Marketing at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Overcoming the Challenges through MICMAC Analysis

Abstract Marketers face innumerable challenges related to awareness, affordability, availability, and accessibility to reach the Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) markets. The objective of this paper is to enumerate the challenges faced by marketers in making their product available to the rural population during COVID-19. The study focuses on 25 challenges, identified from past studies, for marketing in rural areas. Along with the identification of the challenges from a literature review and marketing practices, an attempt is made to contextually relate the challenges to one another, for which three extensive focus group discussions each among six experts were conducted. After this step, Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classment (MICMAC) analysis was conducted to plot the challenges based on driving power and dependence power. An Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) is also developed from the MICMAC analysis. This paper will allow marketers to identify and formulate an action plan based on the preference order generated from ISM to create maximum impact. Further, the research, marketing, and societal implications of the study are discussed.