With the coronavirus pandemic leading to a countrywide lockdown, personal visits to sales offices of real estate developers have come to a standstill. To cope with the situation, realty firms are resorting to digital platforms and providing a virtual walk-through experience to homebuyers. Some are even utilising artificial intelligence-based chat bots facility to customers to answer their property purchase queries.
Realtors say that they are getting healthy customer leads on their digital platform with some buyers even booking the property with a nominal amount. Others say that it is the NRIs, mid-segment and first-time homebuyers who are relatively more open to taking a decision regarding property purchase after experiencing the project online than buyers of the luxury segment who take a longer time and prefer visiting the site before closing the deal.
Some developers are also providing discounts and a 5 percent cashback to buyers who book during the lockdown period.
A recent report by Savills titled 'COVID-19: Pause Today, Bounce-Back Tomorrow' points out that the leading role in coronavirus times is expected to be played by AI, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain and Robotics in creating economic growth around the world.
Another report has pointed out that the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian housing sector has been cataclysmic. Residential sales have witnessed around 42 percent YoY drop in the first quarter of 2020 in the top-7 cities and a similar drop is seen in the number of new launches, according to a report by ANAROCK.
Most marketing teams in real estate firms are interacting with homebuyers over call/email/whatsapp or video calls.
“Through our robust online/digital system we are able to attend to all leads and manage the customer lifecycle seamlessly. Our online platforms like BookMyHome and MyPinkHomes, customers can select the project, view the available inventory and purchase a unit of their choice,” said Ashish R Puravankara, MD, Puravankara Limited.
“We have also scaled up our chat services and are hoping that once the situation gets better, the online queries from new customers will start increasing. It may take a while for queries to see an upward tick, again customer sentiment is what will play a major role,” he said.
Embassy Group has received several business queries through chat, artificial intelligence-based bots. This has helped the company improve its lead generation and content marketing.
“With 3D renders/ 3D walk throughs, buyers have been exposed to the properties much before they actually visit them. There are also Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality solutions. Buyers can actually experience the under-construction or ready-to-move-in properties also from remote locations with the help of these services. This has also helped the industry pitch better in international markets or in other cities and it is acting as support function during the current lockdown situation,” Reeza Sebastian, president, Residential Business, Embassy Group, told Moneycontrol.
A helpline or chat service add up as a support mechanism to manage customer requests, she says, adding the company has launched an online buying solution for its smart homes – Embassy Edge@Embassy Springs, a segment targeted at the first time homebuyer.
Oberoi Realty has also scaled up its digital presence.
“Homebuyers after getting project-related information through our website have shown willingness to visit the site as well, which is a positive sign for sales momentum to revive in the weeks to come,” said Vikas Oberoi-CMD, Oberoi Realty.
At PropTiger.com, sales personnel are using video calls to connect builders with customers and to take discussions towards closure. The firm has also tied up with a payment gateway to enable online deal closure by offering booking payments online.
Are sales being finalised online?
While the mid-segment and the first-time homebuyers are open to making decisions after experiencing the projects online, buyers closing a luxury property deal take longer and prefer visiting the site. Even formalities with HNI clients or NRI investors can be closed online through virtual platforms, emails and digital exchanges, says Sebastian.
Oberoi Realty has so far concluded two deals online and received more than 15 enquiries for all its projects.
Some developers are also providing sops for booking a property online.
“We will be providing a cash back to the tune of 5 percent of the property value to all those who book units during the lockdown period. In the absence of site and office visits, the booking amount needs to transferred via online channels,” said Dhiraj Jain, director, Mahagun Group.
Migsun Group has booked 50 units comprising a total area of 75,000 sq ft over the last few days through the digital mode. “We have received Rs 51,000 on each booking, which were mostly paid via digital mode,” said Yash Miglani, MD, Migsun Group.
Will AI be the way forward?
Homebuying in India is still largely a family decision and it’ll be some time before artificial intelligence replaces an onsite experience.
“Technology will not completely replace human interaction/human capital in this field. There will be constant need of human reinforcement and interaction to build a certain level of confidence in homebuyers,” says Sebastian.
Homebuying involves a huge investment and is also an emotional decision. “Homebuyers will prefer visiting the site once before closing the deal. We expect to see a rise in conversations once the situation normalises,” says Prashin Jhobalia, VP marketing strategy, House of Hiranandani.
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