JLL plans e-commerce foray for residential property

Leading international property consultancy JLL India on Wednesday announced that it will foray into e-commerce to market residential real estate. This initiative, involving the launch of a dedicated e-commerce platform that leverages JLL’s strong market network, will dedicate a team of on ground expert consultants to close transactions on leads generated online to benefit developers, end users and investors.

Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO – Residential Services, JLL India, said, “In line with JLL’s strong emphasis on ethics and accountability, the process will also involve conducting due diligence of the projects before listing the properties on the ecommerce platform. For fully-vetted projects, we will work closely with the developers to offer the best possible deals to property buyers and provide a win-win situation all around. With technology as a key enabler, this initiative will be backed by robust online marketing, dedicated in-house call centre, and customised CRM, mobile application helping execute an automated sales process and an experienced and efficient team.”

According to a press release real estate is an information-intensive and high-engagement industry. The lifecycle of a home search starts typically with an Internet search. Recent times have seen a growing tendency among home buyers to complete their initial search online, thereby reducing the need for physical visits to shortlist their options. In fact, a study by Google highlighted that the 74 per cent of research done online revolves around residential property buying.

However, a property purchase commitment is not one which buyer will make with the same confidence and detachment with which they would buy a smaller commodity online. Moreover, home purchase is all about forming a personal bond and the process invariably involves personal inspection and on-ground research with the help of a professional firm. JLL India’s launch of this end-to-end e-commerce solution will plug the gap and offer a common platform to both sellers and buyers of residential real estate.

“With this initiative, we will offer buyers credible projects at the right price, with the best deal in the market,” explains Ashwinder Raj Singh. “Unlike the many aggregators operating in the online real estate market space, we bring to the table an offline follow-up and transaction process to successfully service inquiries generated by digital marketing. We are launching this end-to-end service at a time which is especially appropriate for first-time buyers of budget homes. This category of customers received a major leg-up by the recently-announced Union Budget, which provided an additional Rs. 50,000 tax exemption for first-home buyers purchasing houses worth up to Rs. 50 lakh with loans of up to Rs. 35 lakh.”