With a monthly income varing from $63 and $700, many of them use "branded shampoos and detergents regularly, and they sometimes indulge in a bar of chocolate or bottle of perfume. A good number own televisions, refrigerators, and DVD players."
Known as the "next billion," these consumers - who spend over $1 trillion a year - can't "afford to make mistakes" and will "carefully compare [products] functional, technical, and emotional benefits."
BCG has five tips for companies on how to reach this group:
Design and develop products with functions and prices that compensate for small living spaces, unreliable utilities, limited budgets and other constraints
- Leverage "ubiquitous distributions" by partnering with existing networks, such as the postal service, to ensure broad coverage, low cost, and reasonable control
- Design educational marketing programs that explain the importance of a product’s benefits and that foster new demand […]
- Unleash the organization: establish clear accountability for serving the next b8illion, encourage growth over short-term profitability, foster innovation, and embed low-cost processes
- Collaborate with companies from other industries (even with competitors, on occasion) to enhance consumer programs (such as easy financing) and improve scale economics (for example, by sharing distribution costs)
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