Different Modes of Promotions used by Small Agents and Builders in the real estate business and Effect of Internet Advertisement on them.

REPORT ON SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT BY

Praveen Gupta

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of

EASTERN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOLKATA

For the award of

MASTERS IN BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION

Of the University of Kalyani

(2011-2013)

INDEX

No Particulars Page

1 Acknowledgement 1

2 Declaration by the Student 2

3 Certificate from Internal guide 3

4 Executive Summary 4

5 Brief Background of the Industry 5

6 Overview of the company 6

7 Products of the company 7-8

8 Domestic Real estate scenario 9

9 Objectives 10

10 Modes of the promotion 11-12

11 Growth and effect of Internet advertisement 13-15

12 Methodology 16

13 Areas visited (map) 17-18

14 Limitation 19

15 Analysis and Interpretation 20-30

16 Findings 3117 Recommendations 3218 Conclusion 33

19 Questionnaire 34

20 References 35

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost I would like to thank Mr. Atanu Upadhayay, Zonal Manger of

MAGICBRICKS.COM for providing me an opportunity to do my project work on

‘Different Modes of Promotions used by Small Agents and Builders in the real

estate business and Effect of Internet Advertisement on them.’ Mr. Upadhayay has

been my external guide during work and has assisted me in every possible way in

understanding the workings of the company. It has been a good experience being

with him and working under his guidance. He has guided me with his valuable

inputs to overcome the obstacles faced during my work.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards Prof. Biswanath Ghosh for

letting me the opportunity to pursue my summer interns in Magicbricks.com. Prof.

Biswanath Ghosh was my internal guide during the internship ‘I remember I called

him after my first day of internship when I was demotivated and tired and he

motivated me by saying it’s the time to feel the heat you have to work hard’ that

helped me throughout my work he also by gave some valuable information as to

how to go about with the project.

I would also like to thank Mr. Avik Goswami, Mr. Sudarshan saha , Mr. Siddharth

Bhattacharya, Mr. Amit Bose , Mr. Rajiv Biswas , Mr. Samindra Banerjee, Mr.

Pranay Jain of MAGICBRICKS.COM for their support and assistance throughout .

Finally I would also like thank my Parents specially my brother for his always kind

Support throughout my career.

Thank you all!

PRAVEEN GUPTA

STUDENT DECLARATION

I declare that the project titled “Different Modes of Promotions used by Small Agents and Builders in the real estate business and Effect of Internet Advertisement on them .” has been done by me as a part of the curriculum for the degree of Masters In Business Administration at Eastern Institute of Management , Kolkata during my Summer Internship .

(Signature of Student)

Name in full

Date

CERTIFICATE FROM INTERNAL GUIDE

This is to certify that the work embodied in the project titled

“Different Modes of Promotions used by Small Agents and Builders in the real

estate business and Effect of Internet Advertisement on them” was conducted

under my supervision.

Signature of Faculty:

Name of Faculty: Biswanath Ghosh

Executive Summary

My work as a Summer Trainee in Magic Bricks was to collect Raw Data from the market or we can say from different localities which was allocated to us so as to find out the different modes or medium used by small agents and builder to promote their business to expand their business in which one of the medium was Internet which has been a recent trend my work was to scan the locality look for the agents and builders also if the agent or builder was interested in advertising through our portal we did that by fixing an appointment through our seniors.

Apart from above work , as a Summer Trainee I was also Suppose to ask them which mode of advertisement they use more often if they showed interest in Online advertisement we used to fix appointments with them and then a representative from magicbricks meets that agent and explains the procedure and thus sells the product

Thus after doing the Studies we can say that there is a huge scope for internet advertising in the years to come builders already rely in internet advertisement but the small agents still rely on advertisement done through newspaper slowly they are getting used online/internet advertisement.

Brief Background of the Industry

Real Estate Industry is rapidly growing at a fast pace in India, the drastic change in population is demanding for more residential apartments , multistoried buildings thus more and more construction is taking place which in return benefits the Real estate industry, it also plays a critical role in the development of India’s economy. It is the second largest employer after agriculture.

High Growth in services as well as manufacturing sector has also resulted in high demand for commercial and industrial real estate.

Real estate industry is divided into four sub-sectors: Housing, Retail, Hospitality and Commercial.  The housing sub-sector contributes five-six per cent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Meanwhile retail, hospitality and commercial real estate are also growing significantly.

 Growth in the Indian economy has stimulated demand for land and developed real estate across industries. Demand for residential, commercial and retail real estate is rising throughout India, accompanied by increased demand for hotel accommodation and improved infrastructure.

Overview of the Company

Magicbricks.com was launched by Times Business Solution Ltd in August 2006, as a platform to bring together property buyers and sellers in the real estate industry .

Within three months of its launch it became the No.1 property portal.

Magicbricks.com offers pan coverage of over 800,000 listings.

MagicBricks.com currently records over 10 million page-views per month.

Magicbricks.com has over 6 lakh registered users, including over 65000 real estate agents and more than 13,000 builders.

It offers services like location Map Service, Email Alerts, Exclusive developer Micro-Sites, Magic SMS service, Click to call, etc.

Products of the company

FOOT BANNER – Homepage/ City Special Page

It is a unique Banner which Display’s the Projects / properties every time the page is opened.

Benefits: - A well Planned Banner is placed on the page footer which scrolls with

the page, which constantly attracts attention.

AGENTS GALLERY – City Page

Advertise on the city special page with name and description

Benefits: - it gets Maximum exposure with logo, name and description which has the advantage of high visibility and branding.

Shoshkele (animated banner) Homepage/ City Special Page

It is an intrusive flash banner which appears each time the page is opened and it

gets the maximum response.

Benefits: - Animated Pop-up is designed in such a way that it catches the

maximum Attention and ensures it reaches the targeted audience.

FEATURED BUILDERS – City Special Page / Builders Search Page

Gets a special display in the left panel of all relevant city special pages.

Benefits: - One unique micro-site is set up to promote business

PREMIUM PROPERTY LISTING

Multiple responses with a special display format in property search result. Get higher positions comparing free property listing it also adds Brand value.

Domestic Real Estate Scenario

The Real Estate Scenario in India is witnessing a huge growth as most of the metropolitan cities are escalating the property map with more and more projects. According to reports, an estimated size of the Indian real estate sector is $ 12 billion of country’s 600 billion economy. the real estate sector is witnessing a stable and further sustainable boom and the market is expected to reach $45 billion in next five years. This boom in the real estate market comprises of basically three sectors , i.e residential , commercial and retail. This boom in real estate market can be apparently observed in delhi, greater noida and other major cities of the country .

As the demand is getting higher , more and more players are entering the industry with a wide range of project to offer . The market trends in indian real estate sector are very healthy and are indicating towards a positive trend for the long-term investors. Other factors which are likely to contribute to long term demand for real estate in india are rapid population growth , rising disposable incomes for individuals and easy credit lending facilities .

To conclude Indian real estate sector promises to be a lucrative destination for foreign investors into the country. The Indian realty sector, if channelized properly, can be help the growth of several other sectors in India through its backward and forward linkages.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To find out the ways by which the small agents and builders promote their business.

To get the knowledge about how the small agents operate.

To find out which mode of advertisement agents and builders prefer.

To find out which mode of advertisement used by them is effective.

To Find out how many builders and small agents promote their business with the help of Internet through a questionnaire .

To compare the response gathered through different modes with Internet Advertisement.

Modes of promotion used by agents and builders.

Different promotion techniques used by agents and builders are mentioned below :

Banner/Hoarding : This type of Promotion is commonly seen by Small agents where they but their banners in the streets and promote their business to get response from the buyers . If we talk about builders generally they put their hoardings in the place where more people can see their Advertisement thus builders mostly don’t put their hoardings everywhere but they are quite choosy in doing that.

T.v : Small Real estate agents generally don’t promote their business though this medium but Builders prefer this medium, as it reaches the mass builders like DLF, Godrej, merlin group do put their advertisement in T.V.

Pamphlets : Small agents promote their Business through Pamphlets they give pamphlets which consists of their name , phone number , address etc . so that the buyers who want to reside in a particular place can contact them . sometimes it can also be in the form of a visiting card.

Newspaper : Newspaper is the most common medium through which both builders and Agents promote their business . this kind of promotion is widely used and widely accepted as it is user friendly for those people who don’t use internet .therefore the response is also quite good through this medium . Almost all newspapers publish a separate page in which the agents

and builders promote their business .for ex- Telegraph , Anandabazar patrika , etc publish a page called : ” REAL ESTATE”

Internet - This has been a recent trend of advertisement by Real estate agents , there has been found that lot of people spend most of their time in the internet , there are lot of online portals for real estate agents thus they promote their business through them .the response is also quite good . online portals like Magicbricks.com , 99acres.com, indiaproperty.com are very popular in the real estate world as they promote the real estate agents and builders .

Growth of Internet advertisement

Internet advertisement has grown immensely around the globe , as internet has got a vast reach which can allow advertisers to reach significantly more people at a very less time and in a cost effective way, nowadays people are using internet to do everything which starts from social networking to doing online transactions , thus internet has been playing a dominant role . thus the advertisers are choosing this medium to promote their business in a cost effective way . Internet advertising is becoming a platform and a choice for local as well as for global advertisers it has become one of the key tools that companies use to attract attention for their product or services . the growth of this particular media attracts the attention of advertisers as a very good source or we can say a productive technique to bring in customers in a cost effective way .

Online advertisement also helps the users/consumers to get relevant information about a particular product, this may not mean a sale of a product but it may drive the consumer to get the product from the store of which he/she has got the information .

The graph below shows the revenue growth by the internet. advertisement Bureau that internet advertisement revenue reached $8.4 billion dollars in Q1 of 2012. This Q1 record marks a 15% increase over the Q1 2011numbers at $7.3 billion.

This means that internet advertisement is continuing to become a media of choice for consumers

Effects of internet Advertisement on Agents and builders :

Internet advertisement offers so many facilities to the to the users of it, Still agents and builders prefer Newspaper Advertisement as their first preference of advertisement and then Internet but online portals they offer many benefits as compared to newspaper ads for example if the the agent want to edit his ad he can do so but if we talk about newspaper ad the user cannot do so also thus editing facility allows agents to add few more properties in their ad by simply clicking on the the edit option also if they refresh their site the particular agent page is shown at the top .

Many top builders such as DLF , Avani , Merlin group etc are mostly dependent on internet advertisement and they spend huge amount of money in online ad , but they get a good response as they own the special city page or premium page.

Many Agents find online advertisement as cost effective as they offer so many facilities , but these facilities can only be beneficial if the user has knowledge of computer .

Therefore it has been a mixed effect as few agents and most builders prefer online ad as they have got a good response but in the years to come online ad for small agents will become a good way to promote their business as the investment is quite low and return is high

METHODOLOGY

Research design

Sources of data:

Primary source: Visiting Customers

Method:

Target audience: Small Agents and Builders

Sample size: 30

Procedure: taking sample from areas such as :

i)South Kolkata

ii)North Kolkata

Research Instrument

Questionnaire

Areas visited

South Kolkata :

North Kolkata

Limitations of the study

Since the study had to be completed in the time span of two months where the field of study was vast , another limitation was area of operation though I am not a resident of Kolkata it was tough for me to visit areas which I had never heard of, I was assigned to locate builders , small agents and to make them understand how internet advertisement can expand their business , it was difficult for me to make small agents understand about internet advertisement who haven’t used computer’s throughout their life . while locating agents use of internet was strictly banned thus we had to physically look for agents in different localities by asking from people residing in that area .

We had to bring the visiting card of Agents we had visited and most of the small brokers owned tea shop , runned small business thus they never had any visiting card , another difficulty was that it was difficult to introduce my association the MAGICBRICKS without any Identity card .

For all this reason I had restrict the sample size to 30 respondents which have been chosen randomly

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

People surveyed according to their time duration in real estate business?

Interpretation :

From the above survey it can be clearly seen that there are new agents who are entering the real estate business out of 30 respondent 9 are new players and have recently started this business which shows how real estate market is booming at a fast pace and the majority of the respondent are in this business for more than 5 years which also indicates that they have got the return from that business which had made them stay longer.

People Surveyed according to their role in real estate business

Interpretation

One of the reason as to why there are more agents is their brokers and sub- brokers who are categorized under agents , also in places like jessore road , Dumdum road, lake town (north Kolkata), Lake gardens, jadavpur we find more agents then builders .

Around 50 % of the respondents were agents , 40 % were builders and 10% were sub-brokers who are also called part time brokers.

People surveyed to know whether advertisement creates an urge for them to buy a product ?

INTERPRETATION

This particular question was asked to find out their view as to see what is their view regarding advertisement

Many respondent said yes because they use different modes of advertisement to promote their business. Those agents who said no which were around 8 respondent still believed in word of mouth and they didn’t promote their business as they got business through their initial reputation which they had created in the market.

People surveyed to Find whether they need to advertising their property or they do it through word of mouth

INTERPRETATION

Almost everyone believed that advertisement is necessary without which their business cannot run as they see lot of competition in the market .

The other reason which make them advertise is number of agents and builders in a particular area . so to get better contacts or a name in the market advertisement is required , respondent who said no where those who believed in word of mouth .

Agents and builders surveyed to know how often they take the help of advertisement.

INTERPRETATION

This was a very interesting question for them and the answer which I got mostly was ‘Yes’ the reason was there has been lot new construction which enables Builders and agents to advertise .

Also to find a place in the market to maintain the goodwill they had to advertise to keep themselves updated.

Agents and builders surveyed to know which mode of promotion got them more response. (those who prefer advertisement)

INTERPRETATION

People still believe Newspaper as the most trusted and preferred mode of advertisement if we talk about other modes internet is booming at a quite fast pace though it is not able to catch the speed newspaper but the soon a time will come when internet will become the most preferred mode

Other reason why internet mode is still lagging behind newspaper is that many agents are not computer savy as they don’t have much knowledge about computers .

People surveyed to know their view regarding the current popularity of Internet Advertisement (1 refers – very poor , 5 refers – very good )

InternetTelevision

Newspaperothers

0%

100%

% OF RESPONSE

MODES OF PROMOTION

INTERPRETATION

After conducting this survey it was thus found from agents and builders point of view that currently Internet advertisement is quite popular in the market generally agents who are using internet advertisement find it quite user friendly and easy to use , whereas who hasn’t used internet advertisement still find it to be quite popular as they hear it from their friends who are in this field.

There where agents who rated it as 1(very poor) as they had invested in online advertisement but they didn’t got any response.

Agents and builders surveyed to know their preferred mode of advertisement

INTERPRETATION

I got mixed responses as still 45% of respondent still believed newspaper as their preferred mode due to reliability and trust factor , which they thought internet advertisement won’t provide.

Respondents who do internet advertisement said they will not switch to other mode of advertisement as they find online ad as cost effective , comes in their budget , more visibility in terms of duration of advertisement.

Agents and builders surveyed to know which online portal provided them with more response ( if they advertise online)

INTERPRETATION

This was asked to those agents who used internet advertisement as to find out which online portal gave them more response their was good fight between Magicbricks and 99acres .

Thus is states that 99 acres and magicbricks are very close competitors of each other despite magicbricks have upper hand because it falls under the times of india group

People surveyed to find out whether internet advertisement will become popular in days to come

INTERPRETATION

Most of the people believed that internet advertisement has emerged as a new media for advertisement which provides a good impact

Most people who has used internet advertisement believed that it increases the sale of any product and it had a good future ahead due to invent of so many technology .

Many believed that it will still take time to be the best mode of advertisement.

FINDINGS

Through survey it was found that are very few brokers who are computer savvy.

Many agents where were also found as sub-brokers who run their business through a tea shop.

By research it was found that there are more brokers then agents.

It has been found that mostly builders prefer Internet advertisement as their main source of advertisement as compared to that of an agent

Agents still rely upon Newspaper, Hoardings, Banners as a mode of their promotion to expand their business

Very few agents completely rely upon online advertisement

Builder and agents in outskirt of Kolkata have a little knowledge about internet advertisement .

Before buying any product people look in the internet about its features and cost to make a decision whether to buy that product or not.

Magicbricks.com have a build a good reputation with those who have experienced its service.

Recommendations

After doing the research it was found that 99acres is one of the main competitors thus magicbricks should focus on providing more benefits to their existing as well new client.

Magicbricks should focus on small agents as well ( mainly who are new and financially not strong) .

Magicbricks has got a good brand image as it comes under Times of India, so the company must put more emphasis on promoting their portal in local newspapers and print media.

Builders or promoters who are satisfied with the service of Magicbricks should take some reference from them and convert them into their clients.

Magicbricks should also introduce package of low amount which will bring in more advertisement from agents who have recently started their business.

The company should Campaign in the outskirts of Kolkata and provide builders and agents about how they can be benefited through internet advertisement.

Magicbricks is one of the top online portal , as internet advertisement is growing rapidly it should maintain its goodwill by providing its clients with offers and good after sale service which can help them bring in more clients.

Conclusion

There has been a significant change in the way small agents and builders operate. Advertisement has been their main source to promote their business most agents and builders are changing their mode and switching to Internet advertisement which comprises of so many benefits by doing this agents and builders are getting a good responses, as nowadays people are spending more time in the internet as it provides everything in just a click.

Though there has been a significant rise in online advertisement still Newspaper advertisement is still hugely demanded as we all know newspapers over a period have built a strong level of trust and confidence in the people which is unmatched by any other form of media.  

Thus online media has its use as it is booming at a fast pace and is becoming the choice for agents and builder to promote their business still it comes second after newspaper in terms of popularity , trust ,response etc. therefore newspaper advertisement for advertising is the still the best medium to promote business and it may take more approximately 4-5 years to become the most preferred mode of advertisement ,.

Questionnaire

NAME:

Age:

Sex:

Locality:

1) From how long you have been in real estate business?

a) Recently started b) 2-5 years c) more than 5 years

2) What is your role in Real estate Business?

a) Agent b) Builder c) Others

3) Does advertisement urge you to buy a product?

a) Yes b) No c) Can’t say

4) Do you need to advertise your property for sale?

a) Yes b ) No

5) How often do you put your advertisement for sale of a property?

a) Very less b) Always c) Not required

6) By which mode of advertisement you have got more response?(those who prefer advertisement )

a) Internet b) newspaper c)Television d)Others

7) Mark the popularity of internet advertisement on the scale of 5?(5- refers very good, 1-very poor)

a) 1 b)2 c) 3 d)4 e)5

8) Which mode of advertisement do you prefer in terms of Real estate? ( if they prefer doing advertisement)

a) Newspaper b) Internet c) T.V d) others

9) Which online portal has gathered you more response if you advertise online ?

a) Magicbricks b)99 acres c)India property d) others

e) don’t use online ad

10) Do you think internet advertisement will become more popular in days to come?

a) Yes b) no c) Can’t say

Reference

www.magicbricks.com

www.tbsl.com

www.google.com