Apr 22 2009
Blue Ocean Strategy For Online Matching Service
Some time ago, I was asked to take over and transform an online dating and matching service. Its web site was still typical Web 1.0 style which was almost dead with very few members and traffic.
Trying to keep to my principle not to do what others were already doing, I proposed a new strategy to the owner. However, I didn’t proceed in the venture as we couldn’t agree on the right business model. At the end of discussion, the owner still preferred a business model 90% identical with the existing one!
Nowadays, many youngsters look for friendship and relationship on social network web sites, But besides casual relationships, there are others who look for serious life partner. So there are many offline dating and matching services around. Naturally, some of them get online and here come these online dating and matching web sites.
The problem is that, do people trust the Internet to look for their future husband or wife? Most do not. They don’t think Internet as a safe place. Instead, they consider it full of cheaters. The trust for the channel is just not there. We may disagree, but this is the market perception, at least for my (older) generation.
Internet presence might work for an offline matching service using the Internet to promote their service, automate some business processes and value-add to their offline offerings. But how about a purely online matching service? Will it work?
If you were to operate such an online matching service, how do you make it big on the Internet? Difficult, if not impossible. This calls even more badly for a blue ocean strategy. Let’s not be so bounded and bondaged by the same old thought just as other competitors in the industry.
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Great point! Have you checked out the Bharat Matrimonial.com group? They are a completely online matchmaking service.
This is one company that has revolutionised matchmaking among the Indian community, and addresses individual cultural & linguistic groups in the Indian community all over the world.
The way they deal with issues of reliability is by instituting a complex series of confidentiality locks into their website, so only a person you ‘know’ can access private information.
Great post by the way!