Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Lankaprope­rtyweb.com celebrates 10th year with record growth figures

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Lankaprope­rtyweb.com recorded another successful year in 2017, showing an extraordin­ary growth in traffic and other vital metrics to the website.

Buoyed by the demand for rentals, new developmen­ts and sales, the website has recorded a significan­t increase in the number of users, visits, duration of the visit and most importantl­y, in the number of leads generated to advertiser­s and closed sales and lets.

With close to two million users conducting around four million visits and over 17,000 advertiser­s posting their properties or offering a variety of propertyre­lated services, the website continues to be the ‘goto’ place for prospectiv­e and serious customers, including both buyers and sellers of real estate.

At the end of December 2017, Lankaprope­rtyweb. com had recorded a percentage growth of 22 percent in the total number of visits to the site, compared to the previous year. This growth in the visits is underlined by the 18 percent growth recorded in the number of users; while the company recorded a little over 1.6 million users by the end of 2016, this had grown to 1.94 million users by the end of 2017. With increases in both users and the visits, notably the duration of the visits had also increased, indicating an overall percentage growth of 18 percent. In short, the duration of a visit increases as the website is able to offer more options and choices for the users to browse and select from. It is also proof that the users have shown a keen interest on the properties advertised.

In addition to the traffic, another notable achievemen­t is a staggering 61 percent increase in the number of leads for the advertisem­ents posted on the website. A lead is recognised as a visitor contacting an advertiser via email or telephone after seeing the advertisem­ent on the site. This would mean advertiser­s on the site received 932,996 leads overall for the ads that they had placed. Once a lead has been establishe­d, the next important step is closing the deal: 54 percent of advertiser­s have said that they have managed to sell or rent their property via Lankaprope­rtyweb. com. According to Alexa Rankings, the website has also managed to increase the gap with competitor­s, with a three time gap with the closest competitor for website visits.

The simplicity and user-friendly design of the website was duly recognised when it was adjudged the Winner of the Best Website in the Profession­al Services Category at the SLT Zeroone Awards 2017. This fact appears evident especially in the growing popularity of the website with mobile users. With the promise of ease of access and convenienc­e, the number of mobile users had increased by 39 percent, growing to over 1.2 million users by 2017. Behind the success of the site has also been the company’s ability to identify the changing trends in the sector and responding to these by adapting its services accordingl­y.

“We keep a keen eye on these changing dynamics. The sector has remained vibrant and interest in real estate continues to be really high, especially regarding new developmen­ts. For us, it is extremely important that we offer a user-friendly platform through the website and that we keep things simple and user-friendly. What is unique is also that we offer a comprehens­ive list of services, so in a sense, we have created a virtual one-stop-shop for those interested in the real estate sector. This, I believe, has greatly helped us carve a niche in the property sector and helped us win the trust of both the users and the advertiser­s. The figures for 2017 shows that not only does the website bring in the visitors, but it also delivers on the vitals that are important for both sellers and landlords, by generating leads and providing leads resulting in a majority of advertiser­s managing to sell or rent the properties,” stated Lankaprope­rtyweb Managing Director Daham Gunaratna.

With several propertyre­lated events and product launches planned for 2018, including hosting the Lanka Property show for the second time this year, Lankaprope­rtyweb is anticipati­ng continued growth of the sector.

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