We are like that only

• BOOK :
  We are like that only
  Understanding the Logic of Consumer India: Rama Bijapurkar
  
  
  Review: This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand and appreciate the India consumer market. Its style is simple and lucid, fact based and yet incredibly creative. Rama displays her thorough command over the nuances of the multi layered multi segmented Indian consumer market and leaves you spell bound with her fantastic insights and practical examples. This book provides delightful insights into the demographic, social and cultural trends that shape the Indian market and makes a very strong case for a “Made for India” strategy for anyone who is serious about doing business in India.
  
  Here are some thoughts discussed in the book that impacted me:
  
  1. Emerging markets today are not what developed markets were in their infancy:
  
  There three ways in which they are different:
  - Emerging market business economics are significantly different because even though the per capita income is less, the significant population ensures large volume markets that are phenomenal opportunities in terms of net value of consumption and demand.
  - Emerging markets need not be not virgin markets. The Retail industry in India is a prime example of this. Indian Kiranawallas (Mom and Pop Retailers) have credit lines with consumers, distribution channels and value added features like home delivery in place – all homegrown but highly sophisticated. Or for that matter – Fashion Street that stocks surplus export garments has a highly developed client base.
  - Consumers in an emerging market exist in real time. They have access to history and information. India will not follow the same path that the American market did. For example – the lack of the Cola market in India to take off as it did in America. This is because Indian consumers have access to far more health information that US consumers did in days long gone by. Indian markets have leap frogged developed markets in ther adoption of technology like cell phones. Intel waits for PC Penetration in India to catch up to decide when to enter the Indian rural market – but now the Indian Rural consumers have access to feature rich internet enabled cell phones and don’t need individual PC’s – not to get on the internet anyways ! Indian markets are bound to follow their own trajectory to development and need an India Focused strategy.
  
  
  
  2. MNC’S will change Emerging markets forever – But its also true that emerging markets will change MNC’S forever !
  
  Being successful in a market like India needs companies to rethink their price performance equations. Indian consumers are value conscious in their DNA and will demand products that are high on value and low on price.
  MNC’s will need to revaluate their business models and shift the focus from “Best Practice” to “Next Practice”
  India is the “Bullock Cart to Business Class” economy. The consumers will demand more sophisticated bullock carts and cheaper business class.
  
  3. Most MNC’s who are considering being part of the India story will ask – “When will India have the per capita income and infrastructure of China, the westernization and per capita consumption of Brazil, Education Levels of Russia and maturity and development of America”?
  
  NEVER.
  This question basically asks when India will be like some other place.
  There are few facts about Consumer India that will stay for a long time to come:
  Consumer India is large. Over 1 billion people.
  What is “Global” … Global is what majority of the world is. And in a few years time – the center of gravity will be titled heavily towards Asia. This is a fact that new age marketers simply cannot ignore.
  India is poor. But getting less poor. This is debatable – because the growing population has neutralized any % reduction in poverty levels.
  It has some rich people – getting richer. The top 10% of Indian consumers have the same per capita income and consumption appetite of 80% of Brazil and 60% of Malaysia. This is the GREAT INDIAN NUMBER TRICK. 10% of 1 billion is 100 million consumers. 100 million India Consumers who are Socio Economic Classification A (SECA) = Three times the total population of Canada = Five time the total population of Australia = A little less than double of France
  Consumer India is Schizophrenic. Indian Consumers will adopt computers easily but will not shun horoscope matching before deciding to marry. They will instead used Software to do the matching. There are oases of development and pockets of extremely underdeveloped markets. India is fragmented in terms of the potential it offers.
  Two different age groups with completely different consumption ideologies. The pre and post liberalization consumers.
  India is though a guaranteed to happen snowball story. Its got 400 million consumers under the age of 21, strong institutions, low country risk and changing shapes of Income Distribution and strong entrepreneurial roots (Organized sector accounts for only 10% of jobs in India)
  
  
  3. “Consumption is like Maternity – a matter of certainty. Income is like Paternity – a question of inference.
  
  India market is multi tierd and consmers follow hybrid models of consumption. A consumer may buy an expensive color TV that is so loud that all the neighbours can hear it – but may not use shampoo to wash his hair. This type of “Category Collide” is rampant in India. So unlike most other markets – looking at consumption and trying to back calculate income – or vice versa is not only troublesome but misleading in the Indian market.
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  4. Instead of asking if the Indian Market is ready – MNC’s should ask “whats my target India”
  
  The answer is complicated ..
  Theres IT India – Bright young fresh graduates – immensely forward looking
  There’s Rural India – within rural India, theres agricultural India and then manufacturing India
  Then theres Governement India
  
  While a bad monsoon intensely affect agricultural India – It has no impact on IT India.
  Then throw in variable of socio economic classification, ethnicity, states, culture and what you have in consolidation is a Drunken Man;s walk.
  He will take many paths – may fall down – get up – but he will eventually get there.
  
  5. The Force of change F = MA
  
  Urban India is accelerating at a large speed – but is small in size. Rural India is the exact reverse. The net force stays the same.
  The bottom 30% of Indian market and the top 10% are nearly equivalent in $ terms.
  
  6. There are three popular theories about the next wave of consumption in India
  
  - The new age Indian women
  - The post liberalization children
  - Growth of rural India
  While they all represent significant potential – they are also mirrored with their own contradictions.
  
  The new age Indian woman is a force to reckon with. And we aren’t just taking about women who work here. We are talking about all women who look upon themselves as the “CEO” of their house across all SEC classes. She makes her life around “negotiated tradition” She wants a blend of the old and the new. A fantastic example here was that of the poor penetration of fast ready to eat processed meals in India. While the time savings may be attractive – Traditionally we are a sit down and eat piping hot freshly made food together culture. The Indian woman will not buy a packet of instant eady made GITS idli. She will purchase ready made Idlli batter from a lady down the street. She will find a solution that retains the positive labor (outsourced but home made ) and eliminates the negative labor( processed)
  The teenage market is contradictory in its own way. If you enter the room of a teenage in the US versus one in India – you’ll see the same things .. clutter, dependence of phone, aspiration for the popular. But beyond that – the similarities fade. Teenagers in India, China, Brazil and Russia are no kidding worlds apart when gauged on a Affiliative – Assertive / Expressive – Repressive scale. What this means is that their DNA impacts their aspirations and consumption patterns.
  Rural consumers have their own surprises. A commonly held belief is that 60% of Indias GDP is agricultural. Hmm.. 54% OF Indias GDP is rural – of which 48% is agricultural and the rest comes from non agricultural activity. And this has been growing steadily. However Rural India is also kaleidoscopic across states in terms of their GDP and consumption.
  
  7. Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) India is a fabulous but complicated opportunity.
  
  It is poor but not backward and has tremendous pent up demand for high productivity products at affordable price points.
• 650 million people who earn less than 1 dollar a day but together account for 30% of national income, 33 % of consumption and 20% of savings. 1 dollar a day goes a long way in India for a family of 5 plus earning members who all live together.
• These are technology embracers – who do complicated value processing. It is essential to understand Spending patterns beyond Annual Income here.
  A classic example here is of the mass adoption of cell phones. With a prepaid card – even a vegetable vendor on the road has a cell phone. He does not make calls on it. Only accepts free incoming calls and this helps him grow his home delivery business 2 fold.
• Another fabulous example here - was the ease with which BOP consumers adopted ATM's. Essentially the blockbuster ingredient here was an intrinsic value that ATM's had in reducing power distance. While a poor man would get a hard time from a power hungry clerk in a banks front office - he could have a fairly simple cordial relationship with an ATM machine that granted him respect and peace of mind.
  
  To conclude – This was a fantastic read. It laid emphasis on the importance of creating the right value –price – performance positioning for the Indian consumers and creating multiple segments even within a segment to target consumers in a tailored and focused manner.

It highlighted the importance of asking the the right questions and defining "A Target India" and then designing "Made for India" products and strategies.