Real Estate Search Stores - Coming Soon?
Found on Dalton’s Arizona Homes Blog - a real estate firm in Phoenix has opened a sales office inside a local Wal-Mart. Huh?
You can read more on the initiative from the Arizona Republic. But like Jonathan, I can’t help but feel the idea is misplaced. He says:
Yes, there’s a ton of foot traffic. But if it’s not foot traffic for people actually looking to purchase real estate, what’s the point?
I’ve actually been bullish on the idea of real estate firms taking a more aggressive retail approach ever since I was interviewed about what @Properties, a Chicago area brokerage, was doing with their real estate coffee bars (see Let’s Do Coffee… and Real Estate).
But the Arizona effort just seems a bit misguided. More than just the wrong kind of foot traffic - the central problem I see with this approach is the overall customer experience I’d likely have walking into the location.
It’s the hard sales tactics I’d be afraid of walking into.
Instead, we should should take a hard look at lessons that can be learned from a company that gets the retail experience right. Apple.
Imagine a high end real estate storefront patterned after an Apple Store. Having an inviting environment with a clean, clear design ethos. Put it in the right place (not a Walmart) - a suburban walking mall or hip downtown neighborhood. It has comfortable seating and cafe style approach (Foxtons UK does this already). A kids play area. Free coffee/drinks.
The product should easily available for the customers to play with just like at Apple. Our imaginary real estate store has the product (i.e. listings) up front and center and accessible everywhere. Terminals and WiFi access points (with a real estate search site as the default gateway page) throughout. A few years down the road this could even include multi-touch technology like that from Microsoft Surface (see Surface Technology Could Save Full Service Brokers) or Perceptive Pixel (see House Hunting… with your Hands?).
It should have expertise on site. Let’s call ‘em “Genius bars” for real estate. Need a hand with a search? Want to know what the hot areas are to investigate or avoid? Non-commissioned help are there to attend to your immediate questions and needs. You can even schedule an appointment to speak with a professional when you’re ready to commit to your search full-time.
As broker or a brand (Zillow or Trulia could pull this off too), the idea is you create a compelling enough environment to entice people to step inside. Stop spending thousands of dollars to reach the people where they are (i.e advertising) - they’re largely unreceptive in those places anyway. Flip the model, invest the money and have them come to you instead.
The crux of the issue is that this is a pure branding play and a way of reconnecting with increasingly disenchanted and cynical customers. It’s not necessarily a lead generation activity (though it certainly could be very productive) but rather a way to endear consumers to your brand and, in the end, create a greater connection to your business and this industry in general.
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17 Comment(s)
2 Trackback(s)
- From Real Estate Search Tit for Tat : Future of Real Estate Marketing | Dec 20, 2007
- From » Blog Archive » A Look At The Industry In 2010 | Jan 2, 2008
rudy | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
it all sounds very, very familiar joel
Portland Real Estate Guy | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
I’m sure most major metropolitan areas have very top notch offices. But I really think the office of the future or now has 4 wheels not 4 walls. Equipped with a wireless laptop, blue tooth everything, and a starbucks frequent customer card.
andrew | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
I actually like this approach but the clientele of Walmart might not have great credit but for branding purposes i like!
C Richey | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
Walmart is already in the real estate business. I posted an article about it on 2k bloggers a while back. Right now its strictly commercial and restricted to their own stores. As far as I know the agents don’t have to wear the blue shirts
GundyGroup | Dec 19, 2007 | Reply
Brings new meaning to “watch out for falling prices”.
Lenore Wilkas | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
In the community I work in, this would be a hit. The busiest store on the main street is the Apple Store and people do like to hang there. I, for one, could see this as a place to go for information about real estate.
Mrmuny | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Isn’t the Internet supposed to have avoided the trips to the Realtor’s Office and avoiding the “salesman/saleswomen”. Searching in private without any pressure. Why would anyone drive to a location to see properties. I go to apple when I need a genius, not a house! I’ll find my house and call my agent to get it for me.
I can’t fix my own ipod, I can find a house.
mark | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
I like the idea. In theory it sounds good, but they already tried this. It may have been before its time, but if you recall it was called SOMA Living Inc.
Agent Scoreboard | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
funny… people don’t think walmart is a good place for branding… I can tell you there are fortune 500s companies that have offices lining the streets of Bentonville, just to get near Wally World. Those consumers spend $$, on everything including housing, maybe they are pinching pennies now, but they maybe buying houses tomorrow… wal mart has value no matter how you slice it… they wouldn’t be as successful as they are if they didnt’.
Apple while a “neat” consumer brand doesn’t fit the real estate model. My Apple store has mostly kids and college kids hanging around it. I go in and get out…
Condo Blog | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Like it. Anyone have any pictures of the space?
Victor Lund | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Joel,
Do you think that Walmart offers a customer that is any different from the customer reading the newspaper?
At least at Walmart, the sales person can look at their potential market place and begin to understand it a little better.
Brian Wilson | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
Walmart would be a premium location for a real estate retail front. Our mall kiosk in the blue collar part of town fares far better than similar real estate kiosks in more expensive parts of town. A Walmart location would be fantastic compared to our relatively awkward mall kiosk that still does very well.
The bottom line about real estate success is simple: agents need to be where people are and ask for their business. Being able to exclusively do this in a Walmart with a real estate front is equivalent to making the Oprah Winfrey Book Club as an author.
Brian Wilson, Zolve.com
Gabe Gross | Dec 20, 2007 | Reply
I remember in 1993 or 94 Cornish and Carey opened such a showroom in Palo Alto on University Ave. They spent quite a bit of money, plush furniture, terminals with virtual tours of homes, and staff to answer any questions. It was a flop, unfortunately. If Dennis Moreno reads this blog, perhaps he could give us details.
vikas | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
This is the good news for customer, because customer need change.
Henry Pryor | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
I’m interested in what you all have to say. Over here in London, we have experienced the ‘Foxtons bar’ approach which has certainly worked for them (sold for over £370m in the summer). What is really interesting however is that Tesco (our equiverlant of Wal Mart) have anounced that they are launching an estate agent offering. Will they leverage their huge store network or will we find that on-line is actually their preferred distribution choice? Either way, we will watch your market with interest and then doubtless kid ourselves that in the UK, things are so different :o)
A Happy Christmas to you all.
RealEstateCafe | Dec 21, 2007 | Reply
Posted “Back to the future: Real estate search centers 2.0″ to blog above, and created a subgroup on our Ning site for anyone involved in a past, present, o r proposed real estate search store to network.
Steve deGuzman | Jun 9, 2008 | Reply
I have opened the rehava ~ Real Estate Store. The first retail real estate store in America.
Please visit us at http://www.rehava.com