With the urbanization of emerging markets, the lifestyles and consumption habits of new urban immigrants have also changed. But what about the population that remains in the countryside? In fact, new urban immigrants are bringing the consumption habits of the cities back to the countryside, bringing business opportunities to enterprises and investors. According to the United Nations' 2014 World Urbanization Prospects report, 54% of the world's population lived in cities that year, up from 30% in 1950. By 2050, the urban population ratio is expected to increase to 66%. Such changes have reduced the global rural population to 3.2 billion from 3.4 billion in 2014. Benefiting from the substantial improvement in communication methods and infrastructure, even as more and more people relocate to the city, they can still keep in touch with relatives and friends in their hometowns. In this context, urban values ​​are expected to further influence rural lifestyles.

When AllianceBernstein conducts grassroots research, it often finds that new urban immigrants affect the thinking and behavior of relatives and friends in their hometowns, but relevant research is lacking. Demand grows, supply falls short Taking China as an example, AllianceBernstein noticed that if a member of the family travels to the city for development, the rural consumption demand will be similar to the urban demand. In a village two hours away from Changsha, Hunan Province, some members of several families have moved to urban life. It was found that number list these residents who stayed in the countryside like to eat yogurt and drink canned beverages, which are products that are rare in the countryside, but are common and more commonly consumed in the city. In India, immigrants also have a behavioral influence on their homeland. Village women began to wear "salwar kameez" (women's trousers) instead of the traditional saris; young women could go out on bicycles; and some families bought washing machines and electric water pumps. When rural residents visit relatives and friends in the city.

Maggi instant noodles and spaghetti that are not available in their hometowns. These products are now popular in rural areas, but supply is still limited due to the lack of a retail distribution network. Affected by this trend, coupled with the improvement of infrastructure and access to the Internet, rural people have gradually transformed from non-branded consumption to branded consumption. In other words, before rural consumers moved to cities, the consumption habits of “urbanization” had already emerged. Under this circumstance, the traditional retail industry may not be able to cope with these changes in demand, because the cost of expanding distribution channels to every corner of the countryside is too high. AllianceBernstein believes that retail companies must be able to establish non-physical distribution channels in order to win the hearts of rural consumers. China takes the lead This trend is of great benefit to e-commerce businesses. The current Internet access rate in India is only 28%, which may seem low, but this is equivalent to 375 million.