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The
business of online matchmaking
Among
the scores of business ideas out there, online matchmaking
has continued to see phenomenal growth. MOHAN BABU
writes about the Internet matrimonial and matchmaking industry
which is grossing billions of dollars a year
A
few months ago, in this column, we looked at the re-emergence
of Internet business and business models based purely on the
Web. Though much of the hype and discussion on the second
Internet boom revolves around Google and its impending IPO,
numerous small and micro businesses have found a globalised
platform and audience, thanks to the power of search. Similar
is the case with businesses surviving under the umbrella of
eBay. Marketers are also predicting the resurgence of online
advertising, especially because of optimistic predictions
from the likes of Google and Yahoo that have shown millions
of dollars in revenue from such advertising.
I
have been a close follower of online trends, right from the
heady days of dotcom boom when I helped co-found GaramChai.com—a
niche portal for NRI and Indians in the US—that continues
to operate to this day. Since the late nineties, several business
models have emerged and floundered on the Internet. Many will
recall the “eyeball exposure” days when the worth of a portal
was valued by the number of eyeballs or hits. Since the tech
crash, some sanity has returned to the online world where
entrepreneurs continue to make money with their innovative
business and operating models.
Among
the scores of business ideas out there, online matchmaking
has continued to see phenomenal growth. The global Indian
online matchmaking and matrimonial business has carved a niche
for itself in the cyberspace, and alongside, has lead to a
small revolution in the way the tech savvy youth of our generation
are contemplating finding a match. The Internet-matrimonial
and matchmaking industry is grossing billions of dollars a
year and the South-Asian wedding market is experiencing a
boom. The Economist magazine estimates the market to be around
$11 billion with a growth rate of about 25 percent per year.
Indian matrimonial sites and portals have created a successful
business by blending personal touch with technology, grossing
millions for the entrepreneurs behind the scenes.
The
topic is interesting because of both the technical and business
angle and as I started gathering data for this column, I decided
to expand it into a two part series. In this part of the column,
we will look at the innovative use of technology and in the
next part we will examine the business model.
Innovative
use of technology
Cyber
marriages, e-dating, e-mail-love (a la “you’ve-got-mail”)
have been eulogised in endless articles in the media, sitcoms
and movies; so, what’s new? Not much, except, as the novelty
of the Web wears off, so does the infatuation over falling
head over heals over an unknown face one met on the Internet.
Matchmaking itself is an intricate and complex affair involving
innumerable variables including the elusive ‘chemistry,’ ‘love’,
etc, which are hard to describe, more so in the Indian context
where the families get really involved.
Over
the decades, several technologies and techniques, including
classified advertisements in newspapers and magazines have
been used to expand the scope of one’s search for the ideal
partner.
In
India, where the concept of ‘arranged’ marriage is still pervasive,
individuals also look forward to different channels so that
they have a ‘choice.’ Technology is cutting through traditional
avenues of matchmaking for Indians, following the western
trend where dating sites are among the most highly ranked
Internet portals. The demand is definitely there: Educated
urbane youngsters contemplating matrimony are increasingly
using the power of the Web if not to find “the one” but at
least to get a few referrals that they can vet. Use of Internet
and the Web is therefore the next evolutionary step in the
match-searching process.
The
pervasiveness of the Web is fueling an extremely strong business
model, as was evident from my recent discussion with Murugavel
(Muruga) Janakiraman, founder/ chief executive officer of
BharatMatrimony.com, which is actually a collection of regionally
focused matrimonial portals with a similar operational engine.
Muruga got all animated while describing the success of his
portal, claiming that they had successfully matched over 20,000
marriages, including his own: If eating one’s cooking were
a measure of success, this is truly a selling point! A team
at Sulekha, a popular Indian portal, spent months seeking
to build an interactive portal for matrimonial and launched
‘Sangam’ earlier this year (www.sulekha.com/sangam/).
Developing
a matrimonial portal is not rocket-science per se since the
technologies to integrate search, posting, validating, etc,
exist; however, the power of such portal is in the human angle
of controlling coordinating and managing the operations. Most
online portals employ individuals who vet each posting and
photograph for content, accuracy, etc, and to ensure that
the bad apples stay away.
In
the next part of this column, we will take a closer look at
the business models adopted along with the challenges faced
by matrimonial portals.
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