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The Rediff Business Special/Shobha Warrier

When a mattress manufacturer wanted Bharati Shroff of Fortune Communications, Madras, to design an advertisement, she decided to create one for the north Indian market and another for the south. The ad for north India highlighted fashion, style, colour, texture, comfort, luxury and design; the other one focussed on durability, price, company's reputation, the hardness of the mattress (good for the back).

The decision was prompted by the findings of a national survey that consumers in the two zones behave differently. People of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Pondicherry, the survey disclosed, are more health- and quality-conscious than others.

This view was reinforced recently by Sony Corporation's top officials. Sony India Limited, the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese television and consumer electronics giant, opened a mega showroom in Bangalore. SIL's managing director H Matsumoto said the venture was launched because the company found south India an emerging market. Consumers in south India are more quality-conscious with affordable incomes, he observed.

Mani Iyer, former CEO, Ogilvy and Mather, says the southern customer is value-driven and does not get carried away by hype. "They evaluate all the issues, the pros and cons before taking a decision. If you look at their expenditure patterns and priorities, they are more interested in things that have substance."

Agrees Shroff. She explains her strategy: "The south Indian consumers are a little more traditional and conventional. Naturally the ads also have to be traditional and conventional. We have to be a little more flashy for the north: we play up the colours. I'd sum up that south Indian buyers are quality- and price-conscious." She, however, adds that the difference between the north and south zones exists only in urban areas.

Housewife Meera, a typical consumer in south India, says she takes the decision to buy something "only after a lot of deliberations". Ads of discounts and clearance sales, she says, do not sway her.

Recently, Meera decided to go in for a new refrigerator and colour television. "I conducted a mini survey among my friends about the performance of various brands that they possessed." Then, she collected the pamphlets of all the brands that were available in the market from the shops and then compared the features.

"The most important aspect for me is the price. Why should I pay more? Then I look for after-sales service. The brand name or the looks come only later. The presence of foreign brands like Sony, LG and Panasonic makes service important. What is the use if we can't get proper service for a foreign brand?"

Pre-buy surveys are commonplace in south Indian families. The more expensive the item, the more time they spend on taking a decision. "Perhaps, consumers all over India go through these procedures, but what differentiates the southern buyer is his or her conservative and tough attitude," says Selvamani, a salesman in a big showroom in Madras.

Selvamani finds dealing with "modern-day consumers very strenuous". He says, "One has to be very knowledgeable as people want even minute details about products. We can't bluff our way into selling products."

Mani Iyer explains: "Trust and confidence are very important factors in south India. If you look at Philips, for example, it was always somewhere in the south. That is because of the old trust and confidence they have. If you check their market, the south will probably be their best market even now. Yes, the priorities are changing but even now there is a large section of people who want the products that they buy to last for a long time."

Not everyone agrees. In the early fifties, Vimla Iyengar bought cane furniture, cupboards, cots, etc, for her new family house, thinking they will be forever. "In those days, nobody thought of changing furniture or radio frequently," she says. In fact, her mother had passed on some furniture to her. "Now, nobody wants hand-me-downs. When my daughter got married, she bought every single item new. I get shocked when I see her changing the refrigerator, television, etc, every two years. Seems like nobody expects anything to last for a long time. The younger generation gets bored very quickly."

An advertising professional says the difference between the two peoples boils down to attitude to life. "The people of the south are more inward-oriented and health-conscious. The north is more outward-oriented, given to looking good and having fun."

V Ram Prasad, general manager, marketing, Parry Ceramics, says there is a correlation between the consumption of consumer products and per capita income. He attributes higher sales of quality products in south India to higher level of literacy.

Another reason, according to Ram Prasad, is people's high expectations. "If you take the performance of branded products, they do better in the south. I feel it's due to the booming industrial and service sector. If you take north as a whole, agriculture forms its backbone. Southern consumers are more aware of things around them." He cites the instance of Parryware: forty per cent of its sanitaryware business comes from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Rathina Kumar, research director (Business and Industrial Division), Indian Market Research Bureau, says that within the south, pattern differs from city to city. Madras and Bangalore behave differently. "Bangalore is more 'outward-oriented' than Madras which is steeped in tradition."

Market observers talk of a new face cream's popularity in Madras to drive home the point that consumers here are sometimes as tradition-bound as you get. The new product is said to have saffron as one of its ingredients. "There is an age-old belief that milk with a pinch of saffron in it, if consumed by pregnant women, will give the baby a fair complexion! This aspect has given the new cream an edge over the established market-leader," says a salesperson.

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