Online Matrimonial Business Getting Robust With Each Passing Year

Almost around the same time as the Internet boom began in India, the online matrimonial portals also came into existence. Contrary to expectations and surpassing the apprehensions, online matrimonial portals clicked. Here’s how.

When the dot com bubble burst during the opening of the new millennium, online matrimonial sites didn’t suffer much. They had found their forte and had realised their potential in a country that is so vast, so different, yet so congruent across traditions. Online matrimonial portals were just the most needed oxygen for young boys, girls and their families. The space was more democratic when compared to the tedious route of matchmaking through uncles, aunties and neighbours. Matrimonial sites were conveniently anonymous, and could turn familiar when things moved from one stage to another.

Soon, the data analytics companies entered the fray. Online matrimonial sites became data-mining sites and spaces which gave deeper meaning to the ‘fields’ to collect data. For, when the match was made, or the recommendation would be sent, the final result was the human meeting where a thousand things could go wrong. And, if they went right, the success would belong to the website that brought a good pair of individuals together. Ain’t no mean challenge this!

A country that believes in marriages are premeditated coming together of couples, their stars, their horoscopes and their families, has to rely on highly precise data to make this happen on the Internet. Online portals such as shaadi.com, bharatmatrimony.com, secondshaadi.com, jeevansaathi.com, shubhlaabhmatrimony.com among a few thousands of such dedicated spaces, started their journey much earlier and learnt along the way. They were dynamic and open for learning along the route.

As a result of this, today matrimony has turned into a huge business opportunity for budding e-entrepreneurs. By 2017, it is said that the country’s matrimonial business will acquire a size of the mega sector with a pitted target of Rs 1,000 crore in India. The sector, right now, has a Rs 520-crore market, which will soon see a huge expansion in the coming days. For, it is clocking a compounded growth rate of 65% annually, according to ASSOCHAM survey conducted in 2013.

Apart from single men and women registering themselves online, the challenge of matchmaking is huge both in terms of data and logistics. With about 8,000 new members registering themselves everyday, the number gets more tedious and difficult for mining and matching, if the technology used remains dated.

As a result, both economics and technology of this matchmaking business constantly undergo changes, and mostly for better with more number of users entering the Internet space.

One of the main reasons attributed to the growth of online matrimony business is the time efficiency and convenience that’s a boon for those in search of partners for self or others. Matrimonial sites are in the league of job portals and social networking sites in terms of registrations. Because their utility is highly limited in the lifetime of an individual.

Proof the popularity-meter of matrimonial sites lies in the fact that nearly 50-55 million online subscribers registered profiles in 2012-13. When compared to the preceding year, the matrimonial searches and registrations had grown by a whopping 52%, as against 55% of job seekers who had used Internet forums for their needs.

The reason behind the success and the need of matrimonial websites is more predictable than any other social concept that prevails across countries. Arranged marriage has always been a norm in India, with love marriages upsetting the social equilibrium. Culture and mutual understanding between the couple hold keys to a lot of situations which can blow up in the face. Moreover, marriage in India is never between two persons. It is always a give-and-take relationship between two families of similar background and economic status.

With these realities intact, marriage during times of globalisation assumes a different significance altogether. As young India flies overseas for work, the exposure is high. But the choice of a life partner remains conventional. This is exactly the gap online matrimonial sites fill. When data is matched owing to different preferences, the result is near perfect. So it is little surprise that marriages are made in heaven. Only matchmaking happens on earth.