IT’S WINTERS and the wedding season is in full swing with 40 insta stories every day (yeah, I didn’t get any invites) of mehndis, dances, and now even the qawwali nights. But all the preparations for them are by no means fun: visiting different halls, caterers, decorators, getting their rates and trying to bargain even. With Shadibox.com, you might not have to.

Shadibox is a Lahore-based startup that wants to put an end to your wedding planning hassles. No more roaming around the city to meet different vendors: you can do it all online.

Go to their website, select from one of the nine categories – ranging from venues to car rentals, choose a city and area and they will give you all the relevant listings. The results will show details of the vendor including phone number, address, (usually) price, services, restrictions and pictures. You can then choose to submit an inquiry via Shadibox or contact the supplier directly.

They also have a deals area, where you can find predetermined packages for different functions. What else? The website runs its blog as well that has all kinds of content, from wedding budgeting tricks to hot trends in bridal wear. Basically, you don’t need all those magazine/newspaper cuttings of latest hairstyles or colour combinations anymore. And what if you are a vendor? Simple: just sign up, add your details and get published (after going through some screening).

Currently they are operating in nine categories across an equal number of cities but Shadibox’s biggest chunk of business comes from Karachi, Lahore and the twin cities. “Around 45 per cent of the total wedding industry is based out of these cities so our network is bigger there,” says Rehman, who is the CEO. They have listings of over 1,000 venues and photographers along with vendors in other categories.

The website largely works as a comparison tool and doesn’t let you book online through their platform. “Payment channels in Pakistan don’t allow high-value transactions involved in this business so we are still not yet ready for a reservation portal,” the CEO clarifies. And this is exactly why the startup is switching away from a commission-based model as it was quite easy for both the consumers and suppliers to bypass Shadibox. Now they have adopted a mix of subscription and advertisement and keep their vendors on a monthly (and sometimes annual) retainer.

But beyond being an online portal for wedding planning, Shadibox also plays the role of an event manager itself. How or why exactly does a scaling tech startup, hoping to change the landscape of wedding industry, finds itself engaging in the same traditional model? For Rehman, it’s more a matter of necessity. “It’s not something we want to do but as a young startup, you have to take whatever comes your way especially if the industry is as seasonal as this,” he explains.

The startup’s biggest market is the Pakistani expats who Rehman claims account for as much as 70pc of their total business. “These guys are short on time, don’t hassle much and are willing to pay the premium as well so they are the perfect clients,” he says.

Shadibox began its journey after winning a startup weekend competition in 2015 and was launched by two computer science graduates – Talha Rehman and Urwa Umer – who were already working within the matrimonial tech space. “My sister’s wedding was around the same time so I was visiting different vendors and saw the need for a venture in this industry,” Rehman recalls.

So far the company has been bootstrapping and is in no rush to raise investment either. “We need to further build our brand and get some things in order before seeking external funding,” the CEO says.

Within the tech matrimonial or venue booking space, there are a couple of players such as Booked.pk which are faring reasonably well. But Rehman is not concerned about competition as such. “The online market still has a lot of room to open up so the more players there are, the better it is for us,” he says, while cautioning “but one bad company can also end up jeopardising our four years of effort and shake the trust of overall industry in tech.”

While the name might say otherwise, the startup is not only about weddings and stuff. It can (and does) serve as an event planner for all sorts of gatherings, from birthday parties to corporate functions. But the name shortsells as far as the potential client base is concerned.

In a culture as crazy and extravagant as ours about weddings, the market is obviously huge and it’s only up to Rehman and co how much they can cash in on.

The writer is member of staff:

m.mutaherkhan@gmail.com

Twitter: @MutaherKhan

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2019