With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.
If you're thinking of having a party, it might not be a bad idea to use Evite to send out the invitations and plan the event. As Evite's Vice-President of Marketing and Public Relations Lariayn Payne told me, "Evite is the leading online service on the Web for invitations and party planning. Evite is free and easy-to-use and offers hundreds of stylish invitation designs for almost any occasion. Evite also offers fun and creative party ideas, planning checklists, and other tools, which save party hosts both time and money."
Payne described Evite's history as follows: "Evite was started by two Stanford graduate students in 1998 as one of the first (and perhaps the first) online invitation services. The company was acquired by Ticketmaster/Citysearch in 2001, which was subsequently bought by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) in 2003."
As Payne explained, "Evite has grown steadily since its launch, but its growth really took off in 2003-04 as the viral effect of the early years began to multiply. With a compound annual growth rate in registered users of over 30% (5-yr. CAGR, 2003-08), Evite's user base exceeded 21 million at the end of 2008. In 2008, over 6 million events were planned with Evite, for which over 225 million online invitations were sent -- that's over 25,000 an hour!"
And with a market share that Payne estimates at "90% among online invitation sites, Evite is revenue-generating and has been highly profitable for years. The business is supported primarily by advertisers, which is what allows Evite to be a free service for our users."
It sounds like an invitation to print money to me. Have you used Evite? What do you think of it?
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College. His eighth book is You Can't Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney's Turnaround at Boeing. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
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