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An analysis of eHarmony, including the five forces according to Porter

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An analysis of eHarmony, including the five forces according to Porter
1.1 The threat of new entrants
The biggest threat to eHarmony and other paid dating sites was the free dating sites that were the newest entrants into the market. These sites did not have major restrictions to joining and did not necessarily do the match-making for the members. According to Piskorski, Halaburda & Smith, very many people subscribed to such sites as witnessed by the rise of “Plenty of Fish” in 2007 to become the most frequently visited in Canada and the U.K, and fourth in the United States(8).
1.2 Bargaining power of suppliers
A study by eHarmony showed that couples who met through eHarmony had happier and more successful relationships than those …show more content…

However, even non-paying members could be matched with potential partners only that the former could not send messages. This caused paying members to complain that sometimes they sent messages to non-paying members and never got any response, meaning it was a loss in investment. This made the company consider showing paying members which messages had been read and which ones had not.
2. eHarmony’s value proposition
At eHarmony, the customer gets the chance to communicate with a potential partner after having paid for the communication process. The value provided in eHarmony’s business model concerns giving the paying member guided communication with a potential partner. The company ensures that they consider the preferences of the applicants before starting on the match-making process. According to Piskorski, Halaburda & Smith, the company considers the similarities among applicants in order to start the match-making process (6).
In line with this, the company considers a person’s characteristics, interests, and values and looks for a person whose profile is similar. In fact, the company has gone against the traditional idea that opposites attract and opted for the similar traits while match-making. This assures the customer of the value of the investment they make when subscribing for the site as it offers more personalized and workable options than other sites.
3. eHarmony’s business level strategy eHarmony’s success is based on the business

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