A speed dating site faces an uncertain future to the coronavirus, as the pandemic forced them to scrap their events.
Owners of these sites faced a dramatic loss of customers and sales after social distancing restrictions were put in place and two national lockdowns were imposed.
The company Ditch or Date reported a substantial decrease in people signing up for speed dating due to the uncertainty of when they could actually meet up with other members.
A spokesperson from the dating site said: “The coronavirus pandemic has had a massive impact on business but not in the way we would like.”
Helen Porter, manager of Ditch or Date said: “It’s been a terrible time for us as a company.
“With all the uncertainty we don’t know when we can get back to normal business, or if we ever will.”
The company have looked into the idea of setting up zoom sessions where singletons can meet people online in a speed dating setup however reported that the campaign didn’t generate enough members to start up the new age of dating.
Ms Porter added: “Our customers come to us because they prefer meeting people in person and having good old fashioned conversations, the majority of our customers didn’t like the idea of online dating chats as they said they would feel ‘unsafe’.
“One of the main reasons people speed date is because they get to know the person in real life not a version of the person behind a screen.”
Other dating sites like Tinder however have had engagement up, Tinder users made 3 billion swipes worldwide on Sunday 29 March, the most the app has ever recorded in a single day after the first lockdown was announced.
In the UK, daily conversations rose by 12% between mid-February and the end of March.
Platforms like eHarmony, OKCupid and Match have also reported a big rise in video dates, something which many platforms have been looking to move to.
Ms Porter said: “I really hope things work themselves out, I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal.”
