It was in the late 1990s that the internet was just taking its baby steps. It was the era when popular social media apps like Facebook and Instagram hadn’t even started.
It was only then a spark of an idea crossed young Anupam’s mind. Marriage in India has always been auspicious and important. When 2 people marry, their families also marry in a sense. But lately, with the advent of the internet, marriage in a traditional setting seemed redundant. So, Anupam came up with the brilliant plan of launching shadi.com.
Shaadi.com was started by Anupam Mittal in 1996 with a single goal in mind: to give a better marriage making experience by increasing the number of possibilities to meet possible lifemates. Within a couple of years of its start, shadi.com became a household name.
So, how did shaadi.com achieve such a feat?
Here is how…
Table of Contents
A brief history of shaadi.com
Shaadi.com was founded by Anupam Mittal in the year 1997. It began with the name of Sagaai.com but its name was changed in the year 1999, as renaming it to shaadi.com seemed more marketable. Initially, the app and its services were only used by NRIs because Indian parents were entirely dependent on here-say to make matches.
By 2008, it was successful in becoming the world’s leading matrimonial website for Indians. In 2011, it crossed the threshold of $20 million users.
The company has been up and running for almost 35 years, with over 5 million successful marriages. And that’s not all, every month shadi.com adds 1.5 million active users to its subscriber base making the website a mammoth when it comes to the matchmaking business.
Working model of Shaadi.com
Users usually sign up for shadi.com to make potential matrimonial matches. Users usually depend on images uploaded by them. the shadi.com team goes through their profile to detect any discrepancy and make sure the profile follows community guidelines.
The platform charges money for its users for a premium membership with various plans. The initial registration into the website is free of cost but later they are charged some amount of money to contact the prospective partner.
Today, India’s matchmaking market’s size is around $1 billion and shadi.com owns about 40% of its monopoly.
Shaadi.com’s revenue
According to Fowler, shaadi.com enjoys annual revenue of an estimated $40 million.
Lessons from Shaadi.com
It’s not easy for an internet matchmaking company to make a profit in a country that doesn’t welcome westernized thinking and traditions. And online dating, in essence, is a westernized concept.
Fundamentally, shaadi.com was destined to fail. But shockingly it didn’t, all thanks to its CEO Anupam Mittal. Over the years, Anupam and his team have inculcated clever business strategies that helped them thrive in the Indian diaspora.
Popular business strategist Hirav Shah brings you Shaadi.com 3 fundamental strategies that helped them thrive in the Indian matrimonial business market:
1- Don’t box your employees with certain roles:
In the initial years of shadi.com, no one wanted to join the company. Everyone desired a safe job and shadi.com had a murky business concept. The company mostly relied on referrals.
He took many employees and changed their positions just because they became much more than what they had started with, within some years. They appointed a CFO and turned him into a CEO.
Similarly, they turned an HR person into a market development head. Anupam says that Shadi.com doesn’t believe in boxing its employees into certain roles. The company is pretty flexible and allows its employees to experiment. When the employees feel content with their roles, the rest works well for the company.
2- Hire people with varied interests and opinions:
When hiring for a company that has a global vision, you would want to recruit people with varied interests. Simply because people have different tastes and preferences and being a customer service based company, you can’t limit your vision.
3- Focus on making a difference:
Aiming for high market capitalization and evaluation is good for business. But you need to keep asking yourself if you are making any difference.
Anupam has once mentioned, “We win awards every year and it’s really a testament to our focus and innovation and trying to ensure that we are taking our business very seriously. It’s great for the morale of the team. But I think a couple of things matter.”
“One, are you making a difference? For me, what’s really fulfilling is when I hear a 60-year-old man send an email saying he had given up on companionship but found a 52-year-old woman living 1,875 miles away. Stories like that are the high points. They tell me there are a lot of people who may never have found companionship,” he added.
Conclusion:
Over the years many companies have come into the limelight and similarly have disappeared into the abyss. It’s amazing to see a 30-year-old customer-oriented company still make it big in an era that prioritizes online dating and live-in relationships. Companies and entrepreneurs like these are the testament to the saying ‘If one really wants to do something, one can’- concludes eminent Astro strategist and business development expert Hirav Shah.
About Hirav Shah
Hirav Shah is an eminent Business Astrologer and Entrepreneur, who can help you reach new levels of success in the coming year. Shah’s unique practice mixes the fundamentals of Astrology with Business Principles, thereby introducing you to a whole new dimension of affluence.
Hirav Shah has an astounding global presence with clients based across various business sectors. He is a big believer in taking massive action, has formulated strategies and made the right strategic bets based on the certainty of outcome to help some of the world’s most renowned brands.
From business setup and expansion to crisis and exit, he can give you a strong Astro based analysis on where to apply leverage and where to cut losses.
Image Credit : Sengupta.ankur, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Logo : https://tech.shaadi.com/cropped-shaadi-logo-png/
