Keith Lui's Blog

I came across an interesting article while surfing PSFK.com.   Kyana Gordon discusses a new venture, known as eDealdujour (literally translating to e-deal of the day): by Lawrence and Krystal Leurquin Ouaki.  This concept, not unlike sites such as Groupon and Living Social, is quite simple:  each day, a single man is highlighted and appears on the front page of the website.   Women are then given time to respond, or to take advantage of this “offer”. 

The idea came from Chris O’Donnell, a young billionaire from New York city who decided to purchase the front page of a newspaper to let the world know that he was single.   In eDealdujour, a single man submits a photo, a biography, and states the type of partner he is interested in.   Their profile stays on the front page for 24 hours, with a timer on the site, like Groupon, that lets viewers know when the offer expires.   Currently, the site is accessible and usable by anyone, free of cost, but those who desire to may pay a fee to have their profiles archived. 

I’m not sure these sites provide much more than dating sites being currently used (not that I know from experience).  I feel that the power in such dating sites derives from the ability to chat in real-time, and from being able to talk to many people at once.  How will eDealdujour be able to sustain this concept if the user base grows?  Will they charge people for putting them on the front page?  How will they accommodate everyone?  Will many interested viewers essentially be ‘competing’ for the man of the day?  And how will eDealdujour be able to validate the submissions/profiles?  These are some challenges that they will need to address effectively before they can succeed like Groupon. 

The website can be viewed here: http://www.edealdujour.com/