Lamudi is an online portal which connects property seekers with the property providers, land for residential and commercial, generating tens of thousands leads each month. Present in 34 countries, the company has over 600 employees and funding of € 55 million. Lamudi is part of the family Rocket Internet, known for sites such as Zalora and Lazada, and is supported by Oreedoo investors. We discuss the resumption of Indonesian goods industry and the ins and outs of this growing company with the CEO and co-founder, Steven Ghoos.
Since Lamudi entered the Indonesian market in 2014, you saw a list growth of 700 percent of the property. How was it achieved it?
In Indonesia, it is not difficult to raise a lot of ads. The challenge is to collect good quality ads updating officers to meet the demands of property seekers. That's why we focus on good processes to ensure that we have the best ads in the industry and work with only the best agents that respond quickly and accurately to requests for property seekers.
You co-founded Lamudi Indonesia. What attracted you to enter this emerging market?
Indonesia has great potential, with the fourth largest population in the world and an economy that is still emerging. In terms of line, there are huge prospects that the rate of Internet penetration is high and continues to grow (over 100 million people online in 2016).
What does your job as Managing Director implies
I make sure the site works well with high quality ads and sensitive agents ?; establish processes and develop solutions for property seekers can find their dream home; build our network of agents and to maintain relationships with customers, such as large real estate developers; make sure that we deliver solutions to customers that are effective in generating leads; implement brand activities - all that is done by our strong local team. Our product development and online marketing is the center of our headquarters in Berlin.
What does your website offer users this other list ownership of non sites?
General assessment of our customers is that the leads provided through online portals generally do not have high quality. Therefore, we created a system by which the tracks that are generated by online marketing, to make sure they are high quality before sending the son to our key customers and provide these property seekers with appropriate property suggestions we pre-screen.
In addition, we began to provide online marketing services and offline differentiated our key customers to create customized campaigns for their real estate projects. As such, we offer services that a digital agency would do, but adapted to the real estate market of our experience and concentration.
How your online portal generate revenue?
Through registration fees and custom marketing services.
Can you share your thoughts on the real estate market in Indonesia now?
2015 was not a good year for the property industry in Indonesia, and to date in 2016, there has been no improvement. The main obstacles are the high property taxes and general lull in the economic situation, making people or investors waiting to buy. We see an increasing trend in low-income and middle-income segment, with many government measures to support the middle class. In addition, there are areas that are in higher demand than the center of Jakarta, like Tangerang, because prices are not as high and the traffic situation is better.
Have you noticed any trends in your industry?
Online marketing is definitely growing in Indonesia. We see that traditional solutions with the markets to put the ads are not sufficient, and industry, with Lamudi its vanguard, is creating better solutions to better target and deliver better quality. We believe in a simple but friendly experience while leveraging existing online channels - , , Trovit, etc. -. To improve marketing effectiveness
What is the most popular at the moment -
purchase rental or purchase ?. Rental (and tall) is still not as common as in developed economies. However, there is a growing trend towards more recent hire and tall, with the young most educated generation in search of more flexible solutions close to home working.
Are there areas in Indonesia which attract more developers than others?
Some areas are Batam and Bintan, which are close to Singapore and Jakarta simultaneously.
Tell us about your mobile. How many downloads have you had?
Mobile is very important for Indonesia, as most of the population will own a smartphone, but no computer. That's why, from the beginning, we focused on the development of our application. At present, we have more than 1 million people who have downloaded our application, whether on iOS or Android.
How many unique visitors come to your website every month and what are their demographic characteristics?
More than 500,000 visitors per month, evenly divided between men and women. About 40 percent are between 25 to 34, with 80 percent between 18 and 44.
Lamudi Indonesia now has two offices in Jakarta and Surabaya. Do you have plans to expand further?
Other key markets with our presence are Bandung and Bali. Besides this, we focus on other growth markets such as Makassar, Medan and Balikpapan. But our biggest market is Jabodetabek, which includes the areas around Jakarta that are currently being developed, such as Tangerang.
Lamudi partners with the best organizations such as LJ Hooker and Harcourts. How does this relationship B2B?
About the agency, they introduce an online marketing solution Lamudi their agents to become members of our platform. From our side, we offer a good offer on the market for ads online agents, while educating and training organizations on how to use online for the generation of more efficient prospects. There is still a long way to go to raise all online marketing benefits, but surely we create greater awareness through meetings, training sessions and special competitions where agents can earn prizes for their efforts.
What are your goals for 2016?
establish ourselves as the preferred partner for our key customers and key developers in Indonesia. Since the market is a little down right now, we want to make a difference by providing innovative solutions that create value for our partners and customers. For property seekers, we not only want to become the market with the highest quality options, but also ensure that we provide good suggestions for them.
You publish a quarterly magazine Property Now . Your last issue deals with the sustainable house. Is it something that becomes increasingly important in Indonesia?
We see that the big developers are increasingly aware of the concept of sustainable development, also as a way to differentiate themselves from competitors. With the current congestion and pollution in Jakarta, needless to say that this could be a good strategy and attractive to potential property buyers. Hopefully the government will reconsider this also to create special measures for these efforts, as this is a long term goal that needs generally support the government in the interest of the general public and children of the nation tomorrow.
You are optimistic about the property market in Indonesia. Why is it?
Personally, I think it will take some time for the property market to re-bounce, but the future growth of the property will be driven by growing domestic middle class and supported by a more diversified economy.
Hopefully the government can be more flexible on the taxation of luxury goods in the meantime, to ensure that enough players will be around for when it comes time to build these houses for the middle class. We have seen in the past that it was a similar mistake does not develop more road infrastructure and transport to anticipate future needs, which we all feel the consequences today.
What excites you to work in the real estate sector?
Buying a property is a very important decision, involving both the rational and emotional aspects. This makes dynamic and challenging. It is also great to work with business ownership partners who co-shaped this country.
Thank you, Steven. To get in touch, email steven.ghoos@lamudi.co.id or wecare@lamudi.co.id . Visit www.lamudi.co.id for more information.