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 Online
matchmaking might be a moneymaking business, but is faced with the
greatest problem—managing customer expectations. MOHAN BABU
says that this becomes harder because the ‘product’ that
portals are dealing with is the hopes and expectations of people
who are advertising
In the previous part of this column, we looked
at the growth leading towards individuals considering online matrimony
as a viable alternative in their search for the ‘perfect partner’.
In this column we will follow that thread to examine the business
model and competitive landscape.
The business model
The business model of online matrimonial sites
is very straightforward: Create a large database where individuals
post their details, including ideas on preferred partners. Individuals
may also be able to search online through the database to find and
screen suitable matches and then contact them. While searching is
generally open to public and is free, portals generally require a
subscription or membership if one wishes to contact a person listed
in the database. The subscription fee ranges from $10 for a “basic”
membership to hundreds of dollars depending on the services being
provided. Most Indian portals surveyed charged anywhere between Rs
500 and Rs 1,000. The subscription fee model is a huge revenue-spinner
for portals if one were to consider the fact that most portals claim
to have hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Competitive landscape
If the online matrimonial business model were
as straightforward as I have made it sound, thousands of entrepreneurs
would be jumping in to rake in the big bucks, right? Well, the challenge
most portals face is from the human angle—managing customer
expectations. Though most of these websites have automated registration
and payment processes, they try to build manual checks and balances.
Says Muruga of Bharat Matrimony: “Ours is a technology driven
company but we manually authorise the profiles to make sure the
profiles are genuine.” Sure, you want to make sure that the
Sridevi or Amir’s profile you are looking at does not have
the actor’s picture next to it; that is, Amir is an architect
based in Boston, not Amir Khan from Bollywood.
Managing customer expectations becomes harder
because the “product” or “commodity” that portals
are dealing with is the hopes and expectations of individuals. Also,
individuals have a wider choice when it comes to online and offline
advertising, and posting one’s details on the Internet is just
one of the several medium available. The big players in this market—including
BharatMatimony.com and Shaadi.com—have cornered a niche for
themselves in the cyber world, ranking high in search engines. BharatMatrimony.Com
also has an alliance with MSN.Com so all Indian Hotmail users see
ads and text links of this website whenever they login to their
Hotmail account. They also have huge advertising budgets, given
that ads for matrimonial portals regularly appear in TV, radio and
print. Alongside, the traditional avenues for matrimonial advertisements—newspaper
classifieds, continue to eat into the overall market share. Interestingly,
most newspapers also post their print adverts free in their online
editions, further competing with pure-play online portals. Large
portals also have sub-portals catering to different ethnic sub segments
of the society; for instance, the BharatMatrimony is actually an
umbrella of 14 matrimonial websites based on the major Indian languages.
Lower barriers to entry have lead to intense
competition in this space, especially because of the number of players
who have jumped the bandwagon.
There are still niches waiting to be explored.
For instance there is a marked vacuum when it comes to sites catering
to remarriages. With the changing demographics Indians, divorce
and remarriage is on the rise. There is a void for portals and cyber-entrepreneurs
to target this niche by providing a comfortable, safe atmosphere
where those looking for a “second chance” can do so. Concedes
Vandana Asija, public relations manager of Shaadi.com: “Shaadi.
com has several members who are divorced or looking
to remarry. We do not explicitly target members who are divorced
but do provide fields in our search engine to make it easier for
members to find divorced singles if they are looking for them.”
Interestingly, the management of GaramChai.com has al-so already
identified this as a ni-che and has built two niche portals:http://www.garamchai.com/BridesForDivorcees.htm
and http://www.garamchai.com/BridegroomsForDivorcees.htm
The emerging tech-savvy generation is definitely
considering online portals as a viable option to scan for suitable
alliances. And whether they are made in heaven or not, marriages
are definitely getting made online!
Mohan Babu is a US-based software consultant
trying to find the ‘sweet spot’ where IT meets business.
E-mail: mohan@garamchai.com
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