Big fat Indian wedding market has foreign ‘suitor’ Zankyou lining up

The spectacular band-baaja-baaraat extravaganza of Indian wedding ceremonies represents a big business opportunity for wedding planners. And now, at least one foreign company is joining the throng of ‘eligible suitors’ to give you a wedding planned in cyberspace, the next best thing to a marriage made in heaven.

The Indian wedding market is estimated at $50 billion (around ₹33,000 crore), the world’s second-largest, after the $70 billion US market. And it is growing at an estimated 20 per cent a year.

According to other over-the-top estimates, though, the Indian wedding market was worth ₹100,000 crore in 2015, and is growing at 25-30 per cent a year. Indian weddings have a budget range from ₹5 lakh to ₹5 crore. An average Indian spends an estimated one-fifth of his/her wealth accumulated in a lifetime on weddings.

To tap into this market, Zankyou, a global wedding website with a presence in 23 countrie, set up shop in India in February 2017. Currently based in Delhi and Jaipur, it plans to expand to Mumbai and Bengaluru soon.

“We are virtual wedding planners and aggregators of marriage-related services. On our platform, we have tied up with service vendors, such as photographers, music bands, mehndi artists, event managers, wedding venues, honeymoon destinations among others,” Abhishek Shekhawat, India Country Manager, Zankyou, told BusinessLine.

Founded in 2007, Zankyou personalises and plans wedding gifts, builds a personalised wedding website, sends updates, a reception seating plan, tracks RSVPs, and provides other services. It also has a business directory and a list of wedding vendors.

In Europe and Latin America, the firm has over 350,000 registered couples annually, and more than 50 million annual visits. But in India, there are competitors such as Weddingplz, Wedmegood and Weddingz, which are also in the fray.

By 2020, Shekhawat said, many people are expected to go in for high-tech weddings. They will manage their guest and gift lists, send invitations, use social media extensively, and buy everything required online.

“Shopping malls are fast becoming a thing of the past,” he points out.

A user can even contact the firm’s free dating service or get inspired with ideas from the wedding magazine, available in nine languages for international guests.