Why selling online is taking off

Jeni Harvie. The Australian 28 October 2006

“I just sold my house. No big deal really, except that it was done entirely online. The buyer is an Australian living in England who is returning to take up an academic posting in a few months.
She found the house through the internet, she contacted the real estate agent by email, she downloaded the virtual tour, we haggled over the price (via email) and the deal was closed.”

It is the age of ecommerce and it is booming. Australians are logging on and buying up big. And they can almost anything their heart desires, from a magnificent Wallypower motor yacht ($37M) to a bottle of 1951 Penfold Grange ($69,500).

Last year researchers ACNeilsen estimated that Australian online shopping market was worth $7.6 billion and growing at about 40% per year. The survey showed the highest sales were airline tickets, not far behind were DVDs, games and books. The research group Forrester estimates that by 2010, nearly 46% of total travel sales will be booked online, second only to computer hardware/software at 55%.

Lastminute.com.au is riding the wave in the travel industry. Established in 2000, it has doubled its turnover in the past two years. Their general manager says lastminute’s main demographic is 35-45 year old females earning more than $80,000 a year.
“They are not looking for a bargain but want something reasonably priced,” she says. “They want to do something spontaneous and fun. They can log on at night after work and everything is at their fingertips.”

Aggregration trend.

Jeni’s article also highlights the trend that consumers want ease of access to information at one or two sites, thus the popularity of lastminute.com.au and wotif.com.au. The same can be said for real estate, realestate.com.au and domain.com.au dominate the category.

The article continues

Technology analyst Bruce McCabe calls this “aggregation” where consumers have all the information they need at one site, and says the concept has been highly successful in boosting sales.
“Businesses now understand that people don’t like to go to a lot of sites,” he says. “They realize the internet is a very efficient avenue [for selling products]. The real power is having a single place for people to start. In terms of sophistication, Australian consumers and businesses are right up there”

The Lesson for Lawyers and Conveyancers. 247legal provides the consumer and the agent with a single portal for the sales documentation for real estate sales.