North India vs South India

In the early 20th century, the mass-marketing approach which meant one product for all was used by the marketers. But, this approach was only effective wherein the supply for the products was less than its demand. In today's competitive market, where all the products of different categories are in abundance, the market couldn't remain confined to the mass-marketing approach.

Hence, Market segmentation was introduced as a replacement to the mass-market approach. In a country like India where the consumers are many and varied, their needs are also different, and they have to be approached in different ways for passing marketing messages across that eventually would lead to the driving of sales of products and services.

On account of obviously visible differences in the usage of products from one region to another, geography becomes an important variable for the segmentation of the market. Marketers then segment the market according to climatic zone, country, locale, state, urban communities, towns where they can identify similar consumer behavior.

Taking into consideration the uniqueness of Indian consumer behavior, studies have been undertaken based on Geographic segmentation of the consumers of North and South India. The studies were able to provide useful insights on the buying activities, preferences, tastes, etc. of the consumers across and it was observed that the buying pattern of consumers has shifted from value for money-based consumption to money for value-based consumption.

While the buyers in South India in comparison to the buyers in North India are more developed, more experimental, and on average spend more, the North Indian buyers are quite demanding. North Indian buyers are materialistic, quality, and status-conscious, which makes it a more price-sensitive market.?

Taking an example of Luxury brands increasingly entering the Indian market will lead us to understand the difference between the consumer mindset and buying behavior between north and south Indians.

Stroll into the DLF Emporio in New Delhi, inarguably India's only luxury shopping center, and odds are good that you will observe more traffic on the Tarun Tahiliani floor than say, Salvatore Ferragamo. It's not like the Indian consumer follows the 'be Indian, buy Indian' proverb, it's likely how a north Indian buyer is wired.

The split between the two lands-

• Demographics: India, being a country of the youth population in abundance, a report of SBI predicted that the country might be leading towards a population defined based on the age factor, a younger North and an elder South.
• Income and development: According to a study conducted by Kantar Worldpanel, southern states have largely divergent development paths as compared to the northern states. South India is more urbanized, economically progressive, all the more comprehensively created, and socially solid which subsequently impacts their consumption behavior.
• Investing in large ticket-size products: It is observed that north Indians spend more on large ticket-size products. They have an outside-in approach that is reflected through their spending more on clothing and lifestyle products.
• Tech-savvy: West and south Indians adopt new technology at a much faster pace as compared to north Indians.

Distinct factors- It is observed that North Indian consumers are Quality Conscious, Materialistic and Status-Conscious followed by Masculine and Power influence, having a positive impact on their purchases, where the purchases are usually decided by the head of the family, usually the male member only. On the contrary, a positive effect on the amount spent on purchases by the South Indian consumers is seen due to factors like Quality Conscious and Traditional along with Emotional and Confirmative.

There is a marked perspective shift seen in the consumption behavior of Indians. However, the consumer remains distinct across various regions.

A brand entering the Indian market needs to be well aware of the various Indian Consumers who are driven by unique cultures.