Is shaadi.com coming to an end?
One website apparently launched by some Harvard University students has made quite a buzz in the Indian matrimonial market place. It’s called www.meribahu.com
The founders seem to have liked the idea of giving women priority, hence the name meribahu (my daughter in law). In Indian society, mother in laws in general are considered to be very notorious. They try to make the life of their daughter in law as if they were born just to do that. Indian newspapers cover several stories every day about the brutality of in laws.
Meribahu.com has got to the bottom of the issue. They cite not only the problem with their competitors’ websites, but also the Indian society as a whole. The website has a quote from a unsatisfied user of shaadi.com. It states the entire problem with the website. Thereafter, the website gets in to the societal issues and endorsed the principal of ‘No Dowry” as part of their social responsibility. Furthermore, it threatens to terminate the membership of a user if he demands dowry. In addition, Meribahu.com promises to waive off the fees of those users who cannot afford.
Maribahu.com apparently considers shaadi.com, jeevansaathi, and bharatmatrimony as its prime competitors. It lists the fees and features offered by all these websites vis a vis meribahu.com.
As India grows in the internet space, matrimonial websites have been emerging. Most seem be the matrimonial only so far where it acted like a classified advertisement. Merbahu.com classified itself as a social matrimonial website that allows users to interact socially first before marriage. In has highest level of transparency as well. For example, you can see the details of the person you are interested and you can also see who they are interested in. All the activities are tracked in a feed format so you see all that in your homepage. The expression of interest that would take shaadi.com for several weeks has been made instant here.
Overall, the website is a new experiment and suits well for the new generation who are used to more social networks. At a time when others have not innovated much in since their launch, meribahu.com could impose a serious threat of becoming the market leader over others.