Notice anything different about the shop fronts of your competitors lately? Let’s hope not as you could be missing out on valuable leads as your competitors take advantage of interactive window displays.
Although window display screens have been around the real estate industry for a few years only recently the touch screen style display has become popular amongst agents, vendors and property seekers. The recent edition of the Australia Real Estate Bulletin has a lot on replacing traditional Window Display Cards with interactive window display screens.
There are basically two varieties you can install. The first is the window display screen which allows an agent to choose a number of properties to display and the screen rotates through this selection. The other type is an interactive display screen which allows a vendor or property seeker to browse ALL of an agency’s listings and even make an enquiry. From out the front of a real estate agency users can pretty much do what they would normally perform at their desk with their computer browsing an agent’s website.
Is this a benefit? Well, I’m never hanging around out the front of my local real estate agency so I would never use such a device. However, I can see a use for this particularly in tourist areas as people on holidays always have a tendency to look for real estate.
Other benefits include:
- Agencies who have installed the touch screens have indicated people are staying out the front of their shop fronts longer resulting in more buyer and vendor enquiries.
- These touch displays highlight an agencies technological superiority over its competitors.
- The inclusion of these touch screens and being technological savvy boosts the morale amongst agency employees.
- It allows an agency to better market their properties on the ground, through virtual tours, videos, audio and maps.
- It’s completely automated saving time and money compared to window card displays.
- It could be argued its better for the environment as unlike window display cards no paper and ink is involved. But then there is the argument about how much electricity is consumed to power a large HD screen.
At a cost of roughly $10,000 to $16,000 per touch screen they are not cheap, but over a period of time breaking this cost down per listing makes it appear more reasonable. Many agencies are on-charging it as an advertising cost to the vendor, charging them a fee of $20 to $30 to display their property for as long as it is listed. Do the calculations here and over a 12 to 18 month period you’re likely to recoup your investment.