Westerners know India as the global force of IT outsourcing and growing modernity. This might be true, but if you are a young Indian boy or girl with modern Internet-savvy parents, then chances are high that they will try to find you the perfect companion in life through the Web.
I don’t really know how I would have reacted if my parents had tried to find me my wife – and then even through the Internet 
But when I read about it in the Economist I was really attracted by this 20th Century Business Design which meets age-old Indian traditions that are simply normal in Indian culture. The Economist wrote a quite amusing piece on e-marriage match making in India. The most successful company offering online marriage match making in India is Bharatmatrimony.com. Let’s have a look at this company’s business model:
Value proposition> helping your parents find the perfect wife with the best fit. Criteria include religion, language, origin, age, height, looks and not to forget: horoscope.
Target customers> your parents (if you are an Indian single), because they are the ones that want to get you married.
Distribution channel> Well, it’s not yet possible to deliver to your parents your future better half through the web, but the match making can be done online. However, in such a traditional business Bharatmatrimony also maintains a “retail” network across India.
Customer relationship>Bharatmatrimony will be your best trustee in marriage questions. With its third-party verification service they will make sure no potential bride or groom will pull a fast one on you. After that it’s less a customer relationship than one between man and wife. But then again your parents are the real “shoppers” here and you might have brothers and sisters…
Core capacities> Help your parents find you a wife or husband .
Activity Configuration> Build-up a database with candidates that are worth having a thought. In fact, according to the Economist Bharatmatrimony already claims to have 7.5m members.
Partners> VeriSign and your third party verifyer. Hopefully all those pictures and promises are true!
Revenue streams> The money flows in from a number of different membership schemes varying in depth and functionality. If you are an easy “sell” I recommend the “3 month Classic Package” for 39$. But if the months fly by without result your parents might want to invest in a “9 month Classic Super Package” for 125$.
Cost structure> As an online matrimony service all you need is a good IT department. OK maybe that’s an oversimplification and you will have to add a bunch of lawyers if things go wrong between the freshly married couple…
So who ever said the Internet destroys tradition or reduces social interactions? This business model is simply fascinating… By the way, this text was not menat to be offensive against Indian culture!
Alex:
Interesting stuff. However there are other aspects to it.
As an Indian I understand it better. I have known people who have been successful using these online matchmaking sites. And it works ver well for a variety of reasons.
First, the parents use it only for a majority of the cases when it is the girl, a lot of times in the case of the boy, he is using it.
Again, the name is of the parents. The girl is the actual one using it in terms of decision making etc.
Consider this:
How do you meet a girl in the western culture?
In school, work, pubs, on the road, friends’ party etc.
In the Indian scenario that may happen but the possibility of love and marriage is still low.
Second, there is a great need to find your partner of same language, region, religion and caste.
Yes this may sounds outdated but those are the facts.
BTW, there are services on the ground where there are manual papaer based databases which are available in India which gets this done.
There are marraige brokers who get things done too.
However, when you combine this online, you have created a marketplace like ebay. Nothing new to start with, but due to online presence more powerful and better than before.
With all the datapoints available, photo capability, easy way to connect, e-mail and chat the online matrimony sites bring the best of Indian culture to the new generation of Indians and parents.
This goes on to prove that “understanding the social” part of a business is very important.
The “technical” and “business” side are simple to do.
Cheers,
Suhit
Suhit, thanks for the interesting comments from an “insider”. I don’t think this way of finding a partner for life is outdated
It’s just a question of culture. In western culture there are such things as speed-flirting… As I said, it’s just a matter of personal/cultural preference.
I actually admire how these online services make things more efficient and provide better chances of finding the right partner! It’s nothing substantially new, but a business model enhanced through technology with additional functionalities…
Maybe my posting sounded a little offensive to you. Sorry if that was the case. It wasn’t intended to be so