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There is a strong case as to why marketing practitioners and academics should be interested in bottom of the pyramid (BoP) consumers, and renewed attempts should be made to better understand them (Beninger and Robson 2015). While this market is lucrative (the BoP’s combined consumer spending power is estimated at more than $5 trillion (Subrahmanyan and Gomez-Arias 2008)), the sheer size, heterogeneity and ethnographic differences intrinsic to this market make standardized marketing approaches impractical. This segment is also very different from other market segments, not only in terms of their disposable income but also in terms of consumer purchasing decisions and the influencers of their purchase behaviour.

At the heart of this contemporary marketing, quandary is the question of value. What value do BoP markets offer big businesses, and in return, how can these firms create …