Digital Marketing Revolutionises Realty Sector

HYDERABAD:  With abundant information available on online portals, home-buyers in Hyderabad are no longer dependant on site-visits before purchasing properties, feel developers.

“From providing adequate research material of the area you plan to purchase, to virtual tours of apartment complexes as well as individual flats, we are trying to make everything available for the end-consumer on our portal. In addition to this, we also give information on the kind of furniture on display and price updates to give our consumers an overall perspective,” Ganesh Vasudevan, CEO, Indiaproperty.com., says.

Developers feel digital services have reduced site-visits in Hyderabad by at least 30 per cent and is likely to further come down in the days to come.

“I think site-visits are getting a bit outdated these days as everything is made available on portals. I’m not saying people will not visit the site at all before purchasing, but it will save them a lot of hassles of identifying a flat of their choice and would also reduce the number of visits,” Ganesh adds.

Consumers looking to purchase, while welcoming online portals, remain skeptical about their effectiveness. Majority of home-buyers in Hyderabad prefer to personally evaluate a flat before taking a decision.

“I always felt that websites don’t project the complete picture. All the virtual tours and online brochures are well and good but as consumers, home is a very sacred thing and it is really important to get a personal feel of the surroundings, neighbours and every small aspect of the flat,” says Vasavi Vittal, an NRI settled in Hyderabad.

Agreeing P Muralidhar, a retired engineer, says, “We cannot trust a website, no matter how effective it is, that is human tendency. As a buyer, I would prefer to personally meet who I’m doing business with and consider all parameters before taking a decision. Having said that, I welcome the idea of portals as they weed out some of the shady looking projects.”

Realtors acknowledge that though digital real estate marketing has revolutionised the sector, it would not do away with site-visits, especially in a sentiment-driven country like India.

“I think site-visits largely depend on the type of projects. For pre-launches, there is no point in visiting a site because it is just a barren piece of land, but in matured projects, people do visit the model flats and are interested in personally visiting the projects,” observes Dinesh Kumar, senior vice-president (sales), 99acres.com.

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