Mark2Market strategy of SARE Olympia to showcase sports-themed housing in Gurgaon
Developer: SARE Homes
Location: Sector 92, Gurgaon
Price: Rs. 77 lakh- Rs. 1crore
Project execution lifecycle: July 2015-Dec 2018
Conceptualisation
Olympia has been designed keeping in mind the fact that the presence and availability of playing spaces and active sports for children works wonders for their health and also sharpens their minds and personalities. With in-built privacy for families, ample play spaces for children, proximity to work, access to good healthcare and educational institutions, ‘Olympia’ is the perfect package for the entire family.
Driving force
The developer claims to have realisation that the market always goes either through phases of growth or depression. Also, they were conscious of the fact that the reason for slowdown was not the lack of demand by the homebuyers but the unavailability of affordable habitable units. So, with Olympia, they are aspiring to enable the residents to have a secure living environment with ample facilities for their families within their budget.
Drawing board to on-ground
Since Olympia is a sports-themed project targeting mid-income customers with children in the 6 to 14 years age group it has been a careful planning to offer the precise specification and amenities that the buyers in this segment were looking for. It has not just been the clearances and approvals, but designing of the project has been equally critical job.
Defining demand
The developer claims to launch each of their projects after doing a thorough research about the market, region and demand of the consumers. For Olympia, they have conducted in-depth research and understanding of the homebuyers’ conscious and subconscious needs and preferences. The key findings are that while parents have historically focused on their children’s academic development, nowadays they recognise the importance of sports to develop a child’s leadership qualities, boost their immunity and academic performance.
Challenges
SARE Homes have identified target group to be families with children in the 6 to 14 years of age group, and hence the thought process has been from a child’s perspective, and focus on what will interest him in terms of sports. Along with providing sports oriented facilities they have been careful to design it in a way that the customer doesn’t get into mindscape conflict of liking it but finding it unaffordable.
Insights
At Olympia, the array of facilities for sports and fitness enthusiasts includes football, basketball, badminton, volleyball and lawn tennis courts, half Olympic size-swimming pool, jogging and cycling tracks and two professionally-prepared cricket pitches. Additionally, roller skating, table tennis, billiards/pool tables, tough kids’ zone, sand pit, toddlers’ park, sauna/steam facilities and rock climbing are also available, along with Yoga and meditation zones as well as a Sports Lounge in every tower.
For having all these sports facilities under one roof they realised the need to utilise space in a very analytical way. Also, since the project targets mid-income group, there was a need to have minimum maintenance cost for these projects, as these costs ultimately is to be passed on to the buyer. Considering all these, the developer focused more on outdoor games.
Market feedback
During the pre-launch phase only, SARE Homes claims to have witnessed unprecedented recognition and acceptability from the customers. Out of 330 units they could sell more than 50 units in the pre-launch phase.
The project has been launched after doing an in-depth research of the market and requirement of the buyers. While developing this project the developers also consulted the sports enthused and architects.
Project Differentiator
While end-end sports-theme housing is the new fad in the residential market in this part of the world, this project caters to mid-income customers with children in the 6 to 14 years’ age group – a target audience others don’t take cognisance of. Additionally, the project offers a genuine subvention scheme with no EMIs till possession. Therefore, customers need not worry about being hit by a double whammy of rent payment as well as EMIs.
Investors’ outlook
The ticket size and the future appreciation potential seem to have been well received in the market; a testimony to the fact has been the success of the project in pre-lunch stage only. More importantly, both the investors as well as end users are finding it value for money.
Marketing Strategy
The company has realised that the homebuyer today is more well-informed and smarter in his due diligence of the project and evaluating it in the competitive space. The marketing strategy for Olympia has thus been more focussed on the digital platforms to make sure that there is substantial presence on digital media and through e-commerce sites. In terms of the sales strategy, the company in its effort to generate the customer interest also introduced a special subvention scheme with no EMI’s till possession. Additionally, the developer also organised sports related social events at their existing townships which helped in generating the word-of-mouth publicity for the project.
Hits & misses
The strategy to optimise the internet for pre-launch of the project provided impetus to the sales. Usage of social networking for increased brand awareness and the facility of live chat to help people address their queries and make a more informed decision can also proved to be innovative methodology to give a major boost for sale of the project.
Learning
SARE Homes points out that today customers are well informed and intelligent and the company is conscious of the fact that any marketing campaigns might generate interest, but to convert that interest into sale is the actual task. Winning customers trust and building a long lasting relationship will only be possible when they deliver quality projects and have transparent dealings.
Launch2Sales ratio
50 units out of a total 330 sold in the pre-launch stage only.
