Microsoft Word marketing doc

3.2 CHARACTERISTICS 
OF INDIAN MARKETING 
Indian Market represents a dichotomy in its character. There are two end 
markets.
1) Urban Market 
2) Rural Market.
This classification serves the purpose of understanding the market and 
helps in developing a differential approach to the market. The urban markets 
are evolving with more and more consumers preferring for greater variety of 
products, better shopping environment, pleasant surroundings and easy access 
to the market. Rural markets present a different picture. They are wide spread, 
scattered, in-accessible and may be the markets are seasonal because of the 
occupational pattern. Company’s experience a great deal of difficulty in 
reaching the rural market. Transportation is the major problem. 
Rural markets can be further divided into,
1) Market for Agricultural Products and
2) Market for Consumer Products. 
In the recent times, technology and economic policy of the country are 
influencing the nature of Indian markets. Liberalised economic policy of the 
Government has resulted in the entry of more and more Multinational 
Companies with the higher level of technology and more financial resources 
creating a competitive spurt in the market. A shift is clearly visible in Indian 
Market from product focus to consumer focus. 

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3.3
PRODUCT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 
Developing ideas for new product and introducing them in the market 
from time to time is an essential and challenging job of the marketing 
management of a company. The existing products become old and out-dated 
due to the changes in the technology and the customers needs, tastes and 
preferences. Therefore, a company has to replace them with new products. 
New product may mean many thing, e.g. original products, product 
improvements, product modifications and new brands developed by a company 
through its own Research and Development (R&D) activities. 
Prof. William J.Stanton states that new products can be classified into 
three categories. 
1. 
products that are really innovative and truly unique, for which there is 
real need for which no existing substitutes are considered satisfactory, 
e.g., a hair restorer or a cancer cure; 
2. 
replacements for existing products that are significantly different from 
the existing products, e.g., instant coffee replacing ground coffee and 
clothing of new fashion introduced every year, and 
3. 
initiative roducts that are new to a particular firm but not new to the 
market e.g., different brands of T.V. sets coming into the market now. 
The American marketing consultants Booz Allen and Hamilton have 
identified six categories of new products in terms of their newness to the 
company and to the market place. 
1. 
new to the world product that create an entirely new market. 
2. 
new product lines that allow a company to enter an established market 
for the first time. 
3. 
additions to the existing product lines that supplement a components 
established product lines. 
4. 
improvements in or revisions to existing products that provide improves 
performance or greater perceived value and replace existing products. 
5. 
repositioning that are targeted to new markets or market segments, and 
6. 
cost reductions that provide similar performance at lower cost 
Usually, the companies pursue a mixture of the various categories of new 
products. Each separate category of new products may require a quite different 
marketing programme to ensure a reasonable probability of market success, for 
which an effective product planning is also to be required to this effect. 

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