Using the COVID-19 outbreak & lockdown as an opportunity for intelligent business growth in realty sector, Vikas Chaturvedi, CEO – Xanadu Realty has made an impact in this industry.
Read on more to know about his journey and what future growth plans he has for the company.
When did Xanadu Realty start its operations in India and how has the journey been thus far?
Xanadu Realty is India’s leading real estate company that specializes in providing the Comprehensive Institutional Expertise in Marketing & Sales, Business Strategy and Consulting, and CRM solutions for complete business portfolio of our clients. We were founded in 2015 by the two stalwarts of the real estate R Karthik & Anurag Singhvi. For both of them, the idea behind this endeavour was to establish an organisation that promotes and accelerates intelligent business growth for the developers in the realty sector. We are headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Our journey has been exciting, fulfilling and enriching. Today, we have a distinguished set of companies as our clients that includes strategic partnership with notable brands like Ruparel, Raunak Group, Akshar Group, Kamdhenu, T. Bhimjyani Realty to name a few. And since inception we have directly created sales in excess of Rs 3,200 crore for our clients. Our journey has been one of great learning and we continue to evolve with a very strong team and experienced management to guide us.
What is distinctive about the services you provide?
We are the only institutional solution to the developers which can deliver an intelligent, accelerated and lasting business growth. Our services are distinctive as we provide a fundamentally different approach to solve problems by creating a comprehensive ecosystem across the sales & marketing value chain. All of this is down to having a talent pool that has collectively not just the capability but also the experience of playing the game at highest levels of real estate. In fact, I’d say there is at least a 10 year leap for anyone to catch up to us. At Xanadu, about 80 per cent of the core management team comes from a developer background.
Our approach is that of solving the business problems from a developer’s perspective. Only when you understand what a developer needs, can you provide consistent and impactful solutions for their business. This means we provide unique solutions to each problem and do not have a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
More importantly, our approach is not that of a broker or a reseller which is limited by one project or one launch. We start with the understanding of the core problem that needs to be solved.
Who will be the consumer? What are the consumer need gaps versus the current choices available? What do we need to augment the product?
How do we enrich and empower the project & corporate brand.
We then create Media and Communication strategy that allows us to specifically talk to the consumer group for whom the product proposition got developed.
Our strong Go-to-Market capability and Distribution strength then helps tap into both direct and indirect channels that include digital marketing, direct sales, and channel partners. We know that our clients are very passionate about their projects, therefore we work very closely with them to create products that are winners in the market.
According to you how is the demand picking up for premium residential space?
The premium residential space for me is the category of Rs 3Cr+ in Mumbai. And more importantly this is the price range where innovation, brand alliances, premium features, distinctiveness etc all play an important role in the customers’ decision making. We at Xanadu, see great potential in the premium residential space with new projects popping up across Mumbai which want to provide a sincere product in luxury space. Increasingly, premium experiences & amenities are adding tremendous attraction for the customers. We also see the emergence of a new category of HENRYs (High Earners But Not Rich Yet) making quick decisions to buy premium properties which justifies their new status and their thirst for the high life. Today, few customers are deferring their purchases due to COVID-19, but we do see many buyers which are also taking advantage of the easy payment plans offered by various developers.
With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, and the lockdown around it, still you have delivered a great performance by selling 250 units in the month of June’ 20. Can you tell us more about it?
At Xanadu, we have always employed a meticulous approach to our product launches. Hence, each product launch targets a fundamental need for the customer, and we try to make the opportunity an unmissable one, even during the COVID-19/ lockdown period. We were able to sell over 250 units in the month of June’2020. This includes both residential and commercial spaces. Our projects were located across MMR region and prices ranged from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 8 crore. In fact, our venture into the super-premium category in Thane enabled us to sell two units worth Rs 8 crore, a rarity even in normal times. Our strategy was to circumvent the disruptions caused by COVID-19 and lockdown by leveraging our capability to digitize the entire customer journey of planning to buy real estate. Our virtual sales gallery provides superior customer experience and helps customer take decision for their purchases (homes/offices) with as much precision and information as it was before COVID-19 (but from the safety of their homes).
Recently you have developed a knowledge platform ‘IGNITE-X’ for the channel partner fraternity, tell us more about it?
Worldwide organisations have been hosting several webinars for different aspects of real estate, none however, connected to the needs of channel partners in the real estate industry. We at Xanadu believe that channel partner fraternity is one the key pillars of the industry and thus felt the need to do something. To bridge this gap, we started a ‘probono’ knowledge platform called ‘IGNITE-X’, exclusively designed for the channel partners. The webinar includes a series of stimulating sessions on skill development and business development. It also emphasized on building trust and loyalty with customers, as most of them are likely to remain confused during these times – regarding when to buy and what to buy.
As the advent of technology is rising, you have inculcated newage AR and VR tools facilitated virtual walkthroughs for customers. What was the reaction of clients as this will be the ‘new normal’?
Xanadu has across projects developed exciting new virtual tools to help customers absorb information in the easiest form possible and connect with our sales managers to make purchase decisions. The customers are now able to be safe at home while they experience their dream property. Our comprehensive experience across projects enable buyers to get into minute details with the help of virtual walk-throughs and guided discussions with our sales managers for a sense of assurance while buying the property. Our partner developers have seen the immense value in these platforms, and we are together evolving our experiences every day to make it even better.
What are your thoughts on the current scenario of real estate business?
If there is a phrase I would use to describe this scenario – it would be ‘In- Transition’. We see a lot of developers patiently waiting on the sidelines for normalcy to resume, while few are proactively finding solutions to grow their business and ‘up the ante’ every day. The construction work is also not at full capacity in Mumbai and other metros, projects are invariably getting delayed resulting in reduced collections. A silver lining in all of this is that the seemingly impossible changes are happening now at a rapid rate because of the disruption of normalcy. The work from home stance has not only changed the traditional way industry used to approach any project launch, but also helped every company think about rationalizing costs and investments. Technology is sweeping all verticals – sales, marketing and even HR. Real estate sector, which is the second-largest employer in India, must utilize the best of the technology that is available today. In fact, during recent lockdown, technology came to the rescue and helped the sector garner sales when people predicted zero sales. We definitely believe that the fundamental need for a home has not changed, and customers are interested in buying better homes. We feel that once the transition is complete, the sector will pick-up in a strong manner.
Where do you see the company in next five years?
I foresee a strong future for our company. In the last 5 years we have been able to achieve a significant standing for Xanadu in the real estate of Mumbai. Today, many of our clients have given us their entire portfolio. In the coming years, I see Xanadu leaving an even more significant mark in Mumbai real estate with a higher share of the business and larger strategic partnerships. Strategically in coming year, we are entering into key markets like Bangalore & Pune in this fiscal year. This is a significant step for us and with the kind of impact we had in Mumbai, I see a quicker but much more significant impact of Xanadu in these markets. I believe that in next 5 years the light of Xanadu will not only spread to more markets in India but also will create industry benchmarks and lead the way in real estate.
How did you cope up from this lockdown phase and what was one thing that you learned through it?
The lockdown phase was indeed testing times for our company and our clients. However, at Xanadu we were able to bring lots of changes to adapt to the new normal. Firstly, we implemented a strict learning protocol with all our employees so that a new culture of sharing knowledge across functions was born. This helped each function adapt to best practices. It also helped reskilling the organization on the new needs of the business. Secondly, we introduced a work-from-home mandate where each manager and employee were given guiding principles & SOPs to function efficiently. Thirdly, we brought in complete digital orientation across all the functions so that they could be best equipped to handle customers in the new digital world. I believe the critical learning for us came from a recent experience where we were able to generate large volumes in one month, namely June. And even in the lockdown we saw that customers were not willing to forgo a good opportunity. This learning helped us take more informed decisions on future projects and create reasons to make them successful.