Bumble

Exploring your options and being “consciously single” top the list of dating attitudes going into 2022, according to a new study by dating app Bumble.

The company conducted a survey of its members to find out where they stand on dating compared to before the pandemic began, and to identify new trends and practices as we head into the high season for dating app users. The first Sunday after New Year’s has typically been the busiest day for dating apps, and Bumble expects this year to be no different. Rival dating app Tinder also expects Sunday January 2nd to be the busiest day for online dating in 2022, specifically between the hours of 7pm and 10pm.

Yahoo! News noted the highest volume of messages sent over dating apps in the US are typically exchanged from the first Sunday in January and throughout the month, tapering off before Valentine’s Day.

Bumble says that singles are turning to dating apps more than ever, evidenced by its recent finding that over a billion matches were made on its app in 2021, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.

The dating app also shared that over 9 billion messages were exchanged globally, up nearly 40 percent from 2020, showing that dating app usage during lockdowns wasn’t a temporary thing. Rather, once restrictions lifted, people were more eager to login to the app and start looking for matches as well as virtual date, and were also eager to use dating apps to get back out there and meet matches in real life.  

Bumble said that the highest number of message exchanges were between October and early November, just prior to the holiday season. It’s also worth noting that this was just prior to the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid, which has led to global lockdowns and restrictions once again. Still, the company doesn’t see things slowing down as we enter into dating’s “high season,” between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.

Dating app Bumble is changing the look of profiles and giving an upgrade to its algorithm to provide a better online dating experience for its users.

The female-focused dating app unveiled its new look in early December. The update prioritizes a person’s pronouns and interests after their primary photo, and according to Axios Austin, this move will help users more easily identify potential matches.

The algorithm changes are aimed at creating a more curated experience. The app will now provide users with recommendations for which picture should be front and center in your profile, which the company said from early reports has already led to more matches. Bumble’s AI technology is also learning more preferences based on user behavior, noting that curating matches this way has helped people spend more time looking at each profile, an indication of heightened interest among users.

The Bumble Shop

Bumble is moving into the online retail business by opening its first store and selling Bumble-branded apparel.

The Bumble Shop will offer a collection of t-shirts, hats, sweaters, accessories and games, according to WWD, and will be available for purchase at shop.Bumble.com. Featured items will include a varsity sweater, a bucket hat with the company’s tagline of “make the first move” in the lining, pronoun keychains, and a Question Game card game to help people connect by moving past small talk and into deeper conversations.

The Bumble Shop partnered with retro California lifestyle brand Aviator Nation to offer custom limited edition items as well, including the Ninja Hoodie, Ninja sweatpants, and Classic Truck Hat. These will be co-branded and available for purchase on the new site. Bumble plans to offer new collections quarterly, and Aviator Nation is its first clothing partner. Multiple sizes are available as well, ranging from XS to 4XL.

Shares for Bumble Inc, which owns the popular dating apps Bumble and Badoo, fell more than twenty percent after the company’s third quarter earnings call in November. 

The dating app went public earlier this year, with shares taking off out of the gate. In recent weeks however, investors have cooled on the stock, and Bumble has pointed to pandemic lockdowns in strong markets like Japan which have cut into the company’s overall revenue. The latest dip after the earnings call was the stock’s lowest point yet. 

According to Forbes, for the first time since its IPO, Bumble posted a decline in overall user growth, with total paying users dropping to 2.87 million through September, down from 2.93 million in the second quarter.

Dating app Bumble had a rough third quarter, with total paying users down 2 percent from the second quarter. It was the first time the company saw a decline in its user base since going public in February of this year.

According to Reuters, total paying users fell to 2.9 million as the pandemic surge prompted new lockdowns in hard-hit countries. The company says the pandemic surge caused an overall drop in consumer spending on dating apps and in-app purchases. This news spooked investors and sent Bumble’s stock tumbling 9 percent, a 32 percent total decline since its IPO.

The company owns popular dating app Badoo which was hit especially hard due to its popularity in markets affected by the Covid surges. Badoo accounts for about a quarter of the company’s total revenue according to Barron’s.