COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF HUL IN THE

INDIAN RURAL MARKETS

Presented to:
Dr. Vishal Shukla

Presented By:
Abhinav Aanand(BM-014116)
Abhishek

Awadhiya(BM-014117)
Mani Gupta( BM014121)
Navneet Shukla (BM014140)
Prasoon Singh (BM014168)

INTRODUCTION

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's

largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company
with a heritage of over 80 years in India and
touches the lives of two out of three Indians.

With over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct

categories such as soaps, detergents,
shampoos, skin care, toothpastes, deodorants,
cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice
cream, and water purifiers.

The Company has over 16,000 employees

and has an annual turnover of INR 30,170
crores (financial year 2014 15).

HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the

worlds leading suppliers of fast moving
consumer goods with strong local roots in
more than 100 countries across the globe
with annual sales of 48.4 billion
(Rs.36,411.5 cr.) in 2014.

Unilever has 51.51% shareholding in HUL.

RURAL INDIAN MARKET

Over the past few years, the rural markets

have emerged as one of the most favorite
markets for Indian companies.
In the recent past, many organizations
have moved into rural areas and this has
proved fruitful and beneficial for them.
The Indian rural markets provide abundant
opportunities for organizations to enter
and operate profitably.

According to a whitepaper
preparedbyCIITechnopak,theruralmarketgrewata
nimpressive25% inthe year 2008
and by the year 2010-11 has grown
to approximately 720-790 million
customers with a size of US$425 bn.

In today's competitive scenario, the

rural markets are as vital as the
urban markets for marketers.

IMPORTANCE OF RURAL MARKET

Competition in Urban Markets

Changing Consumption Pattern in Rural
Areas
Improved Lifestyle
Huge Population Base
Rapidly Growing Market

HULS RURAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

Indirect Coverage Approach
HUL started its first effort towards going rural 1960s
onwards by indirect coverage of accessible rural
market with high business potential through its
urban network of stockiest and distributors.
Under this approach company vans were replaced
by vans belonging to Redistribution Stockiest, which
serviced a select group of neighboring markets.
Operation Harvest
The reach of conventional media and, hence
awareness of different products in rural markets was
weak.
It was also not always feasible for the Redistribution
Stockiest to cover all these markets due to high
costs involved.
Yet, these markets were important since growth

KAN KHAJURA TESAN

180030000123
'Missed call lagao, muft manoranjan pao
KKT is a 'mobile radio', that provides free
entertainment to people who live in the
'media dark' regions of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh
(UP) and Jharkhand, India's Hindi- and
Bhojpuri-speaking belt.
KKT claims to have over 12 million users.
In just four weeks, the brand got a total of
3.2 lakh missed calls from 28,000 unique
numbers.

Cinema Van Operations

These are typically funded by the

Redistribution Stockist. Cinema Van
Operations had films and audio cassettes
with song and dance sequences from
popular films along with also comprising of
advertisements of HUL products.
Project Shakti
Project Shakti was initiated to reach
inaccessible rural markets with low potential
with a target to reach villages with population
below 2000.

Started in 50 villages of Nalgonda district

of Andhra Pradesh, HUL has been
implementing Project Shakti since 2001.
Under thisproject HUL has partnered with
Self Help Groups (SHGs) of rural women.
A member from a SHG is selected as a
Shakti entrepreneur, referred to as 'Shakti
Amma', to become direct-to-home
distributors of HULproducts inrural
markets.
HUL hasinvested resources to provide
onthe job training and support to such
Shakti Ammas.

The Shakti Ammas receives goods from the

HULs rural distributor which is then sold
directly to consumers and retailers in the
village.
Each Shakti Amma usually provide services to
6/10 villages.
Shakti Ammas are provided HUL products on a
cash and carry basis and also avail micro credit
from SHG or local Banks wherever required.
Currently, there are over 45,000 Shakti
entrepreneurs covering over 1,00,000 villages
across 15 states and reaching to over 3 million
homes.

HULS Khushiyon Ki Doli

The latest brand building initiative by the
HUL in the rural India is Khushiyon Ki Doli.
The main motto behind the campaign is to
create awareness with the use of technology
and engaging the common mass.
Four set of dolisorpalkis are moved all
around the village. Equipments like LCD TV, a
DVD Player and a small generator is there in
each of these dolis orpalkis.
The village housewives are the main target
of audience. The wide ranges of HULs
productscommercialsareshown on the
LCDs.

PROBLEMS IN RURAL MARKETING

The rural market offers a vast untapped

potential.
It is not that easy to operate in rural
market because of several problems
and also it is a time consuming affair.
It requires considerable investments in
terms of evolving appropriate
strategies with a view to tackle the
problems.

Some major problems are:

Underdeveloped people and

underdeveloped markets
Inadequate Media coverage for rural
communication
Multi language and Dialects
Traditional Values
Lack of proper physical
communication facilities

CONCLUSION

HUL is one of the leading FMCG company in Indian

market. Although HUL has its existence in the major part
of the country but still HUL is struggling in rural India.
There are various reasons for the struggle one of the
basic reason is high competition in the market. HUL has
various strategies for penetrating in Rural market.
HUL has various strategies like Shakti Amma, involving
more in rural areas, organizing various campaigns as
well and conducting more and more awareness
programs.
This helped HUL in increasing the revenue and the
market share.
With the help of these strategies HUL is the only FMCG
company which has the maximum Rural market share.