The first generation of web services like classifieds are constantly looking at multiple touch points to reach the consumer which go way beyond their main source of revenue i.e. the web. So if the matrimony players foray into both mobile and DTH wasn’t enough now matrimony players are looking to go offline be it offline centres or even matrimony magazines.
So two matrimony players in Bharatmatrimony and Jeevansaathi have taken steps to go offline.
BharatMatrimony is launching a matrimony magazine targetting NRI’s in US and Canada. The magazine will be a free-of-cost called BharatMatrimony Times and will be published once in two months, to begin with. The online version of the magazine will soon be available on www.bharatmatrimonytimes.com Well the NRI marriages with Indian girls has been a trend for quite sometime now and its important for matrimony players like Bharatmatrimony to invest in attracting this segment and therefore the magazine route as other offline options of TV ads (which they have used in India) might be very expensive to do.
Jeevansaathi on the other end is the late bloomer as far as opening offline centres is concerned. It announced its foray into offline centres in april and also announced its plan to open 25-30 centres in 6 months. The launch of the centre in Mumbai is part of this roll out plan. Both Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com have ventured into the offline touchpoint model a couple of years ago. For Jeevansaathi the challenge is to compete with two equally strong players and brands in Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com.
As they say in any business the number 1 and 2 players makes money the 3rd breaks even and the others just trail behind. For Jeevansaathi its a game of beating one of these two players.
magazine route is a good bet and an innovative step by bharatmatrimony. it will build its brand more stronger and will lead to more customer involvement, also there is a good possibility of raking in ad moolah thru magazine ads surely they would find enuf takers for that