marketing&media
Media& Marketing
BY
CHERYL MARKOSKY
iPad helps sell new pads to home hunters
A welcome communication from Lizzie Yates, acting corporate communications manager at A2Dominion New Homes, revealing that the company is the first housing provider to launch a dedicated iPad mobile application to sell both shared ownership and private homes in London and the south east. Kodime Ltd created this snappy app
that can be downloaded for free and complements the iPhone and Android smartphone apps A2Dominion New Homes released back in 2011, setting the standard for intuitive mobile apps in the housing sector. Denise Stewart (right), sales & marketing director at A2Dominion New Homes, says that after discovering an increase in the use of mobile devices to view properties online (September 2012 saw about a quarter of all web visits via mobile devices, compared with a third in February 2013), it was time to update for tablets that offer more for consumers. So, who’s using the new app? “It’s
not an age or generational thing,” Stewart replies. “We might have found fewer silver surfers at 60 plus on iPads,
but pretty much everyone across the board is looking at our homes on mobile screens. The average buying age is 37 or 38, while the majority accessing our website is aged from 25 to 50.” The busiest day on A2’s website was Boxing Day, she adds. One of the effects of all this digital traffic is that A2 has altered its opening hours on sites. For instance, the doors to marketing suites remain open late on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and later in the evenings on Thursdays (1 - 7pm). “Like stores, we’re concentrating on times when buyers are in a better frame of mind and it gives them the opportunity to come in after work with their partners,” says Stewart. Her belief is that developers have to adapt quickly. “You look at what people want and fit around people’s busy lives.” Other ideas linked to social media
she’s embracing include giving a sneak preview of a show bedroom, real-time information about a scheme on tablets (akin to real-time travel details) and setting up live webcams on sites.
showhouseMay 2013 | 49
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