Old school ties, business opportunities? (3)

Big potential

Currently, there are less than 10 companies in the classmate reunion business in Beijing, and a few more in other cities. But these firms believe the market has big potential, as people have become increasingly interested in reunions that could help them recall good memories or build contacts with old friends that could further their career.

Wen believes the business could be worth billions of yuan in the long run. "Each year, more than 6 million people graduate from universities, and they will get together at least three times in their lifetime. The average spending is also about 1,500 yuan per person," adding up to 27 billion yuan, Wen noted.

"There is also demand for middle-school classmate reunions, which makes the market even bigger," Wen said.

However, the market is easily accessible to anyone with university connections, he said, so competition could expand hugely.

Deng said his clients help promote the company through word of mouth. And Internet promotion is another marketing method for his company, using Weibo, BBS and forums.

"Compared with word of mouth and advertisements, which are passive marketing, active marketing - close cooperation with various universities - is more important," Wen said.

This is one reason why his company has branches in cities with a large number of universities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Wen said another key factor for success is management of service suppliers like hotels and restaurants, as well as standardized procedures.

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