Zee Bangla 101 Markets 2012: Tier II and III consumers are confident to the point of being cocky!

Mitrajit Bhattacharya of the Chitralekha Group spoke about why India is driven by Tier II and Tier III towns as much as it is by the metros.

At the last session of the day at 101 Markets 2012, Mitrajit Bhattacharya, president and publisher, Chitralekha Group presented a case study on whether market strategies for metros, as opposed to non-metros, ought to differ, the need to forge an emotional connect with the consumers, and more.

He went straight for the kill as he began with the question, "Do marketers need to strategise differently for non-metros?" before going on to answer it with, "No."

"Marketing strategy is simple; just go where your consumers are. But yes, tactically, you do need to strategise differently for different markets," Bhattacharya quickly added.

He then went on to point out how India is a complex market given its diverse cultures, multi-lingual nature and plethora of co-existing castes, creeds, religions and dialects. "India is like the European Union," he said, "Peel the onion and you will find that after Mumbai and Delhi - hubs for luxury brands are states like Gujarat and Punjab in the equation."

Thus, Bhattacharya reached the conclusion that India is indeed driven by Tier II and Tier III towns as much as it is by the metros. He reminded the audience that a few years back, this very phenomenon was termed 'The Dhoni Effect'.

He then went on to explain that while MHI (monthly or median household income) defines the purchase of better luxury items, SEC (socio-economic class) defines lifestyle. "A diamond trader from Surat or a farmer from Ludhiana wears branded clothes, drives high-end cars like the Audi, and they are the ones that comprise real emerging India," he stated.

These consumers are in all probability educated in their respective mother tongues. Further, according to Bhattacharya, there are some key characteristics that define the nature of these consumers. These traits include a high level of confidence -- "often to the point of being cocky," in Bhattacharya's words - and harbour very high aspiration levels.

"They have a 'Hum toh aise hi hai' attitude," he admitted, nonetheless adding that it is best if marketers talk to them in a language they understand, through a medium they trust.

Citing the example of his own brand, Gujarati magazine Chitralekha, Bhattacharya explained the importance of building an emotional connect with these consumers. "We are loyal to our loyalists," he stated. In a move to address the problem of language in metros (as many youngsters these days don't know Gujarati), the company aggressively circulates its English lifestyle add-on magazine called 'BTW' ('By The Way') in cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Pune.

It is not about English versus regional languages; rather, it is about good media products versus bad media products," he concluded.

This afaqs! event was presented by Zee Bangla.