With a growing demand for real estate, Tata Realty and Infrastructure recently launched its festive campaign to capitalise on the improving consumer sentiment. Sarthak Seth, VP & CMO, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited, tells us more about the campaign, the brand’s efforts to encourage consumers to purchase more and the factors that are driving growth for the sector.
Q] Tell us about Tata Housing’s festive campaign – ‘Right Home, Right Now’? What was the prime objective behind it?
It’s the most ideal time for any homebuyer who’s searching for a new home to actually buy one and that is the reason we said ‘Right Home, Right Now’. The concept of ‘right now’ was from a perspective that currently now is the time that home loan rates are much better for any buyer in terms of interest. Also, the entire landscape of real estate has just started to pick up, so, even from an investment perspective, this is the most ideal time. In fact, last year in the last quarter, we actually saw an uptake of around 3% to 4%. Now again, the interest of homebuyers is back. And again, the prices have started to go towards the higher side. So it’s the most apt opportunity for any of the homebuyers, who are looking forward to really investing in new homes. The campaign also enables customers to pay only 0.99% flat interest rate for a period of one year, with the rest being borne by Tata Housing. In addition to this, the customer will receive a cashback on a booking amount of up to Rs 2 lakh. Apart from the cashback, we are also giving gift vouchers of upto to Rs 3 lakh depending on the total amount you’re investing in the house. So, we really make a very lucrative offer for homebuyers. Our campaign therefore aims to drive home the message about all these things that make home buying attractive at Tata Housing.
Q] What marketing mix are you using to amplify the campaign?
From a media mix perspective, now it is the time for us to leverage an entire 360 degree campaign. Also, PR really plays a very important role in terms of creating outreach. And Digital is the most apt medium because you can do geo-targeting, especially when we talk from any housing development company perspective because we have got specific location-based projects. Apart from digital, Outdoor plays a very important role for us, and people have already started commuting. And, if you look at the number of people visiting our sites, I think almost 90% of the visits normally happen on weekends. So, you will see most of the developers doing print ads on a Friday or a Saturday, because these are the two apt days for us to really create that awareness for any of the homebuyers. Apart from this, we also look forward to the referral loyalty part because when I say referral loyalty, we have got a consumer database, which includes people who have already bought homes from us. That is close to about 20,000 customers. So, they actually bring in their referrals when they’re really looking in terms of investing in a second home of their own, or a third home. So these are some of the ways in which we are strategising and reaching our customers.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Tata Housing Development Company is a closely held public limited company and a subsidiary of Tata Sons. It is the first corporate to pioneer the concept of real estate development in India. It has a pan-India and international presence with capabilities in construction, engineering, commercial / IT parks, housing and township development. It is also known for international standards of design and green sustainable developments.
PROFILE
As the Vice-President & CMO of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited, Sarthak Seth is responsible for driving the marketing initiatives of the company. Seth brings with him over 15 years of experience in brand management and marketing. He has previously worked with brands like Panasonic and LG Electronics.
Q] How much growth are you seeing in housing sales currently?
If we look at it from last year’s perspective, I think already we have seen across markets, there has been growth of 15% to close to about 30%, depending upon which market we are actually talking about. We’ve seen growth of almost 35% compared to last year.
Q] What impact did the pandemic have on luxury housing? Did you see a substantial increase in demand for luxury homes or has the demand declined?
The luxury housing or the larger spaces, over the last four months, has bounced back very nicely. And we have got a mix of both luxury homes and under luxury homes. So, I would say that we have seen a demand for housing in the Rs 2 crore+ bracket.
We have also got our villas that are in the Rs 5 crore+ bracket. Initially, nearly as soon as the first lockdown got over, I would say second homes were in demand, especially for projects like in Kasauli. So, there you actually don’t have only one-bedroom apartments, but you’ve got villas also, which are in the category of up to Rs 7- 8 crore. Post the first lockdown, we saw tremendous sales from people who were looking to purchase from a second home perspective. And, I believe, that going forward in the next couple of quarters you will see a big surge when it comes to the entire value aspiration segment also.
Q] What kind of growth have you seen from non-metros during the pandemic?
We are majorly present in the top six cities in the country. In terms of growth, not only in the metros, rather I’d say some of the Tier III cities had really good growth in the last couple months.
