Weddingindustry to make comeback in ’22: Wed Me Good
AT LEAST 83% USERS SAID THEY WENT AHEAD WITH THEIR ORIGINAL WEDDING DATES REGARDLESS OF PANDEMIC
NEW DELHI: Despite covid-led disruptions, wedding apparel, beauty and jewellery did not see a significant drop in spending and the majority of people went ahead with their wedding plans in the third wave, said a survey conducted by a portal listing wedding services. WedMeGood conducted a survey of 3000 users over a period of three months on how the scale, size and preferences of weddings changed. At least 83% of its users said they went ahead with their original wedding dates regardless of the pandemic. The company covered weddings between January 2021 and January 2022.
While only 6-7% of users said they spent less on wedding wear and jewellery, 9-10% people said they reduced spends on photography and makeup. Little surprise that India’s gold consumption is expected to rise further in 2022 after jumping 79% last year owing to a huge pent-up demand and general improvement in buyer sentiment, said the World Gold Council (WGC).
Yet 80% of vendors the company spoke to said at least 30% of their business had been affected. New priorities also reshaped weddings like outdoor venues which were in higher demand post covid. About 25-30% people chose outdoor venues to mark their celebrations to follow higher standards of safety.
The survey was conducted by polling both users as well as vendors listed on the platform, the company said. Mehak Sagar, co-founder of the platform said 2021 saw some fundamental ways in which weddings changed in India. Perhaps the biggest indication of that was that only 60% of its users wanted to plan large weddings with over 200 guests.
“We are continuing to see that guest counts are shrinking, even without covid-curbs, people are preferring smaller weddings of 100-200 people. We are also seeing a difference in the way covid impacted different parts of the industry differently. While digital adoption rose, we also saw service providers like decorators and venues lose out as the events scaled down,” she told Mint.
She added that 2022 is likely to be seen as the year in which the industry will make a comeback ---- both because of easing travel norms for destination weddings and also as covid becomes a way of life.
While there are no recent figures, India’s largely unorganised wedding market was estimated to be Rs 3681 billion in 2016, as per a KPMG report on Market Study of Online Matrimony and Marriage Services in India.
The year 2021 was eventful for the wedding industry which scaled down to adjust to the new normal. Close to 16.71% of users who responded to the survey said that while planning their wedding the most important aspect was booking the venue. 16.59% said catering services was critical even though there was a decrease in spending in these two categories as weddings scaled down. Yet the two categories remained the focal points even for smaller, more intimate weddings.