Rural Retailer and Competitive Strategies

The Indian rural market has a vast size and lately a very immense demand. Thus it offers great opportunities to marketers. The objective of the study was to study the competitive strategies adopted by rural retailers, strategies which are more useful for customer retention and the role played by the retailer in buying behaviour of the customer.A survey was conducted of 200 retailers in 19 villages having population of more than 5000 around Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts of Gujarat. The findings show that product variety, incentives to customers, services, the low prices, the size of the store and proper layout affect the buying behavior of the customer. Through this survey, the researchers suggest that retailers should carry variety of goods with respect to pricing and bundling of certain goods. Giving them low prices than usual would be advantageous. Having knowledge of competitors would help them know their own weaknesses. Giving cash discounts on bulk purchase would attract customers who make cash payment. Retailers should give more importance to quality goods as customers nowadays are well aware of the quality goods. Retailers should encourage the customers, if they have any complaint or suggestions regarding some products