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Saturday, April 21, 2012

Deal-based websites – a new lease for properties?

Posted on April 20, 2012

Here’s a pop quiz: name the biggest online trend now. Twitter? Facebook? Google+? You may well be wrong, actually.

Check it's out...http://www.groupon.my/deals/national-deal/osk-property-holdings/716030336?nlp=&CID=MY_CRM_1_0_0_119&a=715827970

Deal-based websites like Groupon Malaysia, Dealmates, and Living Social are fast becoming a growing trend, especially catching on with young urban professionals based around the Klang Valley urban strip.

Click open any of the above websites, and there is bound to be a couple of deals which will seem irresistible to you – with up to 95% discounts for food, jewellery, bargain vacations and right up to baby bottles.

The best part about these deals is that what you see is what you get – there are no hidden charges (unless stated, which makes them “unhidden”) and the quality is never compromised.

Here’s the tricky part – can the property market and its developers play a role in this new business model?

Last week, OSK Property Holdings Berhad and Groupon Malaysia collaborated on an exclusive one-of-a-kind discount deal, where buyers pay RM500 for an RM8000 cash voucher, which can be redeemed for the developer’s latest premium property, Paragon @ Pangaea, a SOFO Suites development in Cyberjaya.

The developers have made it even more attractive, by making the cash voucher valid for the property’s downpayment, and providing refunds for buyers who are unable to purchase the unit of their choice or whose bank loans have been rejected.

Now, isn’t this a good way to spend RM500?

As of now, 14 people have bought the deal on Groupon’s website, and it can be considered quite a healthy number, judging from the fact that buying a property is not like buying a t-shirt – it’s a lifetime investment, and requires long-term commitment.

Discounts are always appreciated, and developers can really benefit from marketing their properties on such deal-based websites instead of only relying on mass media, as they tend to reach out to the right crowd and word-of-mouth will definitely spread the word through.

Social media will always remain relevant to today’s youth community and are recommended for every property developer, but deal-based websites provide a direct platform for them to actually see and purchase cash vouchers or coupons to buy their own piece of property – the kind of purchasing power any consumer will feel good about.

We think OSK’s plunge into the discount market will definitely stir some competition and inspire other developers to walk a similar path by making use of the myriad of deal-based websites frequented by Klang Valley’s yuppies.

It would be interesting to see if this latest trend manages to make a lasting mark on the online business-property relationship, like how the Internet became a platform to look for property years ago.

Below picture: Paragon @ Pangaea, OSK's Groupon pioneer

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