Status quo of Online Dating Site in China
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Present situation
The data from iResearch shows the market size of China online dating sites will increase from 487 million Yuan, 2010 to 1.9 billion Yuan, with an annual average compound growth rate of 31.3%, way higher than that of US market which is 3.4%.
| Rank | Website | Popularity | Market share
now |
Market share
1 year ago |
|
| 1 | Jiayuan | 72.77 | 54.33% | 48.54% | ↑5.78% |
| 2 | Zhenai | 14.44 | 10.77% | 11.5% | ↓0.73% |
| 3 | Baihe | 11.50 | 8.58% | 9.59% | ↓1.01% |
| 4 | 淘男网 | 6.73 | 5.02% | 5.73% | ↓0.71% |
| 5 | 爱情公寓 | 5.05 | 3.77% | 3.99% | ↓0.23% |
| 6 | 久久婚嫁网 | 4.20 | 3.13% | 2.99% | ↑0.14% |
| 7 | 嫁我网 | 3.83 | 2.85% | 3.8% | ↓0.95% |
| 8 | 绝对100婚恋网 | 2.75 | 2.05% | 2.33% | ↓0.28% |
| 9 | 爱的根源交友网 | 2.19 | 1.63% | 3.17% | ↓1.54% |
| 10 | 知己交友中心 | 2.19 | 1.63% | 1.95% | ↓0.32% |
| 11 | 速配网 | 1.50 | 1.11% | 1.3% | ↓0.2% |
| 12 | 中国失恋网 | 1.34 | 1% | 1.02% | ↓0.03% |
| 13 | 我爱你交友网 | 1.05 | 0.78% | 0.7% | ↑0.07% |
| 14 | 易缘网 | 0.83 | 0.61% | 0.66% | ↓0.05% |
| 15 | 爱屋交友 | 0.74 | 0.55% | N/A | ↑0.55% |
| 16 | 奇聚网 | 0.68 | 0.5% | 0.62% | ↓0.12% |
| 17 | 中国婚礼网 | 0.64 | 0.47% | N/A | ↑0.47% |
| 18 | 亚洲交友 | 0.59 | 0.44% | N/A | ↑0.44% |
| 19 | 拉拉交友网 | 0.51 | 0.38% | 0.67% | ↓0.29% |
| 20 | 中国红娘网 | 0.40 | 0.29% | 0.5% | ↓0.21% |
As shown in the table, the market is quite mature with a highly concentration level. In 2012, the biggest 3 website take 73.7% of the market, at the same time, the first 10 websites have occupied 93.81%.
On the other hand, the business mode has not changed fundamentally, almost out of date.
Problem
Users don’t stay for a long time
The users of online dating site have clear target: to find their Miss. or Mr. Right. So after finding the one they want, they will stop using the site. As Muyan, Baihe (No.3 dating site in China) says, one account usually stay active for 6 month to 1 year.
Few customers are paying user
The No.1 site, Jiayuan, has only about 550,000 paying users every month, with 35 million users in total. The percentage of paying users is only 1.6%
Reason
Lack of interaction
This is a typical design of Chinese dating site: basic personal data + interaction. However, the four options here, “send text”, “say hello”, “send gift” and “follow her” are not enough attractive. When I see this, I feel that the profile like reading specifications of a machine.
No follow-up service
After marriage, couples also have needs like consultancy which can be integrated into these sites. While in fact, nobody did it.
Lack of focus
Searching among tens of millions of candidates from different walks of life, from young to old… , users have to spend much time and there are always unreal information to care. It’s a heavy task for everyone.
No relevant service
Most dating sites only offers dating and matching service. The information about relevant service such as wedding photography, wedding banquet, honeymoon reservation can hardly be found on these sites.
Low reliability
Last month, a girl from Beijing met a guy claiming himself as a “project manager”. This guy invited her to visit his “project” and during the trip the girl suffered a car accident. However, she got no care from the “project manager” and even impose fist from him. According to a survey from Shanghai Morning, almost 30% users have experienced this problem.
Trend
New products
Besides dating service, dating sites are now trying new product around wedding such as B2C shop online. For example, Jiayuan created their online shop “Que” by the end of last year, providing relevant service like wedding ceremony, photography.
Consultancy
Marriage and family counselor was recognized by Chinese government in 2007. With the permission by government, this market will expand faster in the near future.
Real name
Baihe began to push its users to put real name and personal data online at the end of last year. By this way, Baihe aimed to save a lot of problems such as identity and credibility for its users. And now other websites are also trying this.
3 comments
Sam
Philip, you have done a great job explaining the culture aspects of dating websites in china and how a marketer can creat a business opportunity for them.
Yvonne Ng
Philip, can I know where you get the data for current position like ranking and market shares of china dating websites?
Olivier
how much are you ready to pay 😉