The Hindu Business Line : Astrology, online

Just under a decade ago, when the online matrimonial service was being talked about as a possibility, one could not but raise an eyebrow and look at it with scepticism. The transformation one has seen in this space, in recent times, with leading players boasting lakhs of registered members and separate regional portals, has come rather as a pleasant surprise.

Now, it looks like another quite sensitive and personal area is warming itself to the Internet age. For long, astrology has been known to be a personalised face-to-face service built on trust and belief in the individual astrologer. But this may be changing.

Yes, the scenario of a worried father in Mysore logging in, via the Internet, his queries relating to his daughter’s horoscope, to an astrologer sitting 1,000 miles away, or of an NRI sitting in the comfort of his home in California, US, engaged in a live chat with an astrologer in Mumbai on the prediction relating to the next day’s Indian stock market seems to be turning into a reality. And customers seem to be increasing by the day.

GaneshaSpeaks.com is an emerging online astrology service firm that provides astrological guidance using Indian Vedic astrology principles via mobile, the Internet, telephony as well as offline.

Hemang Arun Pandeet, Founder, GaneshaSpeaks.com, while acknowledging that offline is where astrology finds the largest market and will continue to do so in the foreseeable future, is confident that online astrology services have the potential to become a good alternative for the serious Net user and believes it can become an industry by itself within the next five years.

In an interview with eWorld, Pandeet shares his views on this new and emerging space and its future. Excerpts from the chat:

What are the early trends and the current challenges you are seeing in this space?

The online astrology market is in its nascent stage. The trends that we are experiencing are similar to the ones seen in the offline industry. People are trying to find an online parallel to what is available offline. The challenge lies in creating a balance in what can be offered online and then to delivering the best possible user experience, consistently.

Where would you put the market potential?

The market potential is enormous and it has been proven by businesses in the US and Europe. In the US, the online astrology market is $200 million annually. In India, the offline business is guesstimated to be around Rs 40,000 crore. Even if we are able to convert 1 per cent of this, it will be quite a significant number.

How are you promoting this space?

GaneshaSpeaks has been trying to maintain consistency of service quality such as the format of the report, delivery schedules and follow up support, so as to build a credible service. We are also trying to create supply by bringing in more celebrity astrologers to sell their services online, thus building the market for these services.

What is the customer profile in the online segment?

We have customers covering pretty much the entire spectrum — with age group ranging from 20 to 55 years. Interestingly, there are high-profile business executives and celebrities too, who like the concept of being able to avail the service while remaining anonymous. Currently, we have 30,000 visitors per day, with a 50:50 split between India and overseas customers. In the future, we believe there is a case for separate portals for the Indian and overseas customers. We are seeing a repeat ratio of 70 per cent for all our paid services.

What is the pricing mechanism?

We follow a US dollar pricing, wherein all the prices are in $ and displayed in 25 different currencies depending upon where the visitor is coming from. While it is essentially a ‘per question pricing’ model, we have subscription options too. Payment modes include debit and credit cards, Net banking, special purpose cards, payment networks and cheques and demand drafts too. Most of our visitors prefer getting at least two-three free services.

Can you give us a break-up, by verticals, for your various offerings?

We have career as the most used area contributing to about 35 per cent of the queries, Love/marriage follows this with about 25 per cent; and finance is the third with 20 per cent contribution. Live chat is also a popular feature. It has more to do with impulse buy rather than a planned order. We want to be a one-stop shop for astrology and hence there are no particular preferences at this moment.

Are you looking at expanding your offline presence?

The plan is to expand our presence in the offline market. Currently we have an offline set-up only in Ahmedabad. We are looking for external funding to help drive our offline business.

What about the revenue growth?

GaneshaSpeaks has revenues of $2 million and is targeting to grow at 70 per cent year-on-year in the next two years.

What are the key drivers for this new online astrology space?

We believe the key drivers will be honesty in service delivery and increased convenience. A price differential, if possible, could also be a potential driver.

What is your outlook for these services?

I feel that this has a very long way to go in India. In the immediate term, we can see a large number of new Net users coming in and trying to be comfortable with this way of doing astrology. I am confident that this space will become just as successful as the online matrimonial services and there is a very fair chance that ‘Online Astrology Services’ will become an industry by itself in the next five years.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in