Title:                           APARTMENTZ.COM COMPANY CASE

Subject Area:          Positioning Strategy

Region:                      India

Industry:                   Classified industry vs. an online real estate industry

Company:                 Apartmentz.com, Online housing portal

Challenge:                Apartmentz.com was a late entrant to the online housing portal space. It launched its services on July 7, 2012, and began with a focus only on rental search. They are now an online platform where users can post their listings to sell their housing needs in various Indian cities. In 2017 Propliger.com and apartmentz.com merged to become India’s largest online real estate services company. The joint entity received a financial boost with Australia’s REA group providing $50 million in the capital with Softbank, who had previously invested $90 million two years prior, offering an additional $5 million. The aftermath of this led to interim CEO Jason Kothari being dismissed and PropLiger co-founder and CEO Raj Kapoor taking the reins of the joint company… Over the past few years, Apartmentz.com had faced many challenges and had restructured substantially. Mr.Kapoor evaluates whether he should remain an active player in this classified industry or to transition apartmentz.com to be more of an online real estate company that processes end to end transactions.

THE TEAM: Elucidating Our Professional Core

• Derek Lucas: Forward-thinking MIS & Supply Chain professional focused on helping firms leverage the effective collection and management of data in order to gain and sustain competitive advantage.
• Rayyan Islam: Finance professional in the management consulting industry, who is interested in the health and energy sectors.
• Charles Quinn: Finance and Data Science focused incoming consultant focusing on recruitment and talent development in the tech and quant trading industry.
• Aliyah Mathur: Marketing major focused on global and local marketing strategy while having both cultural and marketing understandings in India as well as the USA.
• Tiffany Wong: Analytical and open-minded Finance and MIS professional focused on helping firms analyze their data to develop a strategy in order to gain a competitive advantage

METHODS: Embedding in Industry and Company’s Realities

The consulting team has collected data from both primary and secondary sources. The team was able to get more information about the industry, the landscape of the real estate and business within India, as well as a personal insight into the struggles of the companies through an interview with Raj Kapoor. In order to get a more unbiased view as well as delve into statistics, the team gathered sources from news outlets, academic articles, and economic websites. We analyzed our data by using the PESTEL, SWOT, and Porter’s Five Forces in order to gauge our strengths, weaknesses, industry, and gain an understanding of where our opportunities lie and are threats are.

ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Generating Value

By carefully matching the strengths with the opportunities, we will recommend Apartmentz.com transition into a true e-Real Estate platform and Become a one-stop-shop for sellers to list properties and buyers to search for homes. Specifically, we recommend the company to operate at the intersection of two industries, in such a way crafting a unique competitive advantage.

• Classifieds: Continue competing on the model of leveraging classified advertisements to list available properties
• E-Real Estate: Become a one-stop-shop for sellers to list properties and buyers to search for homes; while facilitating a seamless transaction between one another

Transition to a true e-Real Estate platform, as there is no true market leader in this industry yet. If well-executed, they could set themselves up to be a true powerhouse within India’s booming real estate market. Change the features and functions on the website, allowing users to perform end to end transactions and listings.

For the implementation of becoming a digital real estate platform, we recommend changing the features and functions on the website, allowing users to perform end to end transactions and listings. Additionally we also recommend changing the mission and vision of the company, granting employees to fully understand the new transition and act by the most up to date industry standards.