Unattended Basic Necessities and Consuming Habits in the Rural and Urban Mexican Base of the Pyramid: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study

This exploratory field study aims to help identify necessities and consuming habits of people in low income segments as a necessary condition to envision business opportunities and develop successful business models in the Mexican Base of the Pyramid (BOP). In depth interviews were done with families, owners/people in charge of small businesses, and opinion leaders in ten different BOP communities, randomly selected from each of the five regions in the country. Results give relevant information about unattended basic necessities, consuming habits, as well as differences and similarities between rural and urban BOP communities, from which business opportunities might be discovered. For instance: job creation is quite necessary almost everywhere; formal financial services are practically non existent in rural communities; telecommunication infrastructure is quite limited and expensive; high schools and universities are demanded, as well as an educational scheme that helps improve the entrepreneurial capabilities of the Mexican BOP. Business opportunities like those exploited by credit stores, such as Elektra and Coppel, which offer direct credit to consumers in low income segments for the purchasing of furniture and appliances, could be found in the lack of basic services. On the other hand, commercial firms could take advantage of the widely spread entrepreneurial initiative and disposition of the Mexican BOP, in order to co-create commercial networks in these unattended markets.