Comment by Riaz Haq on May 27, 2015 at 4:11pm

Real estate marketing is moving online in Pakistan

'Staggering' growth in smartphone use fueling trend

 by Saad Arshed   May 27, 2015

Technology is causing a paradigm shift within the real estate sector in Pakistan. Long gone are the days when people used only traditional methods to find a new property.

In Pakistan, there are now over 30 million Internet users and 15 million smartphone users. In fact, recent statistics showed a staggering growth in Internet use of over 550 percent between September 2014 and April of this year, with the total number of 3G subscribers crossing 11 million. Pakistan’s tech device market is predicted to grow by 15 percent in 2015, according to market research firm GfK.

With the increasing availability of online portals, affordable smartphones, plus 3G and 4G services in Pakistan, house hunters are searching the Internet for properties. Consequently, real estate agents and developers are having to adapt their marketing efforts to keep up with the shift online.

In my experience, those in the real estate industry are still predominantly using offline marketing methods, such as newspaper advertisements, billboards and fliers to promote their properties. However, there has been a recognizable move online as the industry begins to see the potential of this medium.

You cannot ignore the benefits of online marketing, which is already a commonplace practice in developed countries. Online marketing leaps over traditional methods in this area because it provides a clear, accurate way to monitor campaign performance.

The real strength is in the ability to target users regardless of where they are, and then analyze their behavior onsite. Emerging markets, including Pakistan, have yet to embrace these new technologies fully. But change is coming, and it is coming fast.

Many Pakistani agents and developers have already found success via this online medium. For instance, Abdul Majeed, CEO of the Property Club agency, said that using online real estate portals has been very helpful for reaching a global audience. Where previously he was only able to target the local property market, now he can secure deals with overseas Pakistanis as well.

Similarly, Wafa Umer, director of Quality Builders Limited, which has developed several residential and commercial projects in Karachi, says that using a digital platform is just as important for a builder as it is for a real estate agent.

By using the services of these websites, Quality Builders has secured a huge number of leads for its ongoing projects from both local and international investors. Moreover, they consider the response from using these property portals to be on par with that of any leading newspaper.

Now, many in the real estate sector have acknowledged the importance of online tools. According to a survey of real estate agents conducted by Lamudi in 2014, 45 percent of agents surveyed reported that the Internet is frequently used in the house-hunting process. This number is expected to accelerate over the next decade as Pakistani house hunters increasingly embrace these modern tools.

By contrast, in the U.S., 84 percent of agents polled by the National Association of Realtors said they would use social media to promote themselves. Although online property platforms are widespread in developed countries, emerging countries are not far behind — and there are significant opportunities here for tech-savvy agents, brokers and developers to be ahead of the curve.

Real estate professionals in Pakistan are gaining access to a wider number of people, both domestically and internationally, by embracing online marketing and building a positive reputation along the way. This trend is the future for our industry, and agents who do not keep pace with these trends will soon be left behind.

Saad Arshed is the Managing Director of Lamudi Pakistan, a real estate marketplace for buying, renting and selling property in Pakistan. You can follow him on LinkedIn at Saad Arshed and follow #LamudiPakistan at Twitterhere.

http://www.inman.com/2015/05/27/real-estate-marketing-is-moving-onl...

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 28, 2015 at 7:05am

It was the Kirana shop format across India that was the most affected by this onslaught of the organized retail. Given the scale of these companies, the Kirana stores began to feel threatened for survival. But while these small shops recognized the threat posed to their business and accordingly realigned their business, the bigger retail companies made a lot of excesses during the good times. But their biggest nemesis appeared in the form of e-commerce in India. The emergence of e commerce began to rewrite the whole retail script in India. In 2009, Flipkart, now India’s biggest e-retailer, began its operations. With a modest beginning, Flipkart soon rose in the valuation game and was valued at approximately $11 billion, at the time of its last round of funding. It expects this valuation to jump to $15 billion at the time of the next round of funding. Compared to this massive valuation, all listed retail companies in India command a total value of $2.5 billion. E-commerce has seriously rocked the boat of the organized brick and mortar retail players like Future Retail, Aditya Birla Group and Reliance Retail. Realizing the growing threat to their businesses, the Aditya Birla Group, in the beginning of May, merged two of its retail formats --Pantaloons and Madura Garments. Bharti Retail has also been acquired by Future Retail. This merger will make Future Retail the No 2 retailer in India, just behind Reliance retail, which estimates to achieve a turnover of RS 18000 crore by the end of March 2016. The realignment and mergers and acquisitions within the retail space are supposed to provide scale and efficiency to these entities, so that they may be able to take on the challenges posed by the e-retailers.
Several factors have contributed to this new thinking on part of the older organized retail players in India. The long awaited FDI in multi brand retail in India has not yet fully materialized, coupled with huge debt that these companies have accumulated, the high operational costs these companies incur and most importantly, the spread of e commerce have all combined to force these companies to rethink their strategies. Online retail in India is at the cusp of a huge upward surge. Its convenience, better pricing, higher usage of debit and credit cards among consumers and the penetration of smart phones, all combine to help the ecommerce business in India grow at exponential rates for many years to come. E commerce has also been the flavour of the venture capitalists and private equity players who have invested substantial amount of money in these businesses in India in the last few years.
Not that the funding will keep coming for eternity. At some point, the Indian e-commerce players like Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal et al will have to pause and start thinking about profitability. Right now, they have forced the brick and mortar retailers on the defensive. The old retail businesses have realized their business models are not sustainable and feel vulnerable and threatened by the onslaught of e retailers. At present, the organized brick and retail companies account for approximately 17% of sales, the online retailers 2%, with the unorganized retail accounting for the rest. As per a recent study, by 2019, 11% of the retail sales will be contributed by the online retailers and the share of the brick and mortar retail companies will decline to 13%.

Given that the entry of global retail giants like Wall Mart, Tesco and Carrefour etc into India has been delayed, these old retail companies, most of whom expected to exit by offloading their business to these multinationals, have to survive longer and under difficult business environment. Not that the online retail companies are making any profits right now. Their complete focus right now is on customer acquisition and the easiest way of doing that has been to drop prices and give attractive discounts to the consumers. 

http://www.kashmirobserver.net/news/opinion/changing-landscape-indi...

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 28, 2015 at 7:17am

Retailing grows as economy recovers
Retailing witnessed strong current value growth in 2014 as the economy strengthened. Despite continued energy crises and inflation, hopes of an improved situation due to steps taken by the new government significantly impacted the growth of foreign investment in the country. New entrants to retailing have created a more competitive environment, with companies investing heavily in marketing.
Traditional grocery remains significant but sees slower growth than modern
Traditional grocery retailers continue to represent the largest channel due to their widespread presence throughout the country. However, despite their dominance, their growth was inhibited by the rise of modern grocery retailing. The advent of supermarkets and hypermarkets has allowed consumers to do their shopping in bulk and with added convenience. The trend of consumers preferring a 1-stop solution for their shopping needs continues, as there was increased awareness and acceptability among the masses with regard to shopping in these outlets.
Non-grocery continues to outpace grocery sales
Despite inflation consumers continue to spend an increasing amount on non-grocery products compared with grocery products. Increasing income levels among consumers have allowed them to spend more on non-essentials. Foreign investment has also played a significant role in this growth, as retailers such as Debenhams and Next have opened their outlets in the country in order to capture this growing need among consumers. Moreover, huge marketing investment by retailers such as Gul Ahmed and Servis Shoes has spurred the growth of non-grocery retailing.
Companies spend big on mass advertising campaigns
Competition in retailing has become intense with the entry of several new players. Most marketing campaigns are observed in the non-grocery landscape. Gul Ahmed, Bata, Servis and Outfitters were some of the brands to launch marketing campaigns using TV, radio and print ads. Brands also remain active with social media marketing in order to engage with followers online.
Positive outlook for retailing
The outlook for retailing is positive as the new government has taken steps to solve the energy problem prevailing in the country. This will allow manufacturers and retailers to curb costs and shift focus in growing their business. Inflation is expected to rise moderately, but this rise is expected to be countered by rising income levels. Continued foreign investment is expected to give rise to an increased number of companies as they seek to reap the benefits of retailing growth.

http://www.euromonitor.com/retailing-in-pakistan/report

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 4, 2015 at 7:43pm

#Pakistan #internet subscriptions up 344% in fiscal 2014-15, thanks to rapid #3G #4G growth http://tribune.com.pk/story/930730/fiscal-year-2015-internet-subscr... …

KARACHI: 
In a strong sign that the rollout of mobile broadband technology – third and fourth generation (3G and 4G) networks – is connecting more Pakistanis to the cyber world, the country’s internet subscriptions increased by a staggering 344% to almost 17 million in fiscal year (FY) 2015, according to statistics released by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The ‘more than threefold’ increase translates to the highest growth in the country’s broadband subscriptions ever witnessed by the telecom sector in a year. The number of internet subscriptions increased from a meagre 3.8 million as of June 30, 2014 to 16.9 million at the end of FY2015.

A further breakdown of data shows that 13.5 million or 80% of the total internet subscriptions come from mobile broadband category (3G and 4G users), which means almost all of this growth came as a result of the last year’s spectrum auction for high-speed portable internet.

“It only proves that it was a pent-up demand of the past many years,” Information and Communications Technology expert Parvez Iftikhar said of the phenomenal growth in the country’s internet subscriptions. “The spectrum auction should have been held in 2008 but we kept delaying it.

“The percentage may be lower next year but I don’t see this growth slowing down,” Iftikhar said. “The service providers are still in the process of rolling out their 3G and 4G network and will continue their marketing campaigns for quite some time.”

While broadband penetration rate increased dramatically, growth of other technologies remained almost stagnant. The second and third categories were DSL and EvDO technologies representing 1.5 million and 1.3 million in the total internet subscriptions respectively. The number of EvDO subscriptions decreased by 25% from 1.8 million, its highest ever as of FY14.

The fixed-line broadband segment didn’t attract any new investment, according to Iftikhar. Nobody really invested in metro fibre or fibre-to-the-home cable networks, he said. “The government needs to make drastic reforms in fixed-line broadband because there is still a lot of potential for growth in this area.”

The fixed local line (landline phones) segment too seems to be losing presence in the telecom industry. The data for fixed-line local telephone subscribers, which totalled to three million at the end of FY13 and increased slightly to 3.2 million in FY14, wasn’t updated – an indication the growth of this segment has stagnated, if not declining.

The cellular mobile operators (CMOs)’ overall user base decreased by 18% to 114.7 million subscribers in the same period (FY2015) compared to a near-highest of 139.9 million subscribers as of June 30, 2014.

The data cleaning exercise brought down annual cellular mobile tele-density from a peak of 76.5% in FY14 to 61% at end of June this year.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 22, 2015 at 9:15am

"#Pakistan, #India among fastest growing online advertising markets," CEO, Effective Measure http://www.effectivemeasure.com/pakistan-india-among-fastest-growin... … via @e_measure

Richard Webb:

"It starts out slow and bubbles along – Pakistan is currently spending 1.5-2 percent of advertising spend on digital media – then within a couple of years you shoot up to 40 percent of total spending. Pakistan and India are the fastest growing online advertising markets in the world at an expected compound growth of almost 52 percent a year. The potential is massive. We’ve seen this happen in other markets before and we can, to some degree, predict how it will happen in Pakistan. Based on my experience, the adoption will happen here in a smooth fashion. The later adoption means that Pakistan won’t suffer any of the headaches of mistakes made along the way."

Comment by Riaz Haq on September 24, 2015 at 10:46am

Daraz.pk: #Pakistan to see chunk of $55 million investment #ecommerce http://tribune.com.pk/story/962376/daraz-pk-pakistan-to-see-chunk-o... …

The company also refused to share country-wise breakdown of this financial injection but added, “Pakistan is our biggest market,” and the investment split between countries would also reflect that, hinting that a sizeable chunk of the $55 million may be invested in Pakistan. Daraz.pk estimates the current size of Pakistan’s e-commerce market to be somewhere between $55 million and $78 million.

“The e-commerce market in Pakistan is developing fast and Daraz is proud to be part of this journey,” Mikkelson said, “Internet penetration is growing fast, the transition to smartphones is overwhelming and the number of users on the Daraz shopping App is increasing exponentially.”

Starting in 2012 as an online fashion business, the home-grown tech startup later expanded its business model to a general marketplace dealing in electronics, home appliances, fashion and many other categories and became one of Pakistan’s leading e-commerce platforms. In 2014, it launched operations in Bangladesh as Daraz.bd and Myanmar as Shop.com.mm.

The company refused to disclose its revenues but added, “The business is multiple times bigger now and growing double digits on a monthly basis”.

The online shopping website is getting 6 million visitors a month and is spending over £1 million on Infinix Hot Note, a Chinese smartphone being sold on its website, according to TechJuice.

Read: E-commerce growth: Proving to be a steady breadwinner

Daraz is one of the most promising companies in APACIG’s portfolio, the company’s CEO Hanno Stegmann said in a press release. “The markets where Daraz is active are inspiring for entrepreneurs. We are looking forward to supporting Daraz in its ambition to become the number one shopping destination in Asian frontier markets.”

The company is also planning to introduce Black Friday Sales in the country to promote the culture of online shopping gain people’s trust in this segment.

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 13, 2015 at 10:25pm

Pakistan, although a late entrant to the world of ecommerce, has recently recorded a massive rise in online shopping trends and other ecommerce businesses. Such exponential growth trends over the past few years – with US$30 million being spent on online purchases currently – depict a highly positive picture for the future and the size of Pakistan’s ecommerce market is expected to reach over US$600 million by 2017.

With many new online ventures springing up rapidly and existing businesses recording unprecedented growth rates, there is still a lot that needs to be done to reach the true ecommerce potential of the country and compete with other big players of the region. Several factors are responsible for drastically changing shopping trends over time and driving the growth of ecommerce in Pakistan.

One of the most important factors in the equation is the rate of internet penetration in Pakistan. Pakistan’s internet enabled population is limited to around 30 million users today. This, however, is expected to rise up to 56 million users by 2019. Pakistan’s much-awaited entry into 3G and LTE services in 2014 has increased internet accessibility and will also most likely propel the growth of online purchases. Statistics from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reveal that the total number of third-generation (3G) mobile subscriptions have risen up to 10.3 million in 2015. The number of 4G or Long Term Evolution (LTE) subscribers also increased to over 68,000.

Over the next 5 years, 28 percent of the country’s population is estimated to have internet access. With increased access to the internet and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, marketing trends are also rapidly changing and transforming the way opinions are now being shaped. This will not only transform shopping trends but also significantly impact several other ecommerce arenas, such as online job hunts through Rozee.pk which has facilitated job hunts for over 1 million people, and land, property and rental transactions via Zameen.pk, to name a few.

Even though Cash-on-Delivery (COD) payment methods continue to remain widely popular in Pakistan and account for more than 95 percent of online purchases, other promising initiatives such as branchless banking (Telenor’s Easy Paisa, Zong and Askari Bank’s Timepey, Mobilink’sMobicash etc.) and Inter Bank Fund Transfer (IBFT), are also underway.

Many banks and Telecom operators have introduced the concept of branchless banking, and the number of branchless banking agents facilitating offline payments for online purchases have recently tripled, making it much more convenient to transfer money in a secure environment.

Online merchants now have much greater access to merchant accounts that enable them to collect payments electronically via the 12 million debit cards in circulation in Pakistan. Moreover, with more and more banks now offering consumers internet banking payment facilities, a vast volume of payments are made through IBFT which enables consumers to electronically transfer funds directly from their online bank accounts to online stores.

https://www.techinasia.com/talk/late-emerge-rapid-rise-encouraging-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 22, 2015 at 9:58pm

#Daraz #Pakistan Black Friday: Big discounts & fulfilling online experience with #ecommerce #EasyPaisa #mobilemoney http://tribune.com.pk/story/994630/daraz-black-friday-not-just-jaw-dropping-discounts-but-also-a-fulfilling-experience/ …

Daraz.pk recently announced the launch of Black Friday, the mother of all sales around the globe, in Pakistan. Shoppers seem thrilled for what appears to be the biggest sale of the year in the country, where bargain hunters will be at the edge of their seats, starting 12 am on November 27, to grab the best deals at Daraz.pk.

There is no denying that an ecommerce revolution is taking place in Pakistan. This revolution only started a little while ago and is accelerating with blinding speed. And from where we see it, Daraz Black Friday will be an incredible demonstration for the world to witness the power of Pakistani consumption just like recently, China’s Single’s Day reflected a shift in their economy and spending habits.

Daraz.pk has been partnering with big companies in the past and for Black Friday the big names on board are PTCL, Ponds, Mediatek, InnJoo and Easypay as official payment partners, offering an additional (up to) 25% off on products to customers who pay via Easypay on Black Friday. You can be subscribed to any network provider to enjoy this discount – basically, everyone with a mobile-phone can, you’re not confined to any particular network. This discount will be on top of the (up to) 70% off on products you avail during the online sale on November 27.

While, of course, all other payment options are available for customers, from cash-on-delivery, swipe on delivery, online card payment, internet bank transfer (IBFT) and ATM; the process of paying via Easypay, to avail the additional discount of up to 25% off, is also very simple process. Once you’ve placed your order, select Easypay as your payment option and then complete the payment using VISA or MasterCard through the Easypay online portal, or by making the payment at the nearest Easypaisa retail outlets or by using your Telenor/Easypaisa mobile account.

The discounted prices will be displayed in the cart and not on the product pages. The levels of discount are bifurcated depending on the total cart value. Customers with a total cart value below PKR 15,000 can avail 20% discount on their purchase whereas customers with a total cart value above PKR 15,000 can avail 10% discounts on their purchase. The discounts are limited to products not exceeding PKR 100,000.

Those purchasing InnJoo, Infinix or Telenor phones on Daraz Black Friday will enjoy a flat 25% off on any model purchased when paying through Easypay. That’s exciting news as InnJoo will be launching three news phones Halo, Max 2 and Fire Plus besides its already available assortment on the website. Whereas Infinix will be launching Hot 2 – 1 GB version and offering a plethora of other exciting deals and freebies.

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 25, 2015 at 10:14am

Payment Giant #PayPal Sees ‘Great Opportunity’ In #Pakistan http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/11/paypal-pakistan-opportunity/ … via @ValueWalk

PayPal has responded to reports that it might launch services in Pakistan. A PayPal spokesperson told ValueWalk in an email: “As a global payments company, PayPal is constantly innovating and looking for new ways to meet the needs of our customers around the world. As we look at expanding our global footprint, we see Pakistan as a market with great opportunity, but we are not able to comment on future plans.”

This week Pakistan’s Minister of IT and Telecommunication, Anusha Rehman, said they have now made steps to enable PayPal to move into the country. She noted that e-commerce has become extremely important all around the world and that it has been up to the government to make conditions in Pakistan favorable for e-commerce companies to operate in.

She said that after setting up a gateway between Pakistan’s major financial institutions and major e-commerce websites, they should start working with PayPal, Alibaba and other international companies. Thus far, officials have issued four licenses to big banks in Pakistan which allow them to run banking services without having bank branches. Also the State Bank of Pakistan is working to set up a digital payments gateway in the country.

Another major step taken by Pakistan to bring PayPal and other international e-commerce and related firms into the nation is the move onto the white list of the Financial Action Task Force. The organization fights money laundering and had previously listed Pakistan on its grey list, which meant that it did not recommend that international technology companies set up operations there.

The Financial Action Task Force has set internationally accepted anti-money laundering and counterterrorism standards for countries. This basically means that the countries which are on the task force’s white list have put in place standard protocols to battle money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities.

Now that Pakistani officials have taken these steps, they intend to invite PayPal and other major international technology companies into the country. Former PayPal parent company eBay, U.S.-based online retailer Amazon, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba are said to be on their target list for firms they want to bring into Pakistan. Alibaba also operates its own digital payments arm, AliPay, which competes with PayPal.

Pakistan is more and more becoming a prime target for international companies. Uber revealed last month that it plans to set up operations in Pakistan as well.

Comment by Riaz Haq on December 15, 2015 at 8:47pm

E-commerce in Pakistan is growing fast, as the spread of 3G mobile technology has made it an attractive option for an increasing number of younger and rural consumers.

Following the recent Black Friday event, businesses have expressed confidence that the sector is no longer in its infancy and is entering a new era, as people were observed buying a wider range of goods, from more locations, than ever before. 

Up until now, e-commerce in the country has tended to centre around a few categories – mobile phones, laptops, fashion – and to be focused on the major cities of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

But the industry said that on Black Friday people were buying washing machines and televisions online. And one site reported a 50-fold increase in orders from one smaller rural town.

"Absolutely, Pakistan's ecommerce is entering the second phase," Saman Javed, Head of Communications and PR at online marketplace Daraz, told the Express Tribune.

Referring to Black Friday sales, she revealed that "One-third of the payments were online, which indicates a shift in consumers' attitude who now trust online payment system". That said, cash-on-delivery remains the dominant payment method.

Growing mobile broadband penetration is seen as the major driver of this development. "Third-generation (3G) mobile internet technology is reaching remote areas and adding new internet users thus boosting our traffic," explained Shayaan Tahir, CEO of online retailer Homeshopping.

The speed of the change taking place became evident, as he indicated that eight months ago around 20% of site traffic came from mobile but that has now leapt to 50%.

More generally, the number of broadband users in the country has grown almost fivefold to 23m in the course of the past 12 months; around two-thirds of those users are aged between 18 and 34 and are shopping online.

But e-commerce is only starting to grow up in Paksitan; Tahir pointed out that "The country's overall retail market is worth $40bn but we are still 0.2% of that".

http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/Pakistan_ecommerce_growing_up.n...

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