Latest Guide To Market Planning (Urban/Rural)

The fourth edition of the RK Swamy/BBDO Guide to Market Planning is now out. The earlier editions served as a source for market planning across the consumer packaged goods, durables, banking and insurance, telecom, automotive products, social marketing and government sectors.

This new edition, which is the fourth, is a comprehensive analysis of urban markets, rural markets and a combination of urban+rural.

As in the earlier editions, the guide provides three types of indices: Market Potential Value (MPV), Market Intensity Index (MII) and Market Exposure Index (MEI). All three are essential tools for market planning. The current edition of the guide has these indices separately for urban, rural and urban+rural.

MPV provides the relative aggregate market potential. MII provides the relative concentration of purchasing power. MEI is indicative of the relative ease with which the marketer can approach the task of marketing communication. These indices, according to the agency, have emerged as powerful marketing tools in the market planning process.

The new edition presents data for 515 districts in 21 states and three Union territories, covering 98 per cent of India’s population. (The country has 593 districts.) Now marketers can define the geography they want to analyse by way of districts or towns or rural only, and develop the plans that best suit their needs.

The usefulness of the guide has been further enhanced by the interactive CD that not only aids advanced market planning, but enables the marketer to see for herself the geographical area of the chosen market, with the map showing rail lines, roads, district boundaries, etc.

Dr Gowri Arun has been the prime mover of the guide which has used elaborate quantitative process using 24 distinctive sources of data. Weightages were assigned to each of the sourced in a most judicious manner. The team took nearly two years to develop the indices for this edition. It is invaluable because it reduces the cost of marketing, if used wisely.