries.Television is a valuable and successful communication system for rural masses and, as a result, companies should identify themselves with their advertisements.Advertisements touching the emotions of the rural folks could drive a quantum jump in sales.
explained the processes and variables which affect the individual's behaviour prior to and during the purchase.Chandy et al (2001) studied the role of market age in understanding the effectiveness of advertising.The scholars like Zhou et.al.(2002), Millman (2005) studied the effectiveness of television media over other media.Verma and Kapoor (2004) studied the influence of TV advertisements on Children's buying response.Banerji and Bandhu (2005) analysed the impact of various slogans and promises made in Television advertising.Shivakumar and Arun (2002) focused their study on rural buying behaviour of wristwatches and footwear.Patel and Prasad (2005), Sakkithivel (2006),