Calibrating SEC Classifications In Terms Of Relative Purchasing Power

The R1 social class, the top end of rural is between B2 and C of urban, closer to B2. therefore, we would say that there is one top band of purchasing power in India, Urban A1A2, comprising about a little over 6 million households; Then there is the next band, which we believe would qualify for the 'middle class India" label, comprising B1R1B2C, between them, harbouring 30 million households; The ABCR1 target group which would form the broadest possible target group for most consumer goods is about 35.4 million households, and 132 million individuals over the age of 12. This target group grew 26.9% between the years 2000 and 2005. Then there is the lower middle, comprising DE1R2 which is about 37 million households, where we believe that most Bottom of the Pyramid activities should begin. The lowest income, are the E2R3R4 of 134 million households. These households, form the bottom 60% of the population by income, but account for an income share of 30%. Perhaps there is fortune, after all, at the bottom of the pyramid!

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2. The measure of consumption evolution or sophistication of a SEC at an individual category level : For each category that one would like to examine, the overall penetration of the category is plotted against the share of 'premium' or 'evolved' or 'sophisticated' variants of that category. For example: penetration of all TVs vs. colour TVs; penetration of colour TVs vs. flat screen TVs. Penetration of any motorized transport vs. 4 wheeler ; penetration of all dental care products vs. penetration of tooth paste and so on. The positions of each SEC on this penetration - evolution graph provides a comparison of the relative sophistication of the SEC with respect to the category.
Relative Levels of Sophistication of Consumption across SEC The charts 1 to 5 plot, for all the SEC classes, the relative sophistication of each SEC as described earlier i.e. a plot of penetration of the total category vs. the penetration of the premium or sophisticated variants in the category.	Click to Zoom
This has been done for the television category in charts 1 and 2 (all TVs vs. colour TVs penetration in Chart 1, all TVs vs. flat TVs penetration in Chart 2), personal transport in chart 3 (all motorized transport vs. cars penetration), for the oral care category in chart 4 (all dental cleaners vs. toothpaste penetration ), and the skin care category in chart 5 (all skin creams vs. specialized skin creams penetration) .	Click to Zoom