As the real estate market heads for maturity, real estate buyers have multiple options to choose from. Properties are being showcased like consumer products and only those with quality and by trusted
names are invoking the desired response among the prospective buyers who are discerning. Further, buyers are more informed and hence more demanding. This change in the market with buyers saying Yeh dil maange more is forcing the developers to modify their sales and marketing strategy.
Experts say that, given the kind of money involved in property transaction, buyers are more comfortable getting associated with developers who they can trust. Property buying is not something one does frequently. The money involved is so large that buyers always look for safety and that is where big and reputed developers score over others. It is during an uncertain market condition when the names of builders matter more, as buyers become skeptical and look out for safer buys. Besides, such an approach becomes more pronounced in case of under-construction properties where buyers commit the purchase in advance.
In today’s depressed market condition, when sales moving quite slowly, reputed builders to some extent manage to buck the trend as end users tend to repose faith in them. Builders are slowly but surely realizing this fact and putting efforts in brand building exercise. The market is much more organized today and builders with corporate structure and transparent functioning find better acceptance in the market.
Builders are gradually realizing that mere promotion of their properties may not be enough to win the confidence of the buyers. So, what they are trying to do is to build a track record by consistently delivering what they are promising. In fact, brand building is likely to be the order of the day as trust, quality and reliability are going to be the decisive factors. We have already started seeing this happening. Buyers prefer to deal with reputed names even as they have to pay some premium. This trend is likely to catch up further going forward.
Though brand building calls for investment and commitment, it brings with it multiple benefits. While, on the other hand, this helps the real estate companies sell their properties even during difficult times, on the other, it also helps them raise funds at lower costs from more than one source. Brand building is fast assuming significance in the Indian real estate market. It is a long process where you try to win the trust of buyers by consistently delivering what you promise and the same is conveyed to your prospective buyers in an explicit manner.
With changing demographics, Indian buyers are today more discerning than ever. It is more so in case of real estate since it involves the largest investment that a buyer makes in his life time. An established brand carries an inbuilt trust with it. Even as builders are trying to invest in promotional activities, brand building does not come easy. It involves effective communication that is accompanied by equally effective fulfillment of promises.
The entry of corporate houses such as the Tata’s, Godrej, Mahindra, Bombay dyeing and others has also helped bring a certain degree of professionalism in the Indian real estate sector. Things have certainly changed over the last decade. Developers are investing in building processes which are more transparent and accountable.