How people in Tier 2 towns and villages really buy, use and choose
Bharat Survey is a consumer research agency in India for brands, retailers and research agencies that need to understand buyers beyond the metro malls. We run usage and attitude studies, shopper research and new product research through face-to-face interviews at homes and stores, in Hindi and regional languages. Field teams work offline, each interview is verified by location and time, and you receive clean data with a report that separates what consumers do from what they say.
- Doorstep and in-store interviews, not only online panels
- Town-class quotas from metros to villages
- GPS, time and back-check on every field record
- Behaviour and attitude reported separately
- Comes regularly
- Comes sometimes
- Rarely / never
- Don't know
Online panels in India skew young, urban, English-comfortable and male. Many categories are bought by a very different person: a homemaker in a district town choosing a sachet or a family pack, or a farmer choosing a pump through a dealer he trusts. Consumer behaviour research that ignores them describes a market that does not exist.
What doorstep and store interviews add
Pantry checks show what is actually in the house, not what people remember. Store exit interviews catch the purchase within minutes. Observation shows which shelf a shopper went to first. These are hard to fake and hard to replicate online.
Consumer and stakeholder research
Buying decisions in India often involve more than one person. Retailers, mechanics, doctors, chemists and family elders influence choices. We interview these stakeholders alongside consumers so the report shows the whole chain of influence.
Study types
- Usage and attitude (U&A)
- Shopper and path-to-purchase
- New product development
- Category and segmentation
- Stakeholder and influencer
- Durables purchase journeys
A U&A tells you who uses a category, how, when, why, and what they think of the brands in it.
Who and how often
Where and what they buy
Why they choose
Category definition
Sample and quotas
Fieldwork
Analysis
Our view
Shopper insights agency exit interviews
- Planned vs actual basket
- Influence of offers and staff
Accompanied shopping and observation
- Consent before observation
- Aisle and shelf notes
Retailer and counter staff views
- Recommendation drivers
- Margin and credit factors
- Comes regularly
- Comes sometimes
- Rarely / never
- Don't know
Product research survey company for gap finding
Concept screening
Product and pack tests
Consumer durables research India
| Consideration | Field interviews | Online panel |
|---|---|---|
| Small-town and rural consumers | Strong reach | Weak reach |
| Low-literacy respondents | Handled with show-cards | Mostly excluded |
| Pantry checks and observation | Possible | Not possible |
| Speed | Weeks | Days |
| Cost per interview | Higher | Lower |
| Proof of respondent location | GPS on each record | Self-reported |
Bharat Survey does not run an owned online panel. We recommend one alongside field work when urban speed matters.
Not the right fit if
- Metro-only online studies needed in 48 hours
- Syndicated retail sales or market share audits
- Studies needing an owned consumer panel
- Neuroscience or biometric measures in-house
A good fit if
- Consumers in Tier 2, Tier 3 towns and villages
- Pantry checks and in-store research
- Hindi and regional-language fieldwork
- Stakeholders like retailers and mechanics
Straight answers to the questions people ask most about this topic.
What does a usage and attitude study cost?
Cost depends on sample size, number of states and town classes, interview length, pantry checks and languages. Doorstep interviews in scattered rural areas cost more than urban ones. We quote after agreeing the category definition and quotas, and show how each choice changes the budget.
How long does consumer research fieldwork take?
A focused single-state study can finish fieldwork in a few weeks after questionnaire sign-off. Multi-state studies with rural quotas take longer. The pilot and translations add time at the start but prevent re-work later, so we build them into every plan.
Can you reach rural consumers?
Yes. Field teams interview in villages using the offline app, which works without network and verifies each interview's location. Quotas can be set by village size or distance from towns so rural findings are not drawn only from villages next to highways.
Do you provide qualitative research too?
We can combine quantitative surveys with in-home visits and depth interviews recorded as structured notes. For large qualitative programmes with focus groups, see our qualitative research service.
Share the category, target consumer and markets. We will send a study design and quote.