Case Analysis
Vision
Case Analysis III: Shradhanjali.com
New Address for Memories of Our Ancestors
Ganesh N. Prabhu1
The founders of Shradhanjali.com have struck upon an
interesting and viable business idea that meets a need
ignored by the market so far. The Indian tradition for
remembering those close family members who have passed
away is to remember them every year on their birth and
death anniversary through a family prayer ceremony. To
remind those who are not close enough nor have immedi-
ate family members to call for the family prayer ceremony,
the practice started of printing, in the local newspaper, a
remembrance note on their birth and death anniversary.
This enabled others who knew the family to send their
messages.
While the idea of creating a webpage is noble, it faces
some significant issues. Being online makes the site
susceptible to hacking for user data and for misuse by those
who do not like the person or the family. Being reminded
on every death anniversary may be appreciated by the
immediate family but may be seen as unnecessary by
the larger family circle who, on registering for reminders,
feel they cannot later withdraw without offending someone
who is close to the deceased. Providing unlimited space for
photos and videos is another concern as it may be misused
and prove expensive to the host. While their pricing is
1 Professor of Strategy, IIM Bangalore, India.
Corresponding author:
Ganesh N. Prabhu, Professor of Strategy, IIM Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Email: gprabhu@iimb.ernet.in
21(3) 334
© 2017 MDI
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0972262917717520
http://vision.sagepub.com
attractive, the perpetual hosting of content may be difficult
to sustain as the site grows in data volume.
Buying websites with religion-specific names is a good
idea but mentioning the caste on the person’s memorial
page is not such a good idea. They have decided to go
without advertising but strictly controlled advertising of
services related to funerals, and gifting to relatives of the
deceased is a good option for additional revenue. In pricing,
they have created two options—one yearly at `999 and for
five years at `3999, with the difference being the duration
given to edit content while the material uploaded remains
till perpetuity. This is attractive pricing and should get
many subscribers if it is marketed effectively. However, it
cannot replace the newspaper inserts on death but can
replace the ones that appear later.
It is important for the founders to find ways to create
value to families that is not provided by any other way. For
example, a private area for close family members to forward
stories and pictures about the person was shared on
Whatsapp in their family group but are likely to be lost soon
due to message volume. That collection could be curated
and sent by a family member to others in the family group.
This will enable the website to perpetuate the memory more
effectively than through the other media that exists.