Primary info source of all aspects
of rural consumer behaviour
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Farmers on Net
e-choupals serve as a social gathering place for exchange of information and also
an e-commerce hub for over 3.5 million farmers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mumbai
ITC's e-choupal and Intellect, the research
and technologies wing of the Lintas Media Group, have joined hands to launch the Bharat
Barometer - the primary information source on all aspects of rural consumer behaviour.
The Bharat Barometer is a research channel
for exploring various rural consumer and market matters.
Untapped sector
Ms Lynn de Souza, Director, Lintas Media
Group, of which Intellect is the Research wing, said, "Today in the competitive rush
for new customers - brands are exploiting new segments, attempting new strategies, pushing
to increase the product usage and bringing out new variants.
"The difficult to reach rural masses
are gaining importance each day.
Brands heading in the direction are
confronted with limited knowledge that places obstacles in their path to success in the
rural market place.
"With this initiative, it will become
very simple to track and obtain crucial inputs from this rural segment and I'm sure this
will become a very important fact-finding tool for marketers across."
Fact-finding tool
According to Mr Shailendra Tyagi,
Vice-President - Marketing, ITC Ltd-IBD, "ITC's e-choupal carries with it a rich
legacy of trust and transparency with rural India.
It is this unique relationship and
e-choupal's credibility with Indian farmers that enables us to gather critical information
which otherwise isn't readily shared through traditional research."
ITC's e-choupal is an Internet-based
information sharing network inspired from the traditional choupal concept where villagers
would meet for knowledge sharing.
Multipurpose
Today the e-choupals serve as both a social
gathering for exchange of information and an e-commerce hub for over 3.5 million farmers.
Each choupal network is looked after by a host farmer called the "Sanchalak" and
coordinates with an average of 600 farmers in four or five surrounding villages in a five
km radius.
Currently there are over 6,000 e-choupal
networks spread across seven States.
