09-16-2005, 04:20 PM
Todays TOI has a front page article..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Country bumpkins turn biggest shoppers
by Swati Bharadwaj
Dont be surprised if you spot a pantaloons boarding towering over the highway near himmatnagar or a pot holed road in Unjha sporting a sales india signage. Or even tractors parked cheek by jowl with cars outside a mall on SG road.
The tobacco farmer from kheda, the spice trader from unjha or the merchat from gandhidham is lapping up everything from plasma TVs and DVD players to mobile phones, apparel, diamond jewellery and even home furnishings.
In the bargain he's bringing anywhere between 20 to 50% in sales for retailers, who have already discovered what a recent study has just found - that rural India accounts for a sizable chunkk of Indian crorepatis.
Big Bazaar (superstore in abad) woke up to rural power when it found tractor loads of farmers chugging to their stores on SG Road and Raipur, ringing up 20% to 25% of total sales. Explains Pataloons Retail India reg mgr Anand Adukia : "Their average purchase sizes range from Rs 2000 and Rs 10000 higher that urban consumers who tend to buy smaller lots".
Pataloons figured it out after it found 17-20 % of its loyalty programme card holders hailed from semi-urban and rural pockets. As did consumer durables retailer Sales India, when many of its Rs 1.5 lakh upwards plama TV buyers turned out to be villagers..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Country bumpkins turn biggest shoppers
by Swati Bharadwaj
Dont be surprised if you spot a pantaloons boarding towering over the highway near himmatnagar or a pot holed road in Unjha sporting a sales india signage. Or even tractors parked cheek by jowl with cars outside a mall on SG road.
The tobacco farmer from kheda, the spice trader from unjha or the merchat from gandhidham is lapping up everything from plasma TVs and DVD players to mobile phones, apparel, diamond jewellery and even home furnishings.
In the bargain he's bringing anywhere between 20 to 50% in sales for retailers, who have already discovered what a recent study has just found - that rural India accounts for a sizable chunkk of Indian crorepatis.
Big Bazaar (superstore in abad) woke up to rural power when it found tractor loads of farmers chugging to their stores on SG Road and Raipur, ringing up 20% to 25% of total sales. Explains Pataloons Retail India reg mgr Anand Adukia : "Their average purchase sizes range from Rs 2000 and Rs 10000 higher that urban consumers who tend to buy smaller lots".
Pataloons figured it out after it found 17-20 % of its loyalty programme card holders hailed from semi-urban and rural pockets. As did consumer durables retailer Sales India, when many of its Rs 1.5 lakh upwards plama TV buyers turned out to be villagers..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->