Chapter 12

DESIGN FOR DELIVERY THE LAST 500 FEET

When your customers are scattered all over the map, and there’s nothing like FedEx or a working postal system available to deliver your product, the cost of getting your goods into customers’ hands can be prohibitive — unless your business model incorporates a way to fill the gap.

Developing practical and profitable new ways to cross the last 500 feet to the remote rural places where most poor families in the Global South now live and work is an essential step toward creating vibrant new markets that serve poor customers.

Even in emerging economies that feature both a strong industrial sector and a substantial middle class — Brazil and India come quickly to mind — huge numbers of people (800 million ...

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