Post pandemic the entire journey from selecting the property to buying it online has brought a lot of convenience for the customers. Most of the developers from Kolkata and North East have come up with innovative sales and marketing strategies where digital marketing is playing a very major role. Yet, brand building and gaining the confidence of the customers remains an important aspects of any sales & marketing approach.
Kolkata based developer Manab Paul, Founder, Sree Balaji while speaking about the usage of technology in real estate said, “During the pandemic, the importance of digital medium dawned on the industry as it became the only way to connect with potential customers. Sree Balaji is in the business of affordable second homes and during this period we saw a great interest of people in second home at a destination place. We too have increased are deployment of digital strategies to generate business.”
Mayank Singh, Co-Founder, Kaarryam Realty who was earlier associated with global real estate brand “Trump” said, “In India home buying is not just a financial transaction, entire family and first and second generations are involved in the decision making. During the Covid period, we saw some big ticket transactions, Rs 9 Cr to 30 Cr happening online with deal closing happening offline. Till now the thought process of the industry was that customer has to come to the site, currently developers are taking the site to the customer.”
Realtor Anup Dalmia, Founder, Bobby Associates agreed, “The age group of buyers now is around 30 to 40 years. They are tech savvy and therefore digital mediums attract their attention. Artificial Intelligence will soon become a big part of the industry as the huge data generated will need to be broken down in useful pieces. Apart from developers, channel partners too are adopting technology in a big way from lead generation, online site visit to deal transactions.”
Another Kolkata based realtor Mahesh Somani,Managing Director, Liyaans Properties added, “The latest trend seen is the Reverse Auction Proptech. In addition, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and blockchain are modernizing the sector and simplifying the processes. However, the human connect has to continue and for that the role of channel partners will continue to remain important.”
Pratik Garg, Director, Tulsa Group that operates in Guwahati and Siliguri said, “Whether it is a metro or Tier- 2, Tier-3 cities, sales & marketing strategies are no different. Most of the developers today are adopting the d2c model i.e. direct to consumer model as we have seen in the retail segment. Having our own digital space has helped us convert better, the leads into sales and have long term relationships with customers. About 70 percent of our sales actually comes digitally and that’s how strong, the impact of digital space has been on our business.’
Rahul Phondge, Chief Business Officer, Residential Service, Anarock Property Consultants was of the view, “We are just scratching the surface of what technology can do for us. Eventually people will look at the artificial intelligence for the decision making. The customer behaviour is also moving to the tech platforms. Flexibility and agility are the catchwords in the real estate marketing now.”
The speakers concurred that online and offline platforms have their own place and time in the overall strategy and developers and realtor are applying them as per individual project needs. Customer gets the first impression of the company through the digital presence and the online interaction experience which decides, if he/she would like to deal with the company.
KEY TRENDS • Brand Building has taken prominence
- Large branded developers are preferred by customers
- As apps are gaining prominence they are becoming important in real estate sales & marketing
- Young entrepreneurs are solving industry problems through Proptech
- AI and ML is minimizing overall cost of acquisition and offering predictive models
- Customers are now consuming content on social media platforms
- In place of reducing price, developers are adding amenities in the project for ‘value for money’.
- Direct2Consumer model is the way forward
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