BharatMatrimony launches wedding gifts portal, MatrimonyGifts.com

The 14-yr-old online matchmaking site has announced the launch of its new wedding gifts portal, MatrimonyGifts.com, complementing its first offering.

Matrimonial website BharatMatrimony.com that ventured into online matchmaking in 1997, has now extended its offering to launch a unique portal named MatrimonyGifts.com. This new site offers customers the chance to buy wedding gifts online.

The website went live on May 11. It features a selection of gifts from various categories, making it convenient and easier for people to find the perfect choice of gifts for weddings of their loved ones.

The website's mission is to provide customers with an enormous selection of wedding gifting options at competitive prices. These include cakes, flowers, home decor, artefacts, apparels, accessories, jewellery and personalised gifts, with plans to add more categories and products every month. Gifts start from Rs 250, and extend to high-end jewellery and exclusive apparels. The site offers to deliver gifts 'from anywhere-to-anywhere' across India.

The idea to launch this site stemmed from the fact that there is a large and growing market for gifts and gift items in India, today. Estimates suggest that the online gifting market is pegged at more than Rs 1,000 crore, and is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

Murugavel Janakiraman, founder and CEO, BharatMatrimony, says, "MatrimonyGifts is a special gift from BharatMatrimony for a society like ours that places high value and attaches cultural significance to wedding gifts. It was also a part of our effort to expand into non-matchmaking areas to deliver more value to our customers."

Being in the online space helped BharatMatrimony (that receives over 40 million visitors a month) roll this new site out within a short time. Additionally, an in-depth understanding of online consumer behaviour and online payment systems also helped.

Janakiraman also adds that their experience has been that over the years, more and more Indians are comfortable using their cards online, which boosts online sales.

An in-house research division conducted extensive research for the portal. They studied the general market for gifting before analysing the shopping behavior, with respect to wedding gifts in India. It was found that a website focussed exclusively on wedding gifts with an Indian touch and at great prices was lacking in the Indian context.

The range of gifts was decided after finding out what types of gifts Indians like to give and receive. "We also did a detailed study on the psychology of gifting from a sociological perspective," says Janakiraman.

The site has tied up with vendors who have a reputation for timely shipment/delivery and quality like Surat Diamonds, Carat Lane, Jagdamba Pearls, Chamiers Gifts, American Dry Fruits, Ferns and Petals, Right Florist, Punjabi Ghasitaram, and Aashi Gifts.

The company has in the past, created a strong foothold in the matrimony category through its innovative features and ideas like Matrimony Day Xpress branded van campaign, an international matrimonial magazine for Indians settled abroad, a tie-up with ItzCash Card to pay for its packages, and a face recognition technology 'Facial Search', among other things.

While BharatMatrimony is the first wedding portal to have started a wedding gift site as well, it will be interesting to see if others in the category sites follow suit.