GoMovieDate is no newcomer to the dating industry nor are their founders to the Singapore entrepreneurship scene. Having started in late 2003, the two founders of GMD (as they prefer to call themselves) have been featured in national press and also garnered a Spirit of Enterprise award in 2006.
What they do
As its name makes apparent, GMD’s prime focus is by facilitating movie dates for its members. I think it’s a simple and straightforward idea that appeals to the Singapore crowd. After all, some say there isn’t much else to do on a first date in Singapore save for dining and movies. Plus a movie date means that there is something to discuss after.
How it works
Participants will have to pay a membership fee (6 or 12 mths) for either the Gold or Platinum membership privileges. The former means you get dates recommended for you based on demographic data only; whereas the latter affords you matches based on hobbies, lifestyles and “access to [their] premium matching engine that generates more and/or highly accurate matches“. As I have no idea what this ‘premium matching engine’ is or what their algorithm comprise of, I can’t comment on the accuracy of their matches. But those willing to fork out S$169 or S$199 will have the opportunity to try it out.
Thereafter, you can invite and accept dates via SMS or email and guys pay for the tickets. The tickets will then be sent to both parties and all that’s left is to turn up for the movie date!
What’s unique
GMD has built a few peripheral services around the main premise of going on a movie date. For example, Modern Talking allows potential dates to flirt with each other over SMS without revealing one’s number. While this is great for privacy reasons, I suspect there’s also another business reason behind this. By keeping all members’ details with GMD, members have to continue to pay membership fees and the associated charges with Modern Talking.
They also have a forum with quite a few members trying to organize salsa group dates or discussing getting stood up.
Business model
Obviously, GMD gets its main income from membership fees but the two Singapore entrepreneurs behind GMD have also created a business model that allows them to capitalize on the little things that people in the dating scene would find useful. Hand-delivered flowers of chocolate, anyone? Deals with companies to supply these gifts could allow them to take a bigger cut out of the service, or provide them to members at a better price.
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