OYO’s ‘Weddingz.in’ sees 40% pre-COVID level demand in Unlock 3.0

As the pandemic has brought different industries to a grinding halt, including wedding planners and the service-providers, relaxations under Unlock 3.0 have brought some relief to the market players. OYO-backed 'Weddingz.in' has witnessed a rise in demand to nearly 40 % of the overall demand in the pre-COVID period.

In a statement, Weddingz.in said that through several initiatives, the platform managed to enable and support its venue partners with necessary training, implementation of new standard operating procedures (SOPs) and technologies to ensure business continuity and recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.

"With such efforts, today the company has already rescheduled more than 3,000 events and locked nearly 1,500 unique bookings for October, November and December 2020. In July 2020, the company also received more than 25,000 enquiries from customers for events, including wedding venues, across the country thereby highlighting the customer intent and confidence in organising wedding events in the latter half of 2020 while observing the necessary precautionary measures," it said.

In terms of size of the event, the company is witnessing an increase of nearly 40 per cent in August 2020 owing to the increase in average per plate price and other non-venue services for the peak winter season in November and December which means customers were slowly warming up to the idea of safe community events towards the end of the year.

"All of this, given that venues follow the highest standards of hygiene, sanitisation and social distancing norms. So far, the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad are leading in demand," the statement added.

Sandeep Lodha, CEO, OYO's Weddingz.in, said, "We understand that it's still very early, but we are optimistic that with the necessary precautions, customer confidence will rise in the next few months, leading to many more events, thereby contributing to the recovery of the larger economy and the welfare of small or local businesses. All throughout, safety will continue to be our topmost priority."

Across the globe, there has been a decline in walk-in customers at venues, consequently spiking the demand for online traffic and recess. The company said it was supporting its venue partners to increase the online demand through its platforms during such times.

To ensure recovery of the industry at large, the company also worked with industry associations like FICCI for pragmatic but business-friendly guidelines to viably operate banquets in India in light of the pandemic.