Square Yards was founded in 2014 as a primary market real estate brokerage organization. In the very second year of its inception, the company broke among the top real estate brokerages of India but the founders soon realized that scaling it up to capture larger market share and exponentially increase revenue could only be done with the help of technology, which went beyond just being a mere property selling website.
That vision kick-started its digital transformation journey of automating its internal sales and operations processes and later extending it for all stakeholders in the real estate value chain. Something that slowly captured the let’s ‘buy property online’ mindshare.
Fast forward to five years, Square Yards today ranks among top 20 consumer tech start-ups in India in terms of GTV (~USD1bn), top 50 in terms of revenue (~USD50mn) and is amongst the handful of consumer tech start-ups in India which are profitable.
The Various Stages of Tech Deployment at Square Yards
Square Yards started its tech transformation journey in 2015 and worked on a well-defined roadmap to reach where we are today – the foremost digital real estate selling online service. The technology roadmap was divided into 4 phases:
Phase 1: Basic capabilities – Having a well-designed & institutive portal for lead generation, CRM for lead capturing & lead nurturing, moving from excel based transaction reporting to system driven sales order management.
Phase 2: Advance Capabilities – Advanced research tools like heatmaps, recommendation engine, algorithm driven investment scores, mobile app for field sales lead management, System Invoicing & Collection, Broker/Channel partner app were then introduced in the next stage to cover ever increasing home buyer needs. This also ushered in a new era of high transparency in the industry, with respect to all contextual property information.
Phase 3: Optimized Capabilities – E-commerce capability with real time inventory selection, Marketing Automation, Integrated mortgage fulfilment – Digital home loan journey, Integration with credit bureaus, identity & income verification services, Client servicing portal were enhancements that were completed in stage 3. This enabled Square Yards to cover every known aspect of an online flat sale and in the process greatly boosted customer confidence and inched up market share for the startup.
Phase 4 (ongoing): Predictive Capabilities – Machine learning based Intelligent Lead Assignment/ Churning, Consumer progressive web app for control of service experience during property buying journey, Sales Enablement Tools – e.g. Comparative Market Analysis.
Enabling All-Weather Online Home Sales
At a time when a pandemic-induced lockdown seems more like a movie script, putting humanity indoors and taking economies hostage, Square Yards has taken it head on, thanks to the 4-stage technology journey explained above.
We ensured that home buyers are not kept waiting for affordable homes and tried things that the real estate fraternity hasn’t seen before, while keeping trust and home-buying convenience intact. Square Yards’ transaction numbers are a fitting testament to that. On March 31, we clocked 100 transactions when the nationwide lockdown was underway.
Also read: Square Yards’s Edge all set to empower digital real estate sales
With a relentless drive to reinvent and revolutionise the system, Square Yards pivoted to a futuristic model that automates the entire value chain of real estate transactions. Beginning with pre-sales, we took customers on online virtual tours & 3D walkthrough experiences, giving them a real-time feel of a home tour. After the customer is satisfied and a deal is imminent, a real time inventory blocking engine integrated with multiple payment gateways and post sales module for submission of online applications with digital signatures, comes into play.
As you read this, Square Yards’ strong team of 2500+ insight sellers, equipped with state-of-the-art mobile technology leverage digital mediums to set up meetings with clients, discuss inventory virtually over video calls using 3D walkthroughs, share collaterals at the tap of a button and use digital transaction tools to create a bespoke, immersive home-buying experience.
At Square Yards, we create possibilities keeping the homebuyer at the centre of our business. Tapping into the pulse of homebuyers and adapting to neo real estate trends, we are constantly trying to increase convenience and enable deeper engagement & personalization for our customers. Whether it is through digital handshakes or virtual tours, we will continue to pioneer innovations and play a huge role in how consumers experience real estate.
