Chennai: Matrimony.com, India’s first pure play Consumer Internet Company to get listed, with a market capitalization of around Rs 2000 Cr. As per the Brand Trust Report 2014, its flagship brand BharatMatrimony is claimed to be the largest Matrimony Brand. More than 4 Thousand associates serve their 3 Million active members in their database. The company provides both matchmaking and marriage-related services through websites, mobile sites, and mobile apps and is also complemented by 140+ company-owned retail outlets. Its flagship matchmaking services are BharatMatrimony, EliteMatrimony, and CommunityMatrimony.
With a strong leadership in matchmaking, the company has been expanding into the highly unorganized $55 billion marriage services Industry. The offerings in the marriage services business are MatrimonyPhotography, MatrimonyBazaar, and MatrimonyMandaps.
Rajasekar KS, GM, Marketing, Matrimony.com, in an exclusive interaction with TVNews4U.Com, shares the past, Present and future of the company.
- In the age of Tinder and other dating apps, do Indian youngsters believe in the system of arranged marriage?
We believe that India is a strong matrimony market. Most marriages here happen within the community and although individuals take the decision to choose a life partner, marriage is still a collaborative decision in which the family is also involved. Besides, many women are not too comfortable with dating apps and further, the dating apps are in fact struggling to make profits. Whether it’s women or men when it’s time to find a life partner they look at a matrimony service like Bharat Matrimony rather than a dating app.
- Indian being a country with a diverse background, being from one part of the country, how do you play the role of a match-making company at a national level?
Location does not matter in a digitally connected world and we have our app, wap, PWA and website that can be accessed anywhere across the globe. BharatMatrimony has 15 regional brands including MarathiMatrimony, BengaliMatrimony, HindiMatrimony, TeluguMatrimony, TamilMatrimony among others that cater to people across India. Besides we have more than 300 exclusive sites for the major communities in India. Not to forget that we have retail offices in 140 locations pan India.
- If I ask you, what are the top three challenges you face in taking your campaigns to the prospective customers?
Holding consumer’s attention, cutting through the noise with the abundance of marketing channels and finding and leveraging niche channels that our women TG consume.
- What is your view on the decision makers when it comes to marriage-related campaigns? Is it the son or daughter or the parents? Whom you target while planning a campaign?
60% of our 3 million profiles are registered by the individuals themselves, girls and guys. Individuals like to control the decision to choose a life partner but most involve parents too at a later stage. Our campaigns target the individuals but since we use mass media very well the parent angle is addressed.
- When your organization was started, being a technology company, you could show your USP while most of the others were unorganized. However, now, even a small matrimony company is digitally enabled. How your organizations’ campaigns are evolving from times. (Please explain with case studies)
We have an early mover advantage among customers seeking online matchmaking services and this has enabled us to build a large database of profiles over several years which is unmatched. We have adopted a micro-market strategy whereby we offer a range of targeted and customized products and services that are tailored to meet the specific requirements of customers. BharatMatrimony and our other matchmaking and marriage services enjoy high recall amongst consumers. We have 140 retail centers distributed across India where potential or existing customers can walk in and seek the assistance of retail executives to register on our websites and/ or make payment for the service of their choice. Our technology and analytics is robust and we leverage technology and analytics across all stages of the matchmaking process such as acquisition and registration of profiles, validation, mutual discovery process, and member contact. These strengths keep us apart.
- What is the current size of organized matrimony services and how much is your market share in that? What is the number of profiles you have at present in your database?
According to the KPMG Report, the marriage services industry in India is estimated to be worth approximately more than 3 Thousand billion (FY 2016). 10 to 12 Million marriages take place every year in India. Less than 10% find a match online and therefore the potential to grow is tremendous. Our share of online matrimony market is about 60%.
- Which form of media has been your sweet spot? (print, TV etc) Being a digital company, how much your spending is on digital?
We spend significantly on mass media but have been enhancing our digital spend every year.
- What is the average number of campaigns you do in a fiscal?
We did about 6 major campaigns for matchmaking and marriage services during FY18.
