Influence of demographic variables on purchase of FMCGS in rural markets of Odisha: An empirical study

The Country India with 6, 38,365 villages and more than 70% of the rural populationhas become a huge consumer goods market. FMCG has emerged as a major product category in rural consumption. Companies marketing FMCG to rural consumers cannot merely extend their general marketing strategies to rural markets. Instead, they need to devise rural specific strategies. In this process, they need to understand critical issues relating to rural consumer behavior and more specifically relating to different demographic variables. This research article focuses on understanding factors that affect the purchase stage in consumer decision making process for FMCG and influence of demographic variables in Keonjhar District of Odisha State. In this study, a sample 359 respondents were consulted using a self-administered questionnaire. The study emphasized that majority of the rural consumers gave least importance to the brands of the FMCGs (60.5%), they meet their FMCG needs from village shop (47.9%), with weekly purchase frequency (41.5%), in small quantities (51.6%) and cash as mode of payment (91.6%).The study also intends to identify the level of influence of various demographic factors using Chi Square test on the purchase of FMCG products, viz., soaps, shampoo, hair oil and facial cream.