The document summarizes the story and challenges of Zameen.com, a Pakistani real estate portal launched in 2006. It discusses how Zameen.com overcame challenges such as losing free clients, acquiring listings without computers, ensuring listing quality, payment collection in a cash-based economy, talent recruitment, geographical expansion, and scraping. It highlights Zameen.com's growth including new offices and employees, over 4,500 agency partners, and closing a significant venture round in 2014. The document concludes by discussing future challenges such as increasing brand recall and market share and capturing the property developments segment.

1. Property Portal Watch - Singapore 2014
THE ZAMEEN STORY

3. 3G + 4G LTE
LAUNCHED IN APRIL 2014
Pakistani Tech Landscape
Source: Pakistan Telecom Authority, World Bank, We Are Social
136,000,000
CELLULAR USERS (75%)
14,000,000
FACEBOK USERS (7%)
30,000,000
INTERNET USERS (16%)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Internet Users
Internet Users (million)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Cellular Users
Cellular Users (million)

4. Real Estate Sector Overview
• Real Estate Sector Overview Video
• People prefer to own the land (Zameen) they live on. 78% of urban
population live in self-owned houses.
• Privately developed gated communities gaining traction due to:
o Security
o Ownership rights
o Better facilities and amenities
• Over US$ 16 billion foreign
remittances
• Unique Plots Market (Cultural
significance, no CGT, cash based
economy)

5. Who are the agents?
Emotional people
Many land owners became agents
Slow technology adopters
Love conventional mediums (print)

6. Zameen Story
& Challenges in
the Pakistani Market

7. How it started 2006
Bedroom,
London

8. Zameen.com – A Growth Story
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2006:
1st Pakistani
Property
Portal
Launched
2008:
Awarded Best
International
Property Portal
2013:
- New offices in Karachi
and Islamabad.
- Property Expo.
- Over 100 employees.
- Over 4,500 agencies on
Zameen.com
2012:
Seloger.com co-
founder, Gilles
Blanchard, joins
Zameen.com
2010:
3,000 agencies
registered on
Zameen.com
2014: 1st Venture
Round Closed
2011:
Freemium to
paid model
conversion

9. 1. Risk of Losing Clients and Listings
• Clients addicted to free services
• Threatened to leave the portal
• All other portals were (and still are) free
Solution:
 Introduced premium packages with higher ranking listings
 Free listing quota decreased in steps, and on a
location-to-location basis
 Increased B2B marketing spend
 Have the courage to lose some clients – just do it!
Now:
 Only 1 free listing per agency
 Less spam/clutter, better quality listings
 Improvement in monthly Listings:Leads ratio (3 leads/listing)
Challenge #1: Ditching Freemium

10. Challenge #2: Listing Acquisition
1. No computers at agencies
2. Lack of effort from clients whilst trying a new medium
Solution:
 Paper listing forms (Motorcycle Riders)
 Call to list
 Email listings, pictures and excel files
 SMS
 Clients invest in technology when they get leads

11. Challenge #3: Quality
1. Duplicate & Fake Listings
• Some clients try to increase share of voice
• Fish for leads
Every listing is reviewed (post or pre publishing)
 Manual editorial review
 Price checking algorithms
 Duplicate content checking algorithms
2. Lack of Images
 Encourage and facilitate images
 On-field photographers
 Listing ranking scores based on images, content quality and date
3. Duplicate & Fake Images
 Image checking algorithms

12. Challenge #4: Payment Collection
Clients Prefer Cash
• Cash based economy
• Very low credit card penetration
• Limited online banking usage
Solution:
 Longer up-front payments
 Larger discounts on long-term contracts and payments
 Dedicated team of riders (motorcyclists) to collect payments

13. #5: Talent Hunt
1. New & emerging industry
2. Lack of talent pool
3. Brain drain
Solution:
 Look for people with:
• An entrepreneurial streak
• High energy levels
• Leadership qualities
 Make them feel part of the adventure
 Empower them
 360 degree communication
 Transfer knowledge

14. Challenge #6: Geographical Expansion
• Telesales issues
• Clients need to meet someone (trust)
• Commando/Swat teams formed
• Sales offices opened in major cities (3 offices, presence in 7 cities)
• Bespoke strategies for different regions
• Field sales backed by a centralized sales support team at head office

15. #6: Bridging the Gap
ALWAYS FOCUS ON CORE
Clients believe when they get leads
Zameen Magazine CRM Diary
Responsive & Full-scale
Agency Websites

16. Challenge #7: Scraping
1. New international competitor scraping Zameen.com
• Copying listings
• Removing watermarks from images
• Tracking new clients
• Legal route too expensive and lack of IP laws
Solution:
 Improved watermarking
 Monitoring logs, taking action
 Formed a discussion group of several
portals worldwide (6 countries) facing
similar issues with the same competitor
 Be prepared, don’t get overwhelmed,
and stay focused on your goals

17. #8: Raising Finance – World Tour
• Property Portal Watch - San Francisco 2013
• NOAH - London 2013
• GPS - Paris 2013
• Property Portal Watch - Barcelona 2013
• Significant Venture Round closed in 2014 with:

18. What Next?

19. Future Challenges
• Create Brand Recall – Zameen synonymous with the word “property”
• Mobile conquest
• Competition from international players
• Double traffic and market penetration
• Capture the developments segment

20. Thank you!