New real estate marketing trends in Bangladesh: A perspective on Bproperty Dot Com Limited

Abstract

In 2006, Zameen.com, an online property portal was initiated in Pakistan by two entrepreneurs. For the first four years of operation, it allowed free property listings on its website, but later changed to the model of paid advertisements in 2010. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs founded a UAE-based property website called Bayut. Then Gilles Blanchard, the founder of Seloger.com which is a French property website, invested an angel amount in Zameen.com in 2012. The company made an investment deal with Frontier Digital Ventures and Catcha Group in May of 2014. Later, in March 2015, a company was found with the name of Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) by Gilles Blenchard and other investors. In addition to Zameen.com & Bayut, EMPG also owns Mubawab in Morocco & Tunisia; and Kaidee in Thailand. In 2016, EMPG entered Bangladeshi Market with Bproperty.Com, the only real estate solution provider of the country. In a setting of unorganized Real Estate industry with lots of security issues, Bproperty promises to stand out with authenticity and convenience for customers. It aims to cater to the needs of those seeking real estate services so that property search, renting, selling & buying become easier than ever. EMPG and OLX Group merged their operations in Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, and the UAE in April 2020. As the agreement included a $150 million investment among which a portion of it was led by OLX Group with $75 million and the rest was invested by existing EMPG shareholders. The group’s valuation reached $1 billion and made it a unicorn company. However, OLX Group is now the largest single shareholder of EMPG with a 39% stake. As I live in Bangladesh, I am working as an intern in Bproperty.com, the real estate venture of EMPG here. I have chosen the topiv for two specific reasons. First, the lack of structure and data we have in the real estate industry of our country, really intrigued me to look at how Bproperty.com plans to operate. Second, Real Estate Marketing in Bangladesh seemed really interesting to me as this is not something we very much discuss about in oyr academic courses. My report will discuss all these parts and the role of Marketing & PR in Real Estate industy. My paper was written from my first-hand experience of working for the company and my immediate supervisor’s guidance.