Mr. & Mrs. Frugal

Rama Bijapurkar in her brilliant book “We are like that only” takes a good snap shot of consumer India. She dissects consumer segments on numerous attributes and correlates it with buying psychology (let us say “BUYOLOGY”). She remarks wittily by referring to Sunil Khilnani’s book “Idea of India” wherein India is compared to a DHOTI than a PANT. Pant is uniform from the waist till the toe while Dhoti has many folds below the waist. With larger demographics India is difficult to predict as a market and therefore going at a micro level to understand its demand structures is important for the manufacturers who want to run a successful venture in India.

She has commented about the hybrid consumption model that exists in India. The consuming class uses two different things at two different times. So Mr. Frugal (my connotation) will have a small car as well a scooter. At one time he wants to show his status at the other time same he is worried about the fuel economy so he uses both car & scooter as per the occasion. If you think expensive washing powders are not for consuming class then let us look at Mrs. Frugal. She uses expensive powder for the office, school & party clothes and uses a cheaper detergent for bed sheets & home clothes. Therefore if the company thinks of launching a product based on the income data alone then their estimates of demand can go wrong.

I can quote similar examples like; we take our children to McDonalds very well knowing that it is an expensive way to spend an evening, but there are many many many like us so McDonalds still makes a good business. This happens even when we go to multiplexes knowing well it is expensive. What we are doing is not satisfying eating and viewing function, but going beyond and having an experience.

This connects me to TRIZ principle 3: Local Quality, which talks making things from uniform to non uniform.

Anyway if you want to prepare yourself for Indian Innovations (especially retail) the book is must read for you as it will prepare you build innovative mind.