The Presence of Lunch Actually Gives New Color Competition Between Online Matchmaking Bureaus in Indonesia

Although many of us may often avoid it, the services of a matchmaking agency can be one of the most powerful alternatives in overcoming the problem of finding a life partner. In this all-digital era, online dating bureau platforms continue to emerge, and Indonesia is no exception. As is the case with Lunch Actually, a Singapore-based company that recently opened its services in Indonesia. What are the opportunities for Lunch Actually in Indonesia?

As an illustration, the competitive map of online matchmaking bureaus in Indonesia has indeed been filled by several potential local players. Call it for example from Type which had grown rapidly in early launch. Then, there is also from PerfectMatchJakarta which in the near future even reported will expand its wings to the Southeast Asian market. These two startups clearly have their respective strengths with the hope of becoming a leader in their own market.

As previously stated, Lunch Actually comes from neighboring Singapore and has been around since 2004. In early October 2014, Indonesia (Jakarta) became the fourth market for Lunch Actually, after previously being "entrenched" in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and also Penang, Malaysia. For more than a decade, the company led by Violet Lim claims to be the first and largest "lunch"-themed dating company in Asia.

In a report on the site Metro TV News, the CEO, Violet Lim said, she was optimistic that she could seize the opportunity to become a leader in Indonesia. According to him, based on data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the high single rate of Indonesian society as a whole could be a factor in the progress of Lunch Actually in Indonesia.

Apart from the opportunities based on Indonesian people's statistics, the Lunch Actually platform itself is not fully operational in the online realm. Honestly, I had time to repeatedly browse the site which is now open inquiry specifically for users in Jakarta, and as a result, the way Lunch Actually operates is mostly offline. Meanwhile, the Lunch Actually site is only provided as a place for online registration and company profiles online.

How it works in short like this. Match seekers who have become member, looking for a potential date will be entirely the job of the Lunch Actually team to arrange all their needs, from profile matching, to lunch appointments that have also been set by the Lunch Actually team, so overall, the online user experience is non-existent. Oh yes, as additional info, to register as a member, Lunch Actually charges a membership fee according to the page FAQ, the amount varies according to user needs.

I don't know if you realize that you need to make adjustments so that you can develop more, Lunch Actually seems to be going into the field online more seriously. He proved this some time ago through his acquisition of a startup mobile dating a la Tinder named LOLA. According to the news e27, LOLA which is a dating app “one match daily” This has succeeded in attracting Lunch Actually with its achievement which is claimed to have successfully matched 10.000 couples throughout Southeast Asia.

This, in fact, was expressed directly by Violet Lim, who wanted to immediately accelerate Lunch Actually in the realm of online and market mobile devices by acquiring LOLA. With such a strategy, it is not difficult to predict that Lunch Actually could become a “threat” for the platform online dating local and competitive maps will be more exciting in the future. We'll just have to wait and see how Lunch Actually does in Indonesia, while monitoring local players who should also continue to innovate in order to become leaders in their own market.

[photo illustration: Shutterstock]