REALTY SALES NEWAGE TEMPLATE

For more than a year now, the real estate industry has been undergoing turbulent changes making realty firms scramble to find new solutions to increase sales. Developers are now attuning their products based on detailed analysis of market trends and target audience. And along with wellplanned, consumer-centric marketing strategies, are developing long term sales strategies. As per industry experts, the first step of the new age sales and marketing template is to create an awareness of the need of the product. Once this need is triggered, a value proposition can attract a potential buyer to explore the offerings and finally buy a product. Across realty segments, developers are restricting the projects to cater to the new demands post Covid. RESIDENTIAL REALTY TRENDS While the pandemic did disrupt home sales in the early months of 2020, the market quickly made an impressive rebound. Jajit Menon, Director – Sales, Marketing & CRM, Shriram Properties Ltd explained, "During this time, people started looking at upgrading to a bigger house especially in the segment of moving from 2BHK to 3BHK. A Wi-Fi enabled clubhouse or business centre with a coffee shop are now much talked about in the marketing strategy. Mixed-use townships too are getting a good response." Ibrahim Shariff, Vice President - Sales & Marketing, Bhartiya City Developers Pvt Ltd added, "The changes in customer preference include an entry foyer, basic lifestyle amenities at a walking distance and budget friendly larger unit sizes. Proximity to workplace is now a secondary requirement." Dr. Vishesh Rawat, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, M2K Group concurred that big apartment sizes starting from 2400 sq. ft., are witnessing good sales, 2020 onwards. “In NCR there is a huge shift towards builder floor projects as they offer bigger space at lower rates." Shivani Karia Jhaveri, CMO, Blox added, "There has been an exponential rise in technology usage with virtual site visits and 3D walkthroughs enabling customers to do 5-7 projects virtual site visits in a day that enables faster decision making and turnaround in sales. Also customers now trust branded developers more and therefore developers have begun marketing real estate projects as ‘branded products’. The way, Lodha and Raheja sell lifestyle is very aspirational for the customers." REAL ESTATE FIRMS THAT ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE CONSOLIDATED, EASYTO-UNDERSTAND COMMUNICATION WILL BE ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE THEMSELVES IN THEIR LOCAL MARKET. Shivani Karia Jhaveri, CMO, Blox added, "There has been an exponential rise in technology usage with virtual site visits and 3D walkthroughs enabling customers to do 5-7 projects virtual site visits in a day that enables faster decision making and turnaround in sales. Also customers now trust branded developers more and therefore developers have begun marketing real estate projects as ‘branded products’. The way, Lodha and Raheja sell lifestyle is very aspirational for the customers." COMMERCIAL REALTY TRENDS In commercial realty segment, after a sharp fall in office space demand in 2020, corporates are now experimenting with hybrid work models. A growing demand of small office spaces in SBD locations is the new trend. According to Pankaj Kapoor, Founder & Managing Director, Liases Foras Real Estate Rating & Research Pvt. Ltd while the absorption of office spaces has decreased, social distancing induced increase of space per desk from average of 80 sq.ft to 120 sq.ft, could provide some fillip to overall office real estate demand. Sumit Lakhani, Chief Marketing Officer, Awfis Space Solutions stated, "As people are moving away from the shared economy, Grade B office projects will start getting phased out and Grade A properties will be more in demand. The old commercial real estate will get redeveloped and offer developers and investors a lucrative opportunity. From a co-working company perspective this is like a demonetization movement. Unorganised players are phasing out and only few large players will sustain. Commercial realty rentals are micro market driven with fluctuating from CBDs to SBDs. Fractional ownership is an upcoming trend and will enable property owners to monetize their buildings.” REITs too have enticed a strong interest from investors despite the uncertainties about office demand during the pandemic. Jajit Menon said, "Occupiers already have commitment for next three to four years and as things stabilize, a large portion of the workforce is expected to office along with more space requirements for health safety reasons." Dr. Vishesh Rawat stated, “There were some changes in rent waivers and agreements but, we have not lost a single tenant in the last one year. For the long term the scenario is positive for office sector. As soon as things will be normal people will resume office." Ibrahim Shariff agreed that the sentiments are positive and it’s all about presenting the brand in a right way including timely delivery, payment flexibility and customization. Shivani Karia Jhaveri was of the view that prop-tech was playing a critical role in empowering realty players to optimally suit their products as per customers' needs. “Marketers should integrate digital platforms in their overall marketing communication and adapt traditional media communication to translate well on digital.” Along with developers keeping up with the pulse of the market trends for product development, they are solidifying their position through well defined sales and marketing strategy. Human-tech is playing a key role in profiling customers into segments using available data thereby highlighting property benefits accordingly