Against Foreign Matchmaking Bureau Platform Domination

Have you ever thought that none of the popular dating apps in Indonesia today are made by the nation's children? As local players, they should have the advantage of knowing more about the character of the consumers here.

Reality says otherwise. tinder, OKCupid, Bumble, and Coffee Meets Bagel are examples of dating apps that, based on our small survey, are most favored by domestic users.

We talked to Love Actually, Tinder, and some other users to find out what things users consider when using a dating app.

Not interested in locally made

Anya (not her real name) is a woman who has been using dating applications for quite a long time. Anya tried Tinder, which in 2014 was enough booming.

Of all the dating apps, Anya feels most comfortable with Bumble. He places emphasis on "the quality of its user base." Bumble, according to Anya, has a relatively smaller user base compared to other dating applications that are commonly used by many people, such as Tinder and OKCupid.

"So it's a factor gue "Whether you continue to use it or not, it actually depends on whether there are more people on the same frequency or not," explained Anya.

Jordi Farhansyah (27 years old) admitted that he prefers OKCupid to find a date. Just like Anya, Jordi has tried a number of other dating applications. In the end he chose OKCupid because the application is rich in features that make it easier for singles to get to know each other, such as entertainment preferences, sexual orientation, politics, and the type of relationship they are looking for.

"We can also send comments directly to their detailed information share, such as favorite musicians, movies, and things random others, making it easier for people to find something to make recounts with that person," continued Jordi.

Anya and Jordi haven't seen any local dating apps that can offer something similar. The only local app they've ever heard of is Type which was acquired by Singaporean platform Lunch Actually 3 years ago.

What local players don't have

Co-Founder and CEO Lunch Actually Violet Lim explained that each country's population has different preferences in choosing their favorite local dating application. Lim gives the example of those looking for a partner for a more casual relationship will likely choose Tinder, while those looking for a more serious relationship will use a platform suitable for that purpose, such as Coffee Meets Bagel or Setipe.

Lunch Actually is one of the largest companies in Southeast Asia in helping people find a soul mate. They acquired Setipe in 2017. However, the results of the acquisition do not appear to be going well. Lunch Actually then released its own dating application to strengthen their presence on the Indonesian dating application competition map.

Based on his experience, Lim said that basically dating services are not an easy industry to penetrate. In addition, dating service providers often have difficulty monetizing their services.

"The dating industry is not an easy industry to enter, because the better you do your job, the faster clients will leave you," says Lim.

What other more popular providers, like Tinder, OKCupid, and Bumble, have in common is a factor Branding which is very strong. Lim realized this because when these companies entered the Indonesian market, potential users were immediately interested in trying them rather than names that were less familiar to their ears.

Tinder entered the Indonesian market like a fast-moving storm. When they came in, the fever of searching for instant partners via apps spread everywhere. The simple character of the Tinder service through features swipe they become a trend. Now Tinder operates in 190 countries with 600 million downloads and 6,6 million paying users.

Tinder Asia Pacific spokesperson told DailySocial said, they created the service with the belief that humans need to connect with each other. They also claim to quickly adapt to their users, more than 50% of whom are Gen Z.

"In Indonesia we have a #BisaBareng brand campaign which is inspired by Gen Z looking for friends," said a company spokesperson in a written statement.

Keep competing

Ajeng (27 years) realized that personalizing services to the character of the target user. As a user of local dating application services for quite a long time, he believes that this is not visible from locally made dating services. He confirmed his doubts from his circle of friends and previous dates who had never tried local dating apps at all.

"Maybe actually dating app local is just as good. It's just that they are not able to attract as many users dating app from outside which was already there," explained Ajeng.

Lim believes that the main challenge for the dating service industry is that those who are satisfied will not come back. The faster they match singles, the more they are left behind by users. Learning from Setipe and the competition in the local market today, he believes alloy Branding strong, technological innovation and careful market research can encourage them to compete with already popular dating services.

"Aside from leveraging advertising [on search engines and social media] to get new users, we feel the biggest strength is actually strategy mouth to mouth and public relations," concluded Lim.