In a recent article “A collaborative commerce framework for the real estate industry”, author Willem Selen explains how the real estate market is becoming a “one stop shop” mostly due to with the internet and the several hundred real estate websites. At first this seems that this would be a bad thing for our real estate market. But is this idea of a “one stop shop” such a terrible thing?

For years retailers have been coming up with new ways to get customers into their stores. And only about a decade ago they stumbled on the great idea of the “one stop shop”. What a great idea! Why have a customer go to three separate places for their needs, when they can just walk in to one store and leave with everything they needed? From tires to apples, their is not much a consumer can not get at one of these stores. In the area I live in it started with the Super Wal-Marts, soon after Meijer moved in followed by Super Target. Now you can’t drive 5 miles without seeing one of these super giant box retail stores, and consumers in my area have never been happier.

So why should this be such a major issue in the real estate business. Every business model is essentially the same no matter what market or industry you are in, that model basically states “Get the customer to give us more money”. The best way to do that is to give the customers exactly what they want. So what do customers today want? Well that depends on the generation your dealing with. Now that people are living longer their is a huge melting pot of different generations. This causes many cohorts to pop up, thus making it extremely difficult on our markets and industries. They have to diversify their techniques of selling to be able to satisfy all the possible clients.

That is why we have the “one stop shop” in most industries and especially real estate. Some people want everything done for them, others only need a little help, and yet others do not want any. Just like some buyers or sellers might want to talk to the Realtor the entire time and take the procedure the old fashion way, others might not want to see the realtor untill they have already made a buying decision and are ready to sign the papers. So ultimately it is best to have a real estate website that can offer all these things to every type of customer that comes our way. 

The best way to make your real estate website a “one stop shop” is to offer all the things you possibly can in a face to face interaction and transfer that on to your Realtor website. Things like current listings, contact information, and information about the schools in the area. Also links to mortgage lenders or banks. The ideas are endless and it is really up to the person. Your real estate website can be the most valuable tool a Realtor or Broker can have, if it is implemented properly.  

Dreamco Design has many solutions on how to improve this idea of a “one stop shop”. If you are looking to beef up your real estate website or have one built, see what Dreamco Design can do for all your real estate web design needs. We know what your customers want. Why? Because we are all customers to someone. Check us out at our Real Estate Web Design section to get more information.