Weddings are a lucrative business in India. According to a KPMG industry report 2017 titled, ‘Market Study of Online Matrimony & Marriage Services in India’, the wedding business in India, was worth $40 billion in 2016 and growing by 20 per cent per year. with catering, decoration, venue, gifts and photography accounting for approximately 61% of marriage services spends in fiscal 2016.

For brands like BharatMatrimony sky is the limit, as they expand into newer market segments and expand their retail footprints. Rewins Raj – Head of Retail at Matrimony.com, shares with Point of Purchase, the brand’s approach to retail touch points and how they can help in connecting better with the customers.

Can you tell us more about your Retail Centres? How was this conceived?

In 2005, when the first store was launched in Chennai, there were a lot of customers who were not tech savvy but wanted to use our services. We saw a huge offline opportunity due to the low internet penetration. The combination of our leadership in the online space and the in-depth reach of our offline initiative was to get closer to our potential customers and serve them in the way they prefer.

Why did you feel the need for a retail touch point?

We believe that our on-the-ground network of retail centres and the service team helps in the customer education process, builds trust among our customers and drives monetisation by encouraging existing free members to take up paid subscriptions.

How many such centres do you have?

We have 140 retail stores pan India across 70 districts in 13 states.

What kind of differences do you see post the launch of these? Any tangible business difference like sales/conversions?

We see higher engagement with our brand in the areas where we have retail presence. Our stores help in end-to-end customer life cycle management – from creation of profiles to guiding them through their journey of finding a life partner. We see higher profile creation, better ARPUs and greater off-take of our premium personalised services in geographies covered by our retail presence.

The primary endeavour of our stores is to ensure Customer Delight. We feel this approach is helping us create many more Happy Customers, leading to more positive word of mouth and thereby references.

Read the full interview in October 2019 Edition of Point-of-Purchase Magazine.