Rural sales same as urban sales in terms of volume

Noting a higher propensity to spend during the pandemic years in the hinterlands, a study has said that the rural market is of almost the same size of urban market in terms of sale volumes.

This is despite the fact that personal care, personal hygiene and home hygiene products are yet to penetrate deeper in the rural market, according to a latest report by market researcher Kantar.

The Economic Times, quoting the report, said hand sanitisers are reaching about 4.44 crore households compared to 4.26 crore urban homes. Urban India, however, is far ahead in terms of penetration at 40.1% whereas rural India at 22.3%.

Consumption trend also differs in rural areas, said the report. While hand sanitisers are a bigger category in the rural market than in urban markets where hand wash preferred.

According to the report, the penetration of hand wash in rural areas is at 18.7 and the same in urban markets is at 55.4%.

Grooming and personal care products too have been gaining stronger traction in rural areas during the past two years.

Higher population size offer scope in rural areas

Intake of personal and home hygiene products this year too has seen a rise in rural India, while its sales declined in urban areas, the report said.

Deepender Rana, executive managing director, South Asia, insights division at Kantar, is quoted as saying in the report that Just a few years ago, hygiene brands were running educational campaigns in rural areas. Today, there is a large and sophisticated core rural market base for these products,” said

According to the report, higher population size and lower penetration offer scope for FMCG categories in the rural market.

All types of brands could soon find that their primary audience is rural, not urban, Soumya Mohanty, MD, client and quantitative, insights division at Kantar, is quoted saying the report.