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Consumer preferences towards a online matrimony portals – A study on

Matrimony portals in Hyderabad

Article · March 2020

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Business Sciences International Research Journal Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN 2321 - 3191

CONSUMER PREFERENCES TOWARDS A ONLINE

MATRIMONY PORTALS Ȃ A STUDY ON MATRIMONY
PORTALS IN HYDERABAD
Dr M Rajanikanth
Assistant Professor, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad
Corresponding mail id: rajanikanthreddym@gmail.com
P. Sailasri
rd
Student, BBA LLB, 3 Year, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad

Received: Jan. 2020 Accepted: Feb. 2020 Published: Feb. 2020

Abstract: India is a combination of different cultures and communities, so as the marriages in India.
Marriage is a long standing tradition in India, where it is the sacred union of heart and soul, and also the
union of two families, the bride and the groom. There are some differences among the across the
country with reference to the rituals to perform, according to their religion, caste, and region. And
finding a partner largely depends on the social standing of the family, the caste and sub caste,
educational qualifications, profession, skin colour, physical features and appearance. In many families
„”‹†‡ǯ•ƒ†‰”‘‘ǯ•Š‘”‘•…‘’‡ƒŽ•‘ƒ––‡”•Ǥ—–†—‡–‘–Š‡…Šƒ‰‡‹–Š‡‰‡†‡””‘Ž‡•ǡ•‘…‹ƒŽ…‘…‡’–•
and values now most of the families are open to caste, religion, and even age etc. As the society is
becoming more and more complex in terms of technology, and changes in life style, finding a match
through the traditional channels like priest or family connections is becoming difficult. This has raised
the growth of matrimony business in India. Technological advancements and lack of time to spend on
sending and receiving the photos and CVs, most of the younger generation are preferring online
matrimony sites. A report published on statista.com reveals that by the end of 2017 more than 20,00,000
people registered on online matrimony sites like Bhrath matrimony, Shaadi.com, Jeevansaathi.com etc.
Keeping in mind the statistics, this paper discusses about the preferences of younger generation while
choosing a matrimonial website. A conclusive research design was adopted, and a pre-structured
questionnaire was used to collect the data from the younger generation people of age group between 21
and 38. The study revealed that Privacy and trustworthiness are the major aspects that both prospect
groom or bride looking in a matrimonial site.

Key words: Consumer preferences, Indian marriage, Matrimony, Online Matrimony, Online privacy

Introduction India is a combination of different cultures and communities, so as the marriages in

India. Marriage is a long standing tradition in India, where it is the sacred union of heart and soul, and
also the union of two families, the bride and the groom. There are some differences among the across
the country with reference to the rituals to perform, according to their religion, caste, and region. And
finding a partner largely depends on the social standing of the family, the caste and sub caste,
educational qualifications, profession, skin colour, physical features and appearance. In many families
„”‹†‡ǯ•ƒ†‰”‘‘ǯ•Š‘”‘•…‘’‡ƒŽ•‘ƒ––‡”•Ǥ—–†—‡–‘–Š‡…Šƒ‰‡‹–Š‡‰‡†‡””‘Ž‡•ǡ•‘…‹ƒŽ…‘…‡’–•
and values now most of the families are open to caste, religion, and even age etc. As the society is
becoming more and more complex in terms of technology, and changes in life style, finding a match
through the traditional channels like priest or family connections is becoming difficult. The
introduction of new online technologies and e-commerce reflected in choosing the matrimony (Iyer et
al. 2015). The rise of the internet based technology and other services have contributed to the growth of
online matrimony portals instead of traditional methods like news paper advertisements, priests setting
up the matches, or family driven match searching (Somasundaram, B, 2013). And these days most of the
people are depending upon these matrimonial services (Iyer et al. 2015). There are many matrimonial
sites available with almost similar features (Pal J K. 2010). Technological advancements and lack of time
to spend on sending and receiving the photos and CVs, most of the younger generation are preferring

IMRF Biannual Peer Reviewed (Refereed) International Journal | SE Impact Factor 2.75 | 165
Business Sciences International Research Journal Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN 2321 - 3191

online matrimony sites. A report published on statista.com reveals that by the end of 2017 more than
20,00,000 people registered on online matrimony sites like Bhrath matrimony, Shaadi.com,
Jeevansaathi.com etc. Keeping in mind the statistics, this paper discusses about the preferences of
younger generation while choosing a matrimonial website.

Literature review: Š‡ †‹ƒ ƒ””‹ƒ‰‡• –‹ŽŽ †ƒ–‡ ƒ”‡ –‡”‡† ƒ• Ǯƒ””ƒ‰‡†ǯ ƒ† –Š‡ …‘…‡’– ‘ˆ ǮŽ‘˜‡
ƒ””‹ƒ‰‡ǯ‹••–‹ŽŽ‘–˜‹˜‹†Ž›ƒ……‡’–‡†‘”’”‘‘–‡†‘’‡Ž›Ǥ‘™‡˜‡”ǡ–Š‡•–”—…–—”‡‘ˆ–Š‡ƒ–…Šƒ‹‰
has been liberalised towards the proposed groom and bride, as the initial in the initial structure which
existed decades ago, the first time the groom and bride would know each other is usually after the
marriage, as it is more of a bonding of the families, rather than the couple alone. (Titzmann, 2013). As
more number of people is having access to internet, the participation on matrimonial sites online is
growing. (Guenthner, 2007). Past studies in electronic marketing research have shown that Consumers
—•—ƒŽŽ›†‘ǯ–’”‡ˆ‡”–Š‘•‡™‡„•‹–‡•™Š‡”e they had a bad experience (Constantinides, 2004). The usage
of internet is growing with high pace among the Indian users on mobile phones and computers which is
leading to the growth of matrimonial sites accessing online (Lakshman, 2006). The social networks are
providing users to share their information across the boundaries (Pal J K. 2010). The same is happening
these days in choosing the right partner. In the Indian culture the family of the groom or bride used to
seek the opinion of their relatives, friend, marriage brokers, word of mouth or a bit modern newspaper
advertisements (Sharda, B. D, 1990). These marriages were conducted based on the belief that the
counter family in the marriage offers continuous support, and that is the key for the success of marriage
(Mishra, Chen, Chen, & Kim, 2007). The number of people using these matrimony sites is growing
enormously. Online matrimonial sites are opening up the new options for the bride or groom to look
after the girl or boy outside their family or social connection but suitable to their social compatibility
(Abu-Hashish and Peterson, 1999). The growth of matrimonial websites has developed cultural
convergence, virtual dating, and that the stigma of arranged marriages is coming down in India (Seth,
2011). The past studies have shown that consumers of matrimonial sites prefer based on the website
features, convenience and trustworthiness (Ganapathi, 2015). They also look for search time, easy to use,
easy to compare, quality of information, etc. The individual factors like age, gender and personality of
the users will have impact on choosing the online matrimony (Pal J. K, 2011). Consumers look for the
prospective alliance according to the job profile, horoscope, location and age. In some cases the
matrimony site itself is providing the users to interact through mails, chat and mobile numbers.

Research Methodology: The study was conducted with the main objective to know the preferences of
the online matrimony visitors. There were many studies conducted in the area of consumer preferences
towards online matrimony sites. But there were no studies conducted in the region of Telangana. This
present study is to fill this gap and know the preferences of users while choosing a matrimony site. The
research design chosen was conclusive research design. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to
collect the primary data. The questionnaire was sent to 128 prospective users of matrimonial sites from
which 100 responses were received. The respondents were chosen through convenience sampling, as it is
very difficult to go for random sampling. The data was analyzed using charts and graphs.

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Business Sciences International Research Journal Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN 2321 - 3191

Results and Discussion:

The demographical details of the respondents are as follows :
Demographics Percentage
Gender
Male 60
Female 40
Age
18-24 18
25-30 48
31-36 28
Above 36 6
Educational
qualification
Up to 14
Intermediate
Graduation 32
Post graduation 37
Above PhD 17
Occupation
Private 48
employees
Govt employee 27
Business 16
Others 9

The following are the correlations found between the consumer preferences towards the online
matrimonial sites. Easy to use (0.601), Privacy (0.529), number of profiles (0.515), Convenience (0.443),
Interaction (0.351), other features of website (0.289), and payment (0.289) were the important features
that consumers prefer in choosing a website. The study also focused on what are interests of the
consumers in searching for the partner. Majority (82%) of the respondents felt that people with same
interests as their first preference. Educational qualifications (73%), Job profile (68%), Family background
(63%), physical features (47%), and assets of the other family (38%) are the other considerations while
choosing a partner on online matrimony.

Conclusion: Marriage in India is not an individual affair. It creates a relationship between two families
along with the married couple. The growths in the internet services among Indians raise the growth of
matrimony services too. The present study was an attempt to know the preferences of consumers while
choosing online matrimonial sites. The study found that consumers prefer those sites that are easy to
use, and maintain privacy and availability of more number of profiles. The study supported the past
studies in terms of the customer preferences (Pal J. K, 2011, Ganapathi, 2015, and Krishnan et al. 2018).
The study has its limitations ad this was the preliminary study and needs a larger sample and analysis to
generate accurate results. In the era of narrow targeting, even matrimonial websites are also targeting
their customers in terms of income, religion and caste. In this regard this study suggests that future
studies in this area to know the regional and religious preferences.

References:

1. Abu-Hashish, S.A., & Peterson, M.A. (1999). Computer khatbas: Databases and marital
entrepreneurship in modern Cairo. Anthropology Today, 15(6), 711
2. ‘•–ƒ–‹‹†‡• Ǥ ȋ͜͜͞͠Ȍǡ ȆˆŽ—‡…‹‰ –Š‡ ‘Ž‹‡ …‘•—‡” „‡Šƒ˜‹‘”ǣ –Š‡ ™‡„ ‡š’‡”‹‡…‡‫ۅ‬,
Journal of Internet Research Vol. 14, N° 2, p 111-126

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 Business Sciences International Research Journal Volume 8 Issue 1 ISSN 2321 - 3191

3. Ganapathi, R. (2015). A Study on Factors Affecting Online Shopping Behavior of Consumers in

Chennai. Journal of Management Research and Analysis, 2(2), 123-126
4.
—‡–Š‡”ǡ
Ǥ ȋͣ͜͜͞Ȍǡ Ǯ†‹ƒ –‡”‡– ‡‡–”ƒ–‹‘ǯǡ Š‡ ƒ‹Ž› ‡…‘‹‰ǡ ȑŽ‹ne] (17 March
2007). Available at: http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/internet-india/. Retrived on 11/01/2019
5. Krishnan Neethu, Hemamala K, HariKrishnan.A.V (2018), Study on the Factors Affecting the
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